[puravida]

Had some help from my brother this weekend knocking together five raised beds. Each one is 10' x 4' and about 12" tall - photo below.

Question is - what shall I now fill them with??

Our ground here is solid clay and rubble with very poor drainage. Thinking of filling the beds with a mix of loam, topsoil, compost and sand??

Any suggestions? And ratios of each of those??

Got my seeds arriving from Dobies any day now (ordered weds) so raring to get going.

[WG.]

... and manure!  Loads of it in all beds except where you'll be growing roots.

[puravida]

So a layer of manure before I put all the dirt in you reckon??

If I get it form the stables, how long until it is officially "well rotted" do you reckon??

[Gwiz]

some stables have large piles of old rotted manure, you may well be lucky and not have too let it "mature" at all.
failing that, just plant spuds striaght into it, as is.

[shaun]

If I get it form the stables, how long until it is officially "well rotted" do you reckon??

when it dont smell

[Trillium]

Before you add anything to the beds, take a strong garden fork and just loosen what is at the bottom first. If it's loose, even though clay, the veg roots will do much better - they can anchor down, get some air and drainage. As for the rest, add whatever you can get hold of: old growbags, manure, compost, shredded leaves, some sand, etc. Trust me, I've been down that clay road too many times.

Frankly, if you're up to it and have a bit of time, try to loosen at least a shovel's depth of the clay and add some of the above to the clay, then add the rest on top. It'll put your soil in better shape for this year and next. If you can't, then at least do the above.