We're lucky in France, all our rubbish goes to the local tip including the green waste it gets taken away for processing and then we buy it back, it cost me 35 euros to fill my trailer approximatelly 6 cubic metres. mind you my mate lives over the county border in the Vendee where they have a dumping area not far from them, a wagon collects their green waste after first dumping a load of processed waste which he collects free of charge. when I'm visiting I take my trailer and help myself nobody seems to mind.
I started both of mine by digging the soil where I placed them first (soil grows when dug over and then settles over time) which probably gave an inch or 2 in the bottom, the rest I made up with multipurpose compost from B&Q on multisave deals (quality varies with each bag, some have quite big bits of wood in). It will settle over time, but once you get started you will actually have stuff to compost and soon your own compost heap(s) will be going strongly for future top ups.
Manure is good stuff, but it needs time to rot before you plant/sow in the bed, you may still have time, depends how soon you aim to get growing, only reason I didn't use any originally was because I was already well into the sowing season and wanted to use the beds immediately.
I would dig mine over but I haven't seen them for a couple of weeks, stupid snow!
Thankyou all for the great advice, I hadn't thought about only filling them partway at first but that makes a lot of sense both in terms of finances & protection for the seedlings!!
As promised a pic of one of my raised beds, filled the bottom with layers of cardboard & the almost composted contents of my own compost bin & then the rest is a mix of compost, organic topsoil & manure, I've filled two so far but the third will have to wait until payday!! Thanks again for all the advice!
That looks really good! What are your plans for planting. This is my second year of square foot gardening, but I get really bogged down with rotational and successional planting. Especially as my OH sowed the broad beans and onions in November using a whole bed for each.
I made a raised bed the start of this year, its 2ft wide X 3ft long X 3ft high. I filled this with 5 bags of Jack's Magic multi purpose compost they were on offer 3 for £10 or was it £12? I am also doing the square ft gardening, at the moment i have Garlic growing in 2 of the squares If you can get ahold of topsoil and seive out the stones that would probs be cheaper
Horse manure in the base is good for nutrients and keeps the soil warmer as it decomposes. And you can normally get it for free! I then buy topsoil from my local recycling plant to go on top. If growing veg I then put more manure over the top in the winter to rot down. Or scatter some around the plants in my flower border. Don't let fresh manure touch the actual plant though
A couple of friends of mine told me last week that they had erected a 15 foot by 6 foot raised bed in their back garden and a relative was dropping off a trailer load of topsoil over their front hedge (their only option) The only trouble is that the path to the back garden has a dog-leg next to a wall so a wheelbarrow isn't an option. I will see them tomorrow to hear the latest.
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We're lucky in France, all our rubbish goes to the local tip including the green waste it gets taken away for processing and then we buy it back, it cost me 35 euros to fill my trailer approximatelly 6 cubic metres. mind you my mate lives over the county border in the Vendee where they have a dumping area not far from them, a wagon collects their green waste after first dumping a load of processed waste which he collects free of charge. when I'm visiting I take my trailer and help myself nobody seems to mind.
I started both of mine by digging the soil where I placed them first (soil grows when dug over and then settles over time) which probably gave an inch or 2 in the bottom, the rest I made up with multipurpose compost from B&Q on multisave deals (quality varies with each bag, some have quite big bits of wood in). It will settle over time, but once you get started you will actually have stuff to compost and soon your own compost heap(s) will be going strongly for future top ups.
Manure is good stuff, but it needs time to rot before you plant/sow in the bed, you may still have time, depends how soon you aim to get growing, only reason I didn't use any originally was because I was already well into the sowing season and wanted to use the beds immediately.
I would dig mine over but I haven't seen them for a couple of weeks, stupid snow!
As promised a pic of one of my raised beds, filled the bottom with layers of cardboard & the almost composted contents of my own compost bin & then the rest is a mix of compost, organic topsoil & manure, I've filled two so far but the third will have to wait until payday!! Thanks again for all the advice!
That looks really good! What are your plans for planting. This is my second year of square foot gardening, but I get really bogged down with rotational and successional planting. Especially as my OH sowed the broad beans and onions in November using a whole bed for each.
4 tons of sifted topsoil delivered this very morning to start filling raised beds in polytunnel.
I made a raised bed the start of this year, its 2ft wide X 3ft long X 3ft high. I filled this with 5 bags of Jack's Magic multi purpose compost
they were on offer 3 for £10 or was it £12? I am also doing the square ft gardening, at the moment i have Garlic growing in 2 of the squares 
If you can get ahold of topsoil and seive out the stones that would probs be cheaper 
I paid £132 for 4 tons of screened soil ,delivered.
Horse manure in the base is good for nutrients and keeps the soil warmer as it decomposes. And you can normally get it for free! I then buy topsoil from my local recycling plant to go on top. If growing veg I then put more manure over the top in the winter to rot down. Or scatter some around the plants in my flower border. Don't let fresh manure touch the actual plant though
A couple of friends of mine told me last week that they had erected a 15 foot by 6 foot raised bed in their back garden and a relative was dropping off a trailer load of topsoil over their front hedge (their only option) The only trouble is that the path to the back garden has a dog-leg next to a wall so a wheelbarrow isn't an option. I will see them tomorrow to hear the latest.