Raised gardens

whitehead., Sep 22, 12:30pm
you can get some thing to add to clay and it brakes down .try your garden centre
xs1100, Sep 16, 3:54pm
Do you fill them with top soil or potting mix or what plse. argument going on here lol
happychappy50, Sep 16, 3:57pm
I used soil with lots of compost,I have 2 big compost bins no there no shortage,would be expensive if using bags of potting mix tho.
copperboom, Sep 16, 4:01pm
I'm having this issue at the moment. We have built four beautiful raised beds, but don't want to spend $200-$300 filling them with soil.

So there they sit.
zeepaardje, Sep 16, 4:15pm
Fill the base with a few old hay or straw bales, just put soil with compost on the top. The bales will brake down over time, so you might have to top it up.
sky44, Sep 16, 4:16pm
Read up on straw bale or hay gardens.
xs1100, Sep 16, 4:29pm
Cheers everyone I was wrong I thought compost come potting mix and no soil
copperboom, Sep 16, 4:36pm
Thanks Sky and Zee - sorry XS for hijacking!

Will look at hay/straw
lythande1, Sep 17, 2:49am
Potting mix and bought compost is horrible stuff.
made from poo and ground up bark. Far better to use real dirt, made from well rotted compost, and your own mix with manure etc.
jan2242, Sep 17, 5:41am
If you know any farmers tackle them when they clean our their calf pens. My raised gardens took 80 metres of the stuff to fill. It is beautiful, no weeds, total nutrients and anything grew in it. Lasted about 5 years till the clay took over.
brightlights60, Sep 17, 8:51am
2 things I can recommend. Pig manure (guy out near Darfield that we use lists on here sometimes) is magic, no smell, fantastic stuff. I tend to use Bio Blend from Oderings. Hubby just takes the trailer down and gets me a scoop or two. Two scoops do my huge raised beds. One scoop this morning did all my rose beds. Fantastic stuff.
smallwoods, Sep 17, 11:06am
Top soil will compact down harder, is harder for water to penetrate and weeds are harder to pull out.

I filled mine with old sawdust up to about 150mm from the top (calf bedding will do), spread blood and bone and then good compost to about 50mm from the top.
Plant the plants in potting mix or seeds in seed raising mix (if direct sowing)
Each year I just top up the bed with new compost.
The sawdust is a great water storage holder and promotes big roots to the water.
The compost is free draining, so won't get root rot.
The potting mix makes weed removal easy.
robertsons-nes, Sep 17, 1:59pm
A) You admitted you were wrong?
B) Did you say sorry?
xs1100, Sep 19, 1:01pm
LOL of course lol
spiritofgonzo, Sep 20, 2:49pm
You're not wrong. The actual answer to the original question is either. The issue though is the cost, at $10 per bag for potting mix, most just use soil and then beef it up with compost and whatever else, like sheep pellets.
oh_hunnihunni, Mar 21, 4:54am
Some landscape suppliers can provide a purpose built mix, blown into place with a big bore hose. Works out quite reasonably economic if you are filling a number of beds and it can be tailored so it provides the right conditions for your environment. Worth a few phone calls.