[groweate]

Hi, We have poor soil in our polytunnel raised beds.
Any ideas to improve it would be a blessing.

[snowdrops]

Apply well rotted manure & or rotted compost on the top. Over time the worms will take it down & work their  magic

[Wellington]

If your soil is very poor, it might be worth buying in some worms as well. I used to replenish my wormery from eBay, which seem fairly reasonably priced and easy (I have given up the wormery, as I kept killing off the worms, and it didn’t seem fair!)

[snowdrops]

If your soil is very poor, it might be worth buying in some worms as well. I used to replenish my wormery from eBay, which seem fairly reasonably priced and easy (I have given up the wormery, as I kept killing off the worms, and it didn’t seem fair!)

Wouldn’t they be brandling worms or tiger worms?

[Goosegirl]

It might be a daft question to ask but what makes you believe your soil is poor? What type of soil do you have as in sandy, loam, clay or silt? Is it alkaline or acid and how well does it drain? I like Snow's answer so get whatever old compost bags on sale, sharp grit mixed with coarse sand, bags of mushroom compost and whatever else you have available. Make a trench by digging out the soil to a spade's depth, bung it into a wheelbarrow and dump it at the end of your bed. Insert a fork into the bottom of the trench, wiggle it around to create airholes for the worms. Back-fill with a mix of grit, compost and soil then dig another trench behind your first one and repeat until you get to the end. Back-fill with a mix of your soil, sand and grit from the wheelbarrow and have a hot bath! 

[pigeonpie]

When life got busy and I didn't have anything growing in the raised beds in my old greenhouse the soil quality would sometimes look poor.  However, it was often the case that it had been simply allowed to dry out too much.  A good watering and a top dressing of some lovely fresh compost seemed to work wonders.

As Snowdrops and Goosegirl say though, if the soil really is poor then just add as much well rotted organic matter as you can, and let the worms work their magic. 

(I think you can buy worms for wormeries that I could have thought would be suitable for helping if you seem a little low on the little wigglers).

[TonyB.]

I had some cow manure delivered - far more than I could spread at once. After a few months the local worms had set up home in the pile.
The local Robin loved me when I started spreading it! :-)