Filling Raised Beds on a Budget

A very common question I get asked is how much did it cost to fill such tall raised beds with soil? 

Well, almost nothing and I'm going to tell you how we did it!

I waited years for my Husband to build this beauty for me. He's a perfectionist so there was a lot of collaboration between us. His primary concern was that it would be aesthetically pleasing, my primary concern was functionality and in my case, that meant it needed to be tall enough that I could still use it with my medical issues, and that left us with a huge decision to make...How do you fill tall raised beds without breaking the bank?!

There are actually many answers to that question and the honest answer is, you can fill the bottom with almost anything. Leaves, grass, sticks, rocks, rubble, even old cotton clothes, and some furniture! There are pros and cons to everything but I'm going to focus on the method we used because that's what I have experience with.
So if you've been into gardening for long, you're likely to have come across the term Permaculture (a very simple description of the word, is a focus on using natures natural patterns and resources to garden. A very interesting subject worth reading about, especially if you enjoy growing your own food!) upon further investigation of Permaculture practices you're sure to encounter Hugelkultur! 

We used the above Hugelkultur method for 100% FREE!!! Instead of having an open mound, like in the picture above, we put it in the raised bed garden. Simply put, we layered logs, branches, sticks, leaves, and grass, starting with the largest on the bottom and the smallest on top. When we ran out yard scraps I realized we needed more before topping off with compost and I liked the $0 price tag we were already working with. Enter the FREE woodchip delivery! Many tree trimming services have these as a waste product that they would otherwise have to pay to dispose of or find somewhere to dump them. Call your local tree services and many are happy to dump it right in your backyard or at the very least direct you to their secret stash where you can fill your own truck.

 

In the end, we decided to purchase the compost to top it off but you can fill your raised bed gardens 100% for free if you make your own compost. By this point in the process, I was feeling excited, impatient, and just wanted to start gardening so for a fraction of the expense of what it would have cost to fill the raised beds from top to bottom we paid for a load of compost from a local garden store to top off the beds. 

Something to keep in mind with this method is you will likely see a significant drop in the soil level for the first few years as the materials settle and breakdown. So start a compost pile so you can top it off annually or plan to buy a load of compost every spring for a few years. (I also continue to top with mulched dead leaves every fall, they break down quickly and add to the compost as well as protect it. 

So that's how we filled our garden beds on a budget! I hope you enjoyed this first real installment on the blog! Let me know if you have any questions that I didn't address! Now go out and get your hands dirty! ♥