the question I guess is how would YOU "fill" it?
don't want to open a can of worms(please) , just a more simplified answer , thanks

We are doing a 4x8 bed ourselves -- it's filled with a mix of mushroom + horse manure compost, and topsoil. Hubby got it from a local place. One truck bed full filled up the box, which is built out of 2 stacked (on their edge) 2x6s.

Cucumbers and tomatoes are growing. I also have pole beans, bush beans, radishes, carrots, and bell peppers growing.

You might want to look at the Square Foot Gardening concept since you are already planning on raised beds.

I know this isn't really a direct answer to your question, but perhaps it'll give you other avenues to investigate.

wonderpets , thats good advice and I do have an old copy of the SFG book ,and plan to follow alot of that style of gardening. would the taller bed I envision give me a better advantage tho?

g'day,

yes as wonderpets has said is a great way to go, i might take that further and suggest you source your spent mushroom compost direct from a mushroom farm if you can, we always find it heaps cheaper that way. you could lay all sorts of organic matter down first on top of the newspaper ie.,. tree prunings leaves grass whatever?

yes anything you use will continue to break down and settle so to speak so you will find the need to top up each year maybe? i'm not totally in favour of that composted stuff they create at your local refuse site but maybe that could be another alternative.

you can have your beds as deep as you like, just the deeper then the more material that is needed initially. see pic's on our page for what we use and how we do our beds.

for me 5' wide is a little too much width if you want never to step onto the bed, an easy arms reach should be a guide to 1/2 the width so generally 3' to 4' is managable.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

I filled mine with pure homemade compost, are they doing great. The problem with raised beds is the higher you make them, the better the drainage hence the more you have to irrigate.


John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

I'm fairly new to this forum altho have gardened in various ways for many years but your post brings some questions to mind.

I'm curious about the size of your "garden" - will that be large enough for the plants you are planning? I find that quite a small garden and would probably use those 2'x10's and make 3 raised beds which are not so tall. Unless your base is pure bedrock you won't need more than 8" of good soil for most plants. If you loosen the base with a fork it will improve over time.

Of course there may be another reason you want to elevate the garden to make it easier to work but you really don't need IMO to have 28" of good soil. If you have any reasonable soil you could fill the tall bed with greens and browns mixed with soil and top it with 8"-10" of good soil, whatever is available. Any worms in the soil will have a feast.

If you start a compost bin ASAP you will have some good stuff to topdress your garden in a few months.

I've rarely come across bagged soils that are all that good at a low price, and I think it might be a pretty expensive way to garden if you buy that much at high prices. Better to buy some organic fertilizers to supplement until you can get that compost done.

I agree with Luckygal - no need to be so deep. 10" is fine.

Hi Again,

As to your raised bed heights....

I've got some high beds for low growing crops like zucchini and melons so I don't have to stoop to harvest them (I'm semi-disabled and it's a bit difficult to get down to ground level at times). I've also built salad tables (basically shallow raised beds on platforms) for things like lettuce, beets, carrots, etc. If you plan to grow indeterminate tomatoes (which most, if not all, heirloom tomatoes are), I don't think you want deep beds. They'll easily hit 6-7' tall and if you're starting out with a 2' high bed you'll never be able to pick them all without a ladder!

Anne

luckygal has a good point -- our bed is 4' wide and it's a bit wide for comfort. Anything else we build will either just be 4' square or only 3' wide.

I've varied a bit from SFG to do some companion planting. My oldest set of radishes are between two tomato plants and getting the ones farthest in is tricky. I also have some lettuce planted between the tomatoes and the peppers for maximum shade. I'll probably have trouble getting to the center of the section as well.

One other lesson learned: shorter people (I', 5'2") should not run trellis around two sides (i. e. around the corner) of a bed. Even though you can reach through the trellis, you are limited to what you can do/touch/see.

This is all making alot more sense now , and it sounds like in my case more(depth) is not necessarily better, I like the idea of 2 shorter boxes, at only 4' wide I would save lumber yet double my growing area.

this has been very helpfull advice . thanks everyone

also the best way to manage moisture loss is heaps of mulching, we use spoilt hay type mulches, we have no irrigation, the plants get on average a water a week generally using recycled water from the house.

len

I'm going to be making some raised beds next month and I'll first start with cardboard on top of the sod, wet it down, then a layer of wood chip mulch from a tree trimming company. I'll then get some composted horse manure from a local barn and spread that out pretty thick. As the summer goes by I'll be adding more layers of whatever I can find (I'm anticipating lots of coffee grounds, a fair amount of kitchen waste and grass clippings), and in the fall I'll be doing shredded leaves.

Granted, I don't plan on planting anything intil next spring (except garlic in the fall) so I'm not looking to directly grow anything immediately. However, my thought is - whatever I can get that's free :)