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New Green house
svaideshwar
Posts: 1
Hi, I have set up a new greenhouse and planning to plant Vegetables like aubergine, chilli, Oakra and tomato. Have setup three different raised beds but have dug 1 1/2 feet. Need advise on what to fill up. Please, can you help me choose between Top Soil/ Compost/ Manure.
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I used a mixture in my raised beds it was expensive and I used Horse manure and multipurose and even some top soil, heavy work too. You ,ust have a bigger G/h than I have. I chose to lay slabs and pea gravel and use pots and planters etc..That way if it gets too crowded I can move things.. Kinda difficult if they are in the ground..But good luck, can't wait to get planting..
Last edited: 17 February 2018 23:01:18
I used a mixture of the three for my raised flowerbed too, probably weighted slightly towards topsoil. I'm not sure if it's the best thing to do, but it seems fine.
FYI - I like Wickes topsoil in 25 litre bags. It's the cheapest topsoil I've found in bags and the quality looks good as far as I can tell. It's so keenly priced that tonne bags are hardly any cheaper per litre, so I opt for Wickes because it's infinitely easier to work with topsoil in 25 litre bags than a tonne at a time.
MPC and manure are cheaper per litre than topsoil, but they'll compact a lot over time.
I know what you mean it all compacts over the season.. I do dig it over weed n feed before planting.. I find its a bit wet and cold at the moment.. I cannot get to a Wickes now as I had to give up driving last Sept. But bought lots of bags of various goodies grow bags, bark chips mult pot compost etc.. thinking ahead.
Last edited: 21 February 2018 00:01:19
Wickes will deliver for £7.95, or it's free for orders above £75. If you're filling a raised bed, you may well cross that threshold.
Sometimes people struggle with the maths to work out how much soil etc the need in a raised bed. Let's assume your bed is 2 metres long by 0.7 metres wide by 1.1 metres high. The volume is 2 x 0.7 x 1.1 = 1.54 cubic metres.
Multiply this by 1000 to work out how many litres it is: 1.54 x 1000 = 1540 litres.
So if you want an even split of topsoil, compost and manure, you want about 500 litres of each. If topsoil is in 25 litre bags that's 20 bags of topsoil. If MPC is in 40 litre bags that's about 13 bags of MPC. If manure is in 30 litre bags, that's 17 bags of manure. It's probably worth getting another ~10 bags of topsoil if you have space to store them, so you can top up the bed in a few months when it starts to compact.