Topic: Help. quantities for raised bed

[compo49]

Can anyone tell me how much compost ( 75litre bags) i need to fill up a wooden raised bed i made size is 6ftx3ftx 18inch deep, not good at working out cubic area. help appreciated Compo.  :-\

[Gazfoz]

10.198 bags by my calculations compo.

Regards.

[Isleworth]

765 Litres  I think... so 10 or 11 bags (10 = 750L / 11 = 825L)


HTH,

Lawrence

[albacore1854]

So between 30 and 70 quids worth, gonna have to grow a lot to get that back.

[woppa30]

Can you get your hands on any "communal" compost either cheaply or for free?
we have big open bins at our site where people can dump stuff for composting if they don't want it. Including some of the landscape gardeners who dump their commercial stuff there. Doesn't bother me, all rots down. Scape the top foot off and its almost ideal stuff and its free to anybody who can move it.
Consider putting a load of manure at the bottom as well.
Can you move topsoil from elsewhere on the plot?
Hope this helps,
Woppa

[manicscousers]

I seem to remember the goodness in potting compost only lasts about 6 weeks anyway, also,it flattens out after a bit of rain, we get well rotted manure from the stables when we need it to raise the beds up, also, leaf mould we've made, I suppose it'd do for one season, providing you feed it as well, depending what you're going to grow, stuff like sweetcorn, squash and potatoes need quite a lot of food  ;D

[Old bird]

Compo!

Don't take offence - I am speaking my mind!!

Are you daft?  to even contemplate spending that sort of money on bought compost that is no better and probably a lot worse than home made seems totally ridiculous to me! 

The problem as someone has said that the compost is not any better and probably a lot worse than the stuff you can make and deep beds don't need filling up to the top in year one. 

The original idea of deep beds was that you dig two spade depths the bottom spade depth just to loosen the base and the first spade depth to be returned after manure and or compost has been added and a bit mixed and the planting should then follow - in the second year you just heap manure compost leaf mould seaweed  or what have you in large quantities which the worms take down and make the soil "friable" so that you never have to dig again. (you may need to in 6 or 7 years)  But unless you need the height for health reasons you should by your annual endeavours build it up gradually.

Old Bird

 ::)

[Melbourne12]

We don't attempt to fill raised beds immediately either.  One of our allotment neighbours built three raised beds last year, and filled them to the brim with high quality compost and bagged topsoil (must have cost a fortune).  I'm interested to see that this spring the texture of the soil in his beds isn't great.  There's too much fine stuff, and not enough lumps, if you see what I mean.  And it all looks a bit lifeless.  I'm always suspicious of beds in which the weeds don't prosper!

[Norfolk n Proud]

I have converted my lottie into 10 raised beds that measure 8 feet by 6 feet by 18" deep, ( too big i know ) but i didn't buy a single drop of soil or compost, i hired a mini digger and dug paths round every bed and transferred the soil into the beds, and then thoroughly weeded it and laid bark chipping paths on top of weed membrane. Looks neat, tidy and i can grow earlier with no drainage problems.The mini digger was £80 for the weekend, and so much fun. ;D ;D

[compo49]

hi. measured depth wrong not 18inch its 8inch, have put manure in and some top soil from path (original depth was 16inch empty) want to put mix of compost/river sand/peat for a carrot bed as they don't grow well in the ground round here tried last year poor results i know some grow them in plastic 1/2 barrels but i thought i would make a raised bed its on a piece at the side not suitable to grow things as hedges roots etc only spare piece i could find(lined bottom of bed with weed control fabric to stop anything growing from below and will let water out) so thanks to Gasfoz and Islesworth and their original estimate i think half that amount of 33% each of         compost/peat/river sand , Old bird i don't mind you speaking your mind no offence taken by the way got no homemade compost only had allotment a year and just  started one this year so will have some for next year Compo.

[Robert_Brenchley]

What are you building the raised beds for? They're good for specific purposes; if you need to raise the level due to waterlogging, for instance. If there's no specific reason, you're better off leaving it level and setting out to improve the soil by adding large quantities of organic matter year on year.

[Ishard]

Dump a load of straw at the bottom on top of cardboard as it adds bulk and is organic so rots down to add texture and depth.
Then on top add manure, then more straw and finally only about 6 inches of compost. This way it cuts down your costs and you still get good crops.

Oh and I also add lime because manure is a bit acid.

Straw bales are 1.50 each and I use them loads, including in the compost heap