What do i fill my raised bed with, will multi purpoes compost be ok if so do i have to change it every year
thanks
Anthony
raised beds
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter, Chief Spud
I'd not fill them completely, addition of manure etc over the years will raise the level of the soil. Given the cost of buying a large ammount of compost it might be worth doing a web search for lasagne beds to see the range of cheap/free material you could use to build up the soil.
Ive never heard of lasagne beds either. I am in dire need of soil because I have three new raised beds to make on a plot we got last year. So far we have only managed to make one bed by filling it with manure and some soil and the Mr or Mrs Mole found it delightfully full of worms so he or she proceeded to dig the whole of the bed up. Making my purple sprouting broccoli lean at alarming angles. They seem to be okay though we had two little spears last night for supper, mmmmm.
It may be that you fill with ordinary garden soil, mixed with manure, compost or whatever. Then each year you add more humus material onto the top , so that the soil becomes friable and no major digging has to be done before planting.It depends what your garden soil is like.
My problem is that the top soil was scraped away when the site was cleared for allotments and with all the heavy rain what little I did have has been washed away. So there is no chance of digging it over because there is only probably a couple of inches then it is clay. So my only option is to bring a load of soil in which will cost money.
The mind boggles at the people who scrapped away the topsoil ready to make allotments.. 
You might also try going on freecycle and ask for topsoil, there may be someone locally who's decided to cement over their garden and will let you take their soil.
You might also try going on freecycle and ask for topsoil, there may be someone locally who's decided to cement over their garden and will let you take their soil.