Raised bed soil.

When we started we did not have great soils and a kid in a wheelchair so I have a lot of raised beds.  After 4 years our soils are better, but not that good.

4 years ago I filled the raised beds with logs, fresh wood chips, and 4" of compost.
2 years ago I mixed 50 / 50 compost and a fungal dominant compost and put down about 4".
I need to add about 3 to 4" of something this spring.

We do keep something planted in the beds year round.

I have had a few issues from the large amount of compost we use, but have been able to overcome the issues.

I do not have much top soil, but have tons of clay.  I will have about 10 square yards of compost and 5 square yards of a fungal dominant compost that I can pull from to fill the beds.  I don't mind buying something to add, but do not know what to buy.

What are your thoughts.

I wouldn't wait till spring to dress the beds.
I usually compost leaves and such right on top of the soil,  and only remove the excess in the spring.
Maybe consider adding targeted nutrients, like urine if the foliage struggles, or bone meal for fruiting crops.
I got much better fruiting from my container blueberries after I gave them some aged urine.

Jack,

I agree with William that now is the time!  Go ahead and add those nutrients in advance.  I would recommend long-acting, slow-release nutrients since you have the time.

And clay is ok, especially if you mix it with all that fungal dominated compost.  If you want to get more ambitious still, top the whole thing with some organic mulch like leaves (chopped or shredded is best) or straw.

Good luck, and if you have any more questions, fire away!

Eric

I like to suggest all the cheap and free stuff, see:

Anne said, "To me, "on the cheap" means anything I can get for free.

Some possible "free" organic matter would be veggie scraps, grass clipping, leaves, wood chips, and coffee grounds.

Look for people putting those out as trash.  Homeowners and restaurants.

Try Chip Drop for wood chips.

Also consider mushrooms growing for soil health.

https://permies.com/t/203631/Improving-clay-soil-cheap#1679393

From your post, it sounds like you have been doing a great job of building those beds.

You've got a great start on the raised beds. My first impression was that you didn't add any soil to the beds. I can see why you'd be reluctant to add clay, but it is a beneficial additive. It needs to be mixed with a lot of organic matter to break up the clay structure and make the nutrients more available. When we lived in Colorado (packed clay soil) we found that about 10% clay to 90% organic material (hay, straw, compost, etc.) was a good start, then let the earthworms do their job in mixing it up nicely.

Overall, a very nice job!

I currently have a 5 way cover drop that is 4 to 8" tall on the beds.  My plan was to crimp them in the spring and top off the beds.  Am I better off doing it now or in the spring?

Most of my leaves have already been mulched up and mixed with wood chips and the left overs from sending 4 lambs to camp freezer.

So mixing in some clay into the topping mix is not going to hurt me in the long run like I thought It would.

Thank you for the replies.  

That's a lot of great biomass from your cover crops!
It also sounds like you have your carbon sources tied up making awesome compost already.
Do you expect more growth on the cover crops between now and spring?
If so, adding liquid amendments could feed the soil without disturbing the living plants.

Honestly,  you seem to really be on top of things already.