Affordable soil for raised beds?

Ideally, I'd be filling raised beds with my own compost. But here we are.
What are more affordable options than buying soil at $7 per cubic foot from the garden shop?

First: Soil is composed of three major components: sand (good for drainage), clay (good for holding water) and organic matter (loam/compost- broken down organic matter that provides nutrients and holds water).  The first two are cheaper than compost and should be part of the mix.

Second: A partial answer is to fill the lower part (~1/3-1/2) with wood logs.  They are generally free and available locally.  This is effectively a hugel raised bed.  The logs will slowly break down, contributing organic matter to the beds.  They will act (when rotting) as water sponges that absorb water when there is plenty and leak out water when the bed is dry.  One thing to be aware of is that your soil level will go down noticeably for the first year or two as the wood breaks down.  You will need to top off the beds with additional compost each year.

Third: Another partial answer is to produce your own compost, but this takes time.  This site is rich with various ways to produce compost.  My primary compost comes from my chickens and deep litter bedding.  I use it to top off the natural settling/shrinkage of my raised beds each year.

I put together quite a few raised beds at one time and found myself almost overwhelmed by the task of trying to fill them without breaking the bank.

Cujo gives really good ideas so credit to their response.

I have found that some natural materials work really well as fill. I'm talking about grass clippings and leaves. You do not need to limit yourself to your own properties if you know people who put out their bagged yard waste. You essentially would be making a compost pile, just in the raised beds before covering it with finished compost/soil ingredients.

Excellent help here 💜

My assumption was that for raised beds, compost needed to be finished. I have a fair amount of half-done that will probably be great. It's full of worms so even better once I get the cardboard down.  
I have a lotnof property that I can take mulch from but for some reason I wasn't imagining it as soil... again with the idea that it needs to be finished.

I'm pecking away, trying to be the right amount of ambitious about my half forested property and all the work that coaxing a "traditional" garden from it entails.  

Right now I have a 15(??) foot long bed with onions and garlic and just built two 3x2.5 and two 5x2.5  from clearance lumber. A paltry number of square feet compared to the 2 acres of property I have but I am *fairly* confident that I can keep the deer away from 40 square feet... not so much the rest YET.

You will want a layer of 'finished' soil to grow in, but bulk can be made up of other things such as non-woody yard waste or making it into a hugel.

A word of caution, you do not want to mix in wood chips in your growing layer. They can tie up nitrogen and lead to a growing headache.

Timothy Norton wrote:You will want a layer of 'finished' soil to grow in, but bulk can be made up of other things such as non-woody yard waste or making it into a hugel.

A word of caution, you do not want to mix in wood chips in your growing layer. They can tie up nitrogen and lead to a growing headache.

So wood chips on the bottom and, in my case, small branches are okay, but just not where leaves and flowers can see and touch it?

Keep the woody material to the bottom half of the raised beds and you will be okay.  The soil/compost on the top will be fine for supporting the plants and the roots will grow around and down among the woody parts.  Later on, as the wood rots, the roots will actually grow onto/into the wood and use it as a water battery.

Many cities now have their own composting facilities if you live near one of those it can be a less expensive source of soil for beds.  Ours sales a 50/50 blend of compost and top soil at a price I could almost afford.  We also got a pickup bed full of finished compost from there for something like $14...

Dorothy Pohorelow wrote:Many cities now have their own composting facilities if you live near one of those it can be a less expensive source of soil for beds.  Ours sales a 50/50 blend of compost and top soil at a price I could almost afford.  We also got a pickup bed full of finished compost from there for something like $14...

I-ve not heard of one here but I'll ask around.

Now I just sit in the yard and stare until their optimal placement is revealed to me.

One other bio source would be cattails because they are not normally grazed.

I have heard of people using the chip Drop app with success. But you may get more chips than you realize. How big were these beds?

Bags of yard clippings from Neighbors was also mentioned, you might want to eyeball the house there in front of first and see if it looks like they use a lot of harsh chemicals in the yard.

Is there a Community Center or local park organization that you could ask about inexpensive filler materials? They might know of some for the grabbing.

If you are feeling very intrepreneurial, or if you have a kid and a lawn mower with a bagger. Approach the neighbors or people on your street about mowing their lawn, and offer to bag up and remove the clippings at no additional cost. You can work for pay, or tips. (Wink wink)
Getting paid to take it is the best price. Free is the second best price.

Spoiled hay from a farmer, the if there is too much of it it may start to ferment and heat up like a compost pile, which may not be good for the plants unless the beds can sit for several weeks before you top off and plant them.

Some Stables will give you access to the manure pile where they toss all the bedding from the Stalls. This will be 'hot' and really needs to age a bit first but maybe you can find an older pile that's been sitting for 6 months. Or mix it in with the wood chips or dirt or other materials that you get.

Looking at that last pic, it appears you have plenty of turf. It's a fair bit of work, but cutting turf squares and placing them upside down in the beds would end up with pretty fair soil.

Find new construction site. Get permission to remove some soil when no construction is going on.  Be sure to obtain the name of the person giving you permission.

Nancy Graven wrote:I have heard of people using the chip Drop app with success. But you may get more chips than you realize. How big were these beds?

I've used Chip Drop twice.  Loved the first.  Hated the second drop.  The first delivered an ideal amount of chips (20 wheelbarrows full).  The second delivered more than 3x as much and I had a hard time dealing with the extra.  Plus it had a lot of trash in it.  If you want to use the service, be sure to read their warnings and have a plan if you get a larger delivery.

Three years ago I lucked into a good quality organic raised bed soil on clearance for $2 a bag.  Filled the back of my SUV and rented a U-haul pickup for around $30 and went back and purchased the rest.  That was probably a once in a lifetime find but I just did use the last of those bags.  

Prior to that I'd scavenge the woods for rotted logs and bring back the fluffy bits to use in my beds.  Did that quite a bit during the pandemic and ended up with a bit of a nitrogen deficiency but still managed a crop.  One of my best finds was the top of a river sandbar in which leaves piled up by floods had broken down and developed into a sandy loam. The sandbar was slated to be removed because it was obstructing the flow of one of the tributaries and causing flooding upstream and once again probably the find of a lifetime.  I continue to scavenge leaves, grass clippings, chicken crap and any other organic matter I can find.  I managed to produce enough compost last year to rip off 2/3 of my garden beds.  

The nearest big town has a composting center but they use it for the town's landscaping and do not sell to the permies.  Honestly I don't know if I'd be comfortable using it or any other bagged soils right now due to all the concerns about lingering herbicides.

Chip drop may be great in some areas but in five years I've received nada.  Last year there was extensive trimming of the woodland power line right-of-ways and we specifically asked for chips when they obtained permission to be on our land.  A few days later one of the drivers walked up our driveway and explained that there was no way he could maneuver the truck up the incline and get turned around.  Thankfully our neighbors came to the rescue and offered their yard as a dumping ground.  I have a huge pile here and still have a huge mound there to move.  Lots of work but free chips!

High Sarah

I have three suggestions for you--Wood Chips, Wood Chips and More Wood Chips!  Personally, I rent a chipper to chip up some brush around me and pile the chips into my garden beds.  From there, I inoculate with mushroom spawn (Wine Caps) which quickly break down the wood chips.  By the next year, I have wonderfully spongy, fertile garden bedding.  

In the meantime, I still want to grow in my garden so I dig fertile holes and fertile trenches in my wood chip garden and plant my veggies.  The shade from the veggies helps to shade the mushrooms and regulates the moisture levels.  Also, the plant roots and the fungi like to interact with each other.  If you are interested, I have a whole thread dedicated to making garden bedding with Wine Cap mushrooms (which, by-the-way, are also edible).

Curious?

Eric

Michelle Heath wrote:Three years ago I lucked into a good quality organic raised bed soil on clearance for $2 a bag. ...

Prior to that I'd scavenge the woods for rotted logs and bring back the fluffy bits to use in my beds.  Did that quite a bit during the pandemic and ended up with a bit of a nitrogen deficiency but still managed a crop.  One of my best finds was the top of a river sandbar in which leaves piled up by floods had broken down and developed into a sandy loam. The sandbar was slated to be removed because it was obstructing the flow of one of the tributaries and causing flooding upstream and once again probably the find of a lifetime.  I continue to scavenge leaves, grass clippings, chicken crap and any other organic matter I can find.  I managed to produce enough compost last year to rip off 2/3 of my garden beds.  

The nearest big town has a composting center but they use it for the town's landscaping and do not sell to the permies.  Honestly I don't know if I'd be comfortable using it or any other bagged soils right now due to all the concerns about lingering herbicides.

Chip drop may be great in some areas but in five years I've received nada. ...

Some excellent points.  If you can find local, natural, free resources, that is best.  Municipal and commercial compost is questionable.
I found a similar end-of-season clearance deal on organic fertilizers 2 years ago.  Bought a bunch and am still using it.
I didn't get anything from Chip Drop until I offered some cash as an incentive.  I paid $20 for each of my deliveries.

FYI- Raised bed soil = potting soil.  No difference except for branding.

Another option I haven't seen mentioned yet is buying your soil in bulk from a garden center. Our local place will sell a bobcat scoop of decent soil for $50. It was a heavy scoop - probably more than a cubic yard. They just dropped it into the bed of our truck. They will also fire up their dump truck for $50 and deliver as many scoops as you'd like within a 10-mile radius. Perhaps somewhere near you offers something similar.

As far as getting free chips, I recommend finding one of your local tree cutters and talk to them about it. There are so many of those companies these days, and most work within a fairly small area. At least where I'm at they are happy to not have to pay or drive somewhere to dump their chips, and they also benefit from the positive publicity when you get excited and tell all your friends about your latest chip drop. Being well-known as trustworthy and professional is often important in their line of work.

I would also like to echo Chard Irkinga little with the idea of bulk soil from a garden center.

I personally have a good relationship with a local farm that does windrow compost. Through conversation and even touring their operation I got to learn about their inputs, process, and evaluate their final product. They deliver locally and are my primary source of finished compost to top off beds each year while I get my own compost operation into full swing.

You might find local farms that will sell it for cheap, just make sure to evaluate the product first if you can. I've had some stony compost come in that required quite a bit of sifting before use. It can be hit or miss.

Another tip when choosing bagged soil is to find a bag that's ripped open and visually and physically inspect that soil.  Some of it is absolute crap and some of it is wonderful even though it's all labeled "organic."  Check every time you purchase as each lot of soil can vary greatly.

The brand evergreen sell compost and top soil The lowest price per cuft without additional discounts is $2.68. A 50/50 mix has good water retention but I recommend adding 1/4 cuft of sand

Before moving to the boondocks we had a local dirt company that deliver a variety of soil mixes.

One of these mixes was for garden beds.

why not look for a local company that delivers soil and see if this company offers a garden mis?

Eric Hanson wrote:High Sarah

I have three suggestions for you--Wood Chips, Wood Chips and More Wood Chips!  Personally, I rent a chipper to chip up some brush around me and pile the chips into my garden beds.  From there, I inoculate with mushroom spawn (Wine Caps) which quickly break down the wood chips.  By the next year, I have wonderfully spongy, fertile garden bedding.  

In the meantime, I still want to grow in my garden so I dig fertile holes and fertile trenches in my wood chip garden and plant my veggies.  The shade from the veggies helps to shade the mushrooms and regulates the moisture levels.  Also, the plant roots and the fungi like to interact with each other.  If you are interested, I have a whole thread dedicated to making garden bedding with Wine Cap mushrooms (which, by-the-way, are also edible).

Curious?

Eric

Hey Eric! I have done one round of wine caps but  with straw. We had many wonderful flushes. It is now regularly getting into the 90s so I haven't seen much of them. However! My question is- are the wine caps picky about type of wood chips? Also have you had any luck with compost or pine needles?

I also have my first veggie crop planted in the winter wine cap bed (ie mini raised bed) - looking forward to seeing how things grow! It 100% improved the clay soil that was there before.

Hi Sarah, I just filled 4 new raised beds.  You are right it can be very expensive.  I filled the bottom with wood. (Make sure you fill all the cracks with soil)  Then I used native soil, then I used shedded cardboard, then soil from my chicken coop, then I used bagged organic compost and organic soil. I find I can be creative when filling raised beds as long as the top 6" give or take an inch is the highest quality organic soil I can afford.  
When I fill tall raised beds I fill the bottom with logs, or old firewood, then branches, then wood chips. There's some kind of soil in all the cracks and between the layers.  I always sprinkle some high nitrogen fertilizer on the wood layers, like alfalfa meal, blood meal, chicken manure. My theory is giving extra nitrogen for the composting wood to use, so it doesn't deprive the veggies.   I may be wrong, but I've had good results.
Good luck

I have forest so I collect fallen dead branches, pine cones, etc., any brush that has been cleared, plus hydrangea branches come fall, Jerusalem artichoke stems which can reach over 15' high, and the stinging nettle stems around the beginning of July, about 5-7' high, and again in fall. Weeds go on top, without shaking out their soil, which I try to plant roots first, and give them water, so they will hold down the compost and keep in the moisture. Right now, I have summer squash growing on a hill of nettle stems that are on top of a nettle patch on relatively new cardboard-pigeon poop compost that is still relatively immature but absorbent enough for nettles, and I did dress the top with a bit of slightly mossy discounted black soil for $1 per bag -- all I could handle in 2023-2024 physically, so bulk was out.
I added a second row with spent non insecticide scratchy hay bales, which I leave with the pigeons for their winter digs, dressed the tops of those too, and between added the stuff I just mentioned. So essentially I have a ditch full of new compost that's mainly nitrogen between two raised beds, one being straw bale fashion that's doing okay with the remainder of my summer squash, and both raised beds are benefiting from the nitrogen ditch. By the end of fall, that ditch will have a lot more debris, and perhaps a pile of seeds -- perhaps more asparagus berries.

My hay bales were $5 CAD so about $4, but they were insulation for an entire winter for my livestock. So pretty cheap and really effective. The ditch in the middle can be left alone for a few years while the asparagus matures, and the nettle hill now has a bunch of seed heads buried so they will provide greens in early spring, green manure before a crop goes in, and on the walkway beside that is lemon balm: tough enough for being walked on as long as it is also watered.

Another thing I do is pick up free horse manure, but having forest with brush to add helps keep the compost alive. Key is to keep it living, and add non invasive weeds on the hill so you don't have to buy wooden edging -- an expensive and time consuming endeavor. Weeds, wild carrots, onions, peas, radishes and mustard will do a good job of holding down the soil on those hills.

Pictures coming after my phone charges

Ra Kenworth wrote:I have forest so I collect fallen dead branches, pine cones, etc., any brush that has been cleared, plus hydrangea branches come fall, Jerusalem artichoke stems which can reach over 15' high,  

I built a 2' X 6' raised bed for a friend and will build one more for her sister. To fill, I just had a couple of straw bales that I put on the bottom, assuming that they would eventually disintegrate into compost. That took up a good 8" to 9" - then I layered clay soil with manure/compost. Last was the approximate 9" layer of good top soil for the plants. I started with a kit of corrugated metal at 11" and added 2" X 12" under that. With the extra length added with the four corner posts that made the working height just right to be able to stand and work any plants growing.

This worked great for the old lady as she didn't need to bend over or get on her knees to tend her garden. She loved it.

My main garden is composed of raised beds that cost little or nothing but that's because by "raised bed" I mean a permanent bed that's higher than the pathways between the beds, but doesn't have wooden sides, and is anywhere from 3" to 8" higher than the pathways. The main source of dirt is just what's robbed from the pathways--I don't want them to have good growing ground. But it's necessary with my clay soil to add compost of some sort and sand. I wish someone would give me too much wood chips! Not for soil building but for mulch (which does eventually feed the soil).

If I try to do the full work a garden tends to require, my body gets real angry and talks me out of it. I no longer have anyone to help me. So for a few years I didn't garden. This year I was gonna have a garden even if I had to cut corners to make it happen. I acquired a few IBC totes a few years back and one didn't hold water because someone removed the drain valve by cutting the threads off the tote. There were 3" or 4" of old sawdust on the bottom. I spread one brooder worth of chicken bedding over that. Then raked leaves all winter and threw them in there. I didn't have any big pieces of wood to put in, but I did add in some sticks that fell in the yard. I made sure to keep them out of the top several inches. Of course the leaves settle a lot as they break down. It was full about three times over the winter. In the spring we divided a bag of cheap potting soil into about ten little piles on top of the leaves and put a seed potato into each. They grew decently, as did some peas, a squash vine and a potted strawberry and it's pups. Like a proper hugel, I expect it to improve over time as things break down. It looks like I'll have to top it up every winter for several years, if that ever ends. It's currently about 1/3 full.

Sarah Soleil wrote:Ideally, I'd be filling raised beds with my own compost. But here we are.
What are more affordable options than buying soil at $7 per cubic foot from the garden shop?

We made ours from free leaf mold from under our live oak trees, bagged aged manure, and clay we found on our property.

Making compost ... brilliant!

Wood chips ... brilliant!

Mushrooms .... brilliant!

I filled a raised bed cheap and in a hurry 2 years ago. The first thing I threw in was old half-rotted wood branches I had laying around, plus any nonseedy weeds and stalks of whatever. Then the soil that I purchased, mixed with homemade compost. We didn't have a lot of rain that year; at least 2 long dry spells when the rain barrels and the skies were empty. But that bed showed the least stress and wilting compared to others. I think the old wood acted like a sponge and held water for the roots.

However, this year I was desperate for space and planted sweet potatoes in this bed. I suspect that the potatoes are going to be difficult to extract from the wood in a few places. I might be tearing the soil all to heck come harvest time.

Someone mentioned filling with 100% compost; is this a good idea or not? I have been asking myself if there needs to be more clay mixed in, or at least native soil. Seems to me I read somewhere that clay has more minerals, while compost has plenty of nitrogen.

Lots of great tips here. Summer chip drops are great for composting since they have leaves and other green sources to speed up the breakdown. I piled up mine near the woods and let it rot for a year.

For my raised beds I did big logs in the bottom, then filled the rest with hale bales. I soaked the bales with crystallized urine from an online retailer. It is a high nitrogen source you mix with water and the carbon of the bales to break it down. Then I topped with bagged compost, dirt, and anything else I could get.

If you go this route, fill it up higher than you expect, mine shrank in half. I filled mine at the end of growing season so that it would break down over winter and be ready for spring planting.


Potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, acorn squash, peppers, nasturtium, dill, and comfrey all growing well in these beds.

j, you're describing hugelkultur, which is supposed to be particularly good for drought.

Cujo Liva wrote:First: Soil is composed of three major components: sand (good for drainage), clay (good for holding water) and organic matter (loam/compost- broken down organic matter that provides nutrients and holds water).  The first two are cheaper than compost and should be part of the mix.

Second: A partial answer is to fill the lower part (~1/3-1/2) with wood logs.  They are generally free and available locally.  This is effectively a hugel raised bed.  The logs will slowly break down, contributing organic matter to the beds.  They will act (when rotting) as water sponges that absorb water when there is plenty and leak out water when the bed is dry.  One thing to be aware of is that your soil level will go down noticeably for the first year or two as the wood breaks down.  You will need to top off the beds with additional compost each year.

Third: Another partial answer is to produce your own compost, but this takes time.  This site is rich with various ways to produce compost.  My primary compost comes from my chickens and deep litter bedding.  I use it to top off the natural settling/shrinkage of my raised beds each year.

I agree about the logs.
I have 8ft x 4ft x 2 ft tall metal raised beds.  The bottom half to 2/3 is logs and branches.  I filled in the gaps with horse manure and wood chips from cleaning a stable.  The top 1/3 to 1/2 is topsoil I got cheap from a sand company.  In my area there is 1 to 2 feet of top soil over the sand in river valleys.  The sand companies need to remove the top soil before they can extract the sand.  I got a cubic yard for about $20.
Basically they are hugels in a metal sleeve.
Yes, they settle a couple inches a year.  I make up the loss with compost and chop & drop and burying kitchen waste.
I'm really happy with the results.

Timothy Norton wrote:You will want a layer of 'finished' soil to grow in, but bulk can be made up of other things such as non-woody yard waste or making it into a hugel.

A word of caution, you do not want to mix in wood chips in your growing layer. They can tie up nitrogen and lead to a growing headache.

.

I found a horse stable that is happy to let me take used wood chips and manure from the stables.  They have loads of urine to make up for nitrogen leeching of the wood chips.  I got good results from the beginning.

Mary Cook wrote:My main garden is composed of raised beds that cost little or nothing but that's because by "raised bed" I mean a permanent bed that's higher than the pathways between the beds, but doesn't have wooden sides, and is anywhere from 3" to 8" higher than the pathways. .

I am yet to convince my son that if he wants raised beds on his yard, he doesn't need to edge with wood (or anything else). At least he understands that you can't use toxic wood on vegetable beds.

I intend to simply try red clover on hay bales way at the back and see if they survive with the deer. The soil is poor and low lying close to the water table.

Update in my August 15 post using hay bales: I won't get any squash from those bales this yeE, but I have improved my bakes and they have stabilized, so I won't be starting g at zero. For next Spring: More soil and peas and corn I think