Topic: soil in raised bed

[bluehousehill]

Hi I have been digging out loads of old weeds, couch grass, stingers, bits of old rubbish and I have been sieving all of the soil and after laying paper down I now have three quite large raised beds. I ve used the rubble to make a lovely little path which actually looks pretty good.
I have put compost into my raised beds but Ive had to buy it in. Iam about to start my pototoe bed which is going to be my biggest one. What I have found is I am running out of soil. I went to the missus tonight and told I have to buy some more compost and got a bit of a face as the allotment is supposed to be on a tight budget.
Ive been getting the compost from homebase and its not going very far. So far Ive only spent on compost as Ive got all my wood for nothing. Im so pleased with the progress tonight it just looked like it is coming together. Yesterday I thought it would never get there. Any advice would really help. Do I need to sieve every shovel I clear for pototoes, the old boy next door reckons pototoes will break the ground up?

[caseylee]

If you contact your local council they do compost at very cheap rates some deliver if you are lucky.  I was also advised to add well rotted horse manure as this can bulk up the soil but does disapear quickly with the worms, but most farms give it to you free and in large quantities

[bluehousehill]

Excellent thanks for that I will get onto the council and ask them what they do. I also live near a farm so I could ask them. Thanks a lot for the advice

[caseylee]

no probs I am filling mine this weekend with manure and compost lets hope its sunny lol

[mrf94]

I find wickes  cheaper for compost if i have to buy it ,

Went over Easter and got 5 bags for a tenner for the young uns carrot table,
Then saw a pallet of split bags they had a fresh plastic bag over each one .
A pound a bag lol got 7, car just managed it all .
Wickes normal price is 4 bags a tenner 75 or 80 ltrs pending whats in.


mrf

[manicscousers]

we have a man with a 'little gree van' advertises in our local paper, 30.00 per ton of peaty topsoil  :)

[bluehousehill]

Five bags for a tenner aint bad I might pop into there on the way home from work if I get a chance. I need to find out who in my area does good deals for compost I looked into it from the council but they dont do it apparantly. Cheers

[froglets]

Try asking your council recycling team and the county recycling project - sometimes the left & right hands aren't in synch.

And also try the next ones over. 

We get a skip load of the output from the green waste collection, but we get it from the chap the council passes it to - he composts & sanitises it and delivers for £35 a skip all in.  Usually our plotholders split a skip between two - it's a lot of compost!

[bluehousehill]

Thanks for your tips I will keep trying with the council and county. They must have something.. they are going along the lines of household doing their own composting with reduced rates for compost bins which is well good so at least Ive got onto that so had a bit of a result today. Im after some compost for tomorrow as I have a day off and really want to crack on with my tattie bed. Thanks for all the tips its been really helpful