[hubballi]

Ok, I have decided to sacrifice whats left of my lawn in favor of a raised bed as the garden is small. The lawn has always been patchy and quite wet. I have made the wooden beds, dug over the lawn and soil and added some home made compost from my bin. I still need to make up the soil level which is where you folks may help. The soil is already quite good (not tested ph yet) plenty of worms which help a lot. Is it a good idea for me to buy bags of garden compost or do I need top soil? Also, as I have dug the lawn s*ds into the bed, should I leave them in as organic matter or do I need to remove them ?

One more thing, I removed a Lilac tree that has been there about 8 years because it was taking up too much space. I have been digging up roots that seem to go to the earths core. I have removed as much as I can but fear there are still some in there. Will they come back ?

Any help much appreciated.

[hubballi]

Can nobody help 

[Salmo]

Dig paths out and put that topsoil into the bed. Fill the paths back up to level required with gravel, stone or whatever you fancy.

[hubballi]

Good idea, it will also help keep the slugs from getting to it if they have to go oer gravel. Shall I keep the turf dug in ?

[mumofstig]

IMO turf can stay in if its about a spade depth down (should rot ok at this depth), any nearer the top and it'll resprout
If your beds still need more topping up go for a mix of soil and compost.

[Ice]

I have just finished making my latest raised bed on my lawn.

I removed the turf and stacked it upside down.  I then dug over the soil and because I have clay I added sharp sand and some manure.  Then I added top soil, about four inches or so from my mound left over from digging out my shed base.  Using soil from digging out paths is an excellent suggestion.  Then I topped it with more manure, sharp sand and some left over chicken poo pellets.  Once it gets a bit warmer I will give it a final dig over.  The soil only comes half way up the wooden bed at the moment but that will slowly rise over a few seasons of adding compost.

That's how I do it, there are a million permutations.

[hubballi]

I also have some growmore pellets I will add.