New Raised Beds - Filling?

Posts

• Loxley Posts: 5,698

  May 2020 edited May 2020

  You've put so much effort into making that lovely raised bed, it seems kind of mad to leave the back off and have soil pushing against the fence. I would knock some scaffold boards or gravel boards to the back to avoid damage and rot (I think they'd be ok against the posts).
  
  If your soil is reasonably well drained you don't particularly need a drainage layer IMHO... just leave the bottom to drain directly into the ground (don't line it with plastic!). The drainage layer of stones comes in when you have a bed sat on a slab of concrete or with a base.
  
  If you want to grow special plants that love very sharp drainage by all means add a drainage layer though!
  
  Other than that, just fill 'er up with topsoil. You should be able to estimate the volume required yourself or get a supplier to work it out for you. If you can find a local source of topsoil on Gumtree/Freecycle it might save you some money but watch your social distancing  I'd allow to add a couple of bags of compost to enrich it - but depending on what you want to grow, you might want to add grit instead for Lavender etc. Bear in mind the soil level will slump... assume you will fill almost to the top in your calculations.
  

  "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 

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• februarysgirl Posts: 835

  May 2020

  I built a couple of raised beds at the end of last year. I broke up some bricks to put in the bottom then filled them up with topsoil and general purpose compost from Wickes along with some native soil. I used a soil calculator and although it looked fine at the time of filling, once it settled over a wet winter, it became very obvious that I needed a lot more, possibly even the same amount again Next spring I'm going to take all the plants out so I can top it up and hopefully hide the black poly lining. I'd like to make some changes to the planting anyway so it's not the end of the world. Just not looking forward to lugging it all about again. I would say that however much soil you think you need, get more. 

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• whatwentwr0ng90 Posts: 3

  May 2020

  WillDB said:

  You've put so much effort into making that lovely raised bed, it seems kind of mad to leave the back off and have soil pushing against the fence. I would knock some scaffold boards or gravel boards to the back to avoid damage and rot (I think they'd be ok against the posts).
  
  If your soil is reasonably well drained you don't particularly need a drainage layer IMHO... just leave the bottom to drain directly into the ground (don't line it with plastic!). The drainage layer of stones comes in when you have a bed sat on a slab of concrete or with a base.
  
  If you want to grow special plants that love very sharp drainage by all means add a drainage layer though!
  
  Other than that, just fill 'er up with topsoil. You should be able to estimate the volume required yourself or get a supplier to work it out for you. If you can find a local source of topsoil on Gumtree/Freecycle it might save you some money but watch your social distancing  I'd allow to add a couple of bags of compost to enrich it - but depending on what you want to grow, you might want to add grit instead for Lavender etc. Bear in mind the soil level will slump... assume you will fill almost to the top in your calculations.
  

  Thanks for your reply, I'll get some scaffold boards or timber to reinforce the back and leave a little gap from the fence. 
  
  Not sure which plants yet, i may get some gravel to just cheaply fill the bottom. 
  
  i'll check Gumtree/ Freecycle. Again thanks for the recommendations I'll come back once it's filled to get plant ideas. 

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