[Jasper1]

I put miracle gro vegetable compost in my raised beds last year and I need to top them up. What mix of soil and compost should I use to make a good growing medium, and should I use some peat. 

[Yorkie]

I'd go for soil, personally.  It holds onto nutrients better, doesn't dry out as much, and doesn't rot down at the same rate as compost (so needs replacing less often).

What sort of size are we talking about?

As for the peat question, it partly depends on your attitude towards using this scarce resource.  I do use peat-based m/purp compost rather than peat-free, because I find the p-f version too free draining and generally poorer in quality.  Others I know are very happy with it.

[Jasper1]

My beds are 4ft by 4ft

Should I replace the existing compost with just soil or mix it in with it. Would just soil provide enough nutrients.

[Yorkie]

I'd keep what you've got and just mix it in.

Soil is far better for nutrients but hungry plants like veggies / fruit do appreciate extra fertilisers at certain times - the details depend on time of year and what is being grown.

[Jasper1]

Thanks yorkie I hope I will have more success with my veg than I did last year

[Swing Swang]

Have you thought about sinking your paths (as upside down turf will break down io a nice growing medium) and using the soil & turf (as upside down turf will break down into a nice growing medium) to raise your beds? You can then use an all weather surface (bark or gravel for example) to raise the paths again if required as these keep the weeds down and are cheaper than buying in topsoil. Just a thought.

[Kristen]

What mix of soil and compost should I use to make a good growing medium, and should I use some peat.

If you make your own compost put that on, as much as you have.

If you can get manure, particularly well rotted, then I would go with that - it will improve the soil, as well as bulking it up. 

[3759allen]

i would go for good top soil mixed with what you've got. all you will need to be careful of is any weed/ pest problem that can come with top soil from another garden.

you can also mix in some manure with the soil, but not where root crop will be grown.

[Goosegirl]

You could always add some mushroom compost to bulk it up and it will rot down nicely and add some fibre as well. As it tends to be alkaline should be particularly appreciated by brassicas and you might even get some free mushrooms too!

[compostqueen]

I have just been gifted two large raised beds. Lucky me    Got some more compost bins too. Yay 

I shall be filling them with everything I can get my hands on, which means compostibles, compost that I've made, and manure - lots of!  I don't have much top soil but it's worth nicking a bit off the plot for this job.  The contents of the ash pile can go in too to add a bit of grittiness, so beloved of garlic etc  If there is any sand lying about at home then that's going in too

It's at times like this that your faith in composting pays dividends. Make COMPOST, as much as you possibly can 

When I see folks wheeling green bins off their plots (purely for the sake of tidiness) I could weep 

I've got some spent hops composting at the moment. Takes an age but if any of it is ready then that's going in, along with leaf mould - another free resource which we should all be taking advantage of 

[Jasper1]

Thanks compostqueen

I have tried to make compost in the past and before that I had a wormery but there is only two of in the house and the  waste that went in the bins where citrus peel and banana skins plus grass cuttings, we don't have a lot of waste. I cannot put leaves in as my garden is surrounded with laurel leaves and they do not rot down well.

Unless you have got any ideas.     

[Grubbypaws]

If you make your own compost put that on, as much as you have.

I have 4 large raised beds and have always filled them with home made garden compost and get bumper crops.

I have developed my own rotation programme that I would love folk to comment/advise on.

Year one number one raised bed, newly filled with garden compost, has brassicas in. Years 2 and 3  it doesn’t. Year 4 the contents gets used to fill my myriad of potato containers. Number one raised bed then gets refilled with new compost and replanted with brassicas. After the potatoes the containers are planted with leeks and when those are done the 4 year old compost is used around the garden as a mulch. Year 2, number two raised bed has the brassicas and so on.

Veg are doing well and so is garden 

[compostqueen]

You can make appreciable amounts of compost from your kitchen waste, even just 2 of you. Tea bags, coffee grounds, peelings, loo roll middles, egg boxes, dead flowers, Save it all!  Kitchen scraps make beautiful weed free compost.  You are a grower now so you gave to think about this stuff

I used to walk to our local stately home and stroll around their grounds complete with black bin liner, collect fallen leaves and walk home.  You can gather leaves in autumn and rot them in bags or a home made wire bin.  Leaves gathered in thusly are free.  You can go outside in your local streets    get them while still dry if poss, and dog muck free

[Grubbypaws]

There are just two of us and we seem to make heaps. Nothing goes in the council bin that could go into the compost bin. All of the things that CQ mentioned plus all of the cardboard that Amazon send me 

The garden produces a myriad of pruning material and we too collect leaves from around especially the tannin filled ones.

The one thing that helps with volume though are the lime trees that a predecessor planted that need regular lopping. We have invested in a shredder which works wonders. The compost is as a consequence a little lumpy with woody bits but it doesnt seem to matter.

This is all we use for the raised beds except a little topping of seed compost if I am sowing directly into the beds.

CQ what is your opinion on citrus peel? My OH loves to buy cheap oranges and make freshly squeezed orange juice for the morning but I am sure that I have read somewhere that it slows composting down. He is such an ardent composter that he throws them in anyway!

[LotuSeed]

I use a mixture of leaf-gro (leaf compost) top-soil, sand and well-rotted horse manure. I have a compost pile, and although I put loads of stuff in, I've gotten very little from it so far. My compost making skills are not that great😜
I've read somewhere that putting citrus peel will deter worms, so I don't add them.