How to Fill a Raised Bed and Save 60%+ on Soil Costs

Then, fill the remainder with a high-quality mix that you can either buy or make yourself. This method is particularly useful when growing in TALL (18"+) beds, as you don't need the perfect soil mix all of the way down. Over time, the fill material will break down and become food for bacteria, fungi, and other soil life and turn into high-quality soil for your garden over the years.

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[andypandit]

Great use of common sense. You saved me a lot of effort. I am 80 and getting into farming now.

[bncsmom]

Another money saver: call local dairies and horse farms and ask if they have any composted manure available. It’s rich in nutrients and the farms sometimes offer it free or really cheap. You can mix that into your potting/raised bed soil and end up with that much more fertile soil to grow in while cutting your costs. Another option is to contact your local arborists and ask if they can drop a load of wood chips in your driveway. They usually are happy to give you wood chips because otherwise they may have to pay to dispose of them. The wood chips can go in the bottom or on top, or both. :)

[ennykraft]

If you want to do hügelkultur, you SHOULD put in some coarser matter like logs and twigs at the bottom since they will take a long time to compost, providing natural heat for your raised bed. Next level is plant and grass clipping, then a layer of partially composted material and manure and then garden soil mixed with fully composted matter. While the layers compost, the density will increase and you fill up your raised bed with compost/soil every year. That way a raised bed will last around six to seven years till you have to start it anew. Of course you can leave it but then you lose the advantage of earlier and more abundant growth.
ETA: Please don't use any soil that contains peat. While it's fantastic for your garden, it comes from bogs which are decimated for peat production, resulting in the loss of a unique natural habitat. It is not considered re-newable.

[shawnconnell]

True that and the Australian homie who doin his thing holding in down down under with the self sufficientness....that guy legit too

[onedae]

I've been doing this for years. Totally a money saver. Basically use bottom half of your bed as a compost pile and cover with raised bed mix to plant in to. Works like a charm. Great video!

[jheart]

Stumbled across your channel this morning and wanted to say thank you! We lost out house in the city to a fire, and decided to move to the country. We have never gardened before, so my daughter and I are brand new to this. Weve just put up about 12 raised beds and started some tomatoe seedlings. They just started poking their little heads up and- i started to panic lol. Now what? How do I move them? When and how often do I water? So many questions and no one to ask. So, thanks to google, I found you and a few other amazing gardeners who are sharing their knowledge. We appreciate you so very much. ❤

[charlottemcdermott]

Thank you so much!! My husband is building a raised bed for me for Mother’s Day tomorrow and I’m super excited to start gardening! We were freaking out about the cost of soil this morning though and feeling pretty discouraged. So glad I just found this! ☺️👍🏼

[jakep]

This channel and self sufficient me are my favorite garden channels very informative. It would be awesome to see you guys do a colab video

[tanluwils]

I ended up spending $80 on soil ingredients (peat moss, leaf humus compost, vermiculite, and perlite) today to fill a 12' x 5' bed, which I anticipate will be about 12" high. I appreciate this video very much because to purchase any more of those ingredients would almost defeat the purpose of saving money by growing my own food. Lots of us growers need to do it on a budget, so I appreciate the thought that went into this video.

[tonytan]

You and Self Sufficient Me are my favorite people to watch on this topic. Keep it up you two

[joannesherwood]

This is exactly what I'm planning to do in my new raised beds, and larger containers. The price of compost has become astronomical here in England (more profiteering!!!) so I'm using pruning, leaves, garden, and kitchen waste. Keep calm, and carry on! 😊👍🌱

[forevergogo]

I've been doing that for months, kitchen scraps, yard clippings, filling two huge raised beds. Did some big limb trimming and mulched the branches, that went in too. Once it was about 1/3 full or so, I went out and got a few Huge bags of organic raised bed soil, and now I got veggies on one side of my patio and some decorative plants on the other side.

[barbarap]

You can also use cardboard and newspapers as well, I even shredded up the box that the raised bed came in and mixed that in with the other materials I put in the bottom.

[yaakovina]

Lol whenever I’m filling up a new raised bed, I remind my friends this is the perfect place to hide the bodies.

[rcwilliams]

Mel Bartholomew always leaves a warm spot in my heart! I never missed Square Foot Gardening in my misspent youth. I even got the book and started my own garden. Thank you for that callback!

[karinoshea]

This last October we had a massive ice storm. The power company, as they cut down downed limbs and trees, they just piled them up and left them for homeowners to clean up. I used it to start six 4×12 foot raised beds. I have also gotten a kiddie pool and some fabric pots to start a small 'necessaries' garden until I can fill my beds with organic materials.

Thank you for all of the info, am a new subscriber, and will be bingeing your channel tonight! Much love from Oklahoma!!!

[atmmyers]

Thanks Kevin! Love how you just accentuated and expanded on something I already do -- and I'll definitely use some of your tips. Some additional things I use include "old used" potting mix (window boxes and containers that are ready for fresh soil after some years of use), lower quality ground soil that I partly replace when planting roses, shrubs, and perennials, leaves leaves leaves saved from last fall, and the boxes and boxes of organic matter from my husband's orchid growing hobby (okay, "obsession" -- tons of leaves, roots, flowers, and used growing medium). Thanks again -- love your channel -- just discovered it this winter. So ready to use your tips in my small Chicago vegetable garden!

[AndyHolmesADI]

Nice vid - thank you 👍🏽
I generally fill big pot and raised areas with any old smashed crockery, plastic objects and broken bricks.. plants like to wrap their roots around things which also serves as oxygen pockets.

[chinatownboy]

At the bottom of every container, or raised bed, I use a few inches of clay pellets. The same type that people use for aquaponics. Allows for better drainage. Sand on top of that. Along with the twigs, branches, leaves, and organic matter, I scoop on worm castings and worms to process it all.

[downunderthunder]

Im making my garden beds at least 1 metre tall as im also 6'4" and also keeps my Jack Russel and Mini Foxy off my garden i live in the tropics of Northern Australia great channel cheers.