How to Save Money Filling Raised Beds

Today we’re talking about how to fill a big raised garden bed without breaking the bank. Because even though I said I was done putting in raised garden beds…I think we all know that was a lie.

And if you’ve ever filled a raised garden bed, you know that you always need more soil than you think you’ll need. And buying bagged raised bed soil and compost can get really expensive. So I’m going to walk you through how I am filling up this huge new raised bed—and how I’ve filled all of my raised beds!

Supplies I’m using

• Bottomless raised garden bed
• Flattened cardboard boxes
• Yard waste I’ve had in a bin since last fall
• Random sticks and twigs
• Bagged leaves we took from neighbors last fall
• Raised bed soil

Step 1: Line with cardboard

This step assumes you’re putting your raised bed on existing turf grass, which is likely the case for most people. And it’s how I’ve started all of my raised beds.

I lay down a few layers of cardboard at the bottom of each of my beds because all of them have gone on turf grass. The cardboard helps smother out the turf grass and any weeds and weed seeds. It will degrade over time, so it’s a better choice than landscaping fabric.

And by the time it degrades, you won’t need to worry about block out any grass or weeds because they should be long gone. I’ll also be sheet mulching around the outside of this bed when it warms up a bit, so I’ll use a thick layer of cardboard and then more mulch for that as well.

Step 2: Add yard waste

For the next layer, I throw in things like yard waste and random sticks and small branches. You can get the yard waste and sticks from around your own yard through pruning.

If you’re like us and don’t have a lot of trees in your yard but you have a yard waste pickup service where you live, I recommend getting these materials from their neighbors! All of the bagged leaves we’re going to be working with in this tutorial came from a neighborhood nearby. They are required to bag up their leaves, and we just drive through, pick them up, and take them home.

If you have any half-used compost, you can also dump it in at this point. We’re dumping in our compost tumblers, which are not quite finished. I’ll also be emptying out some of the yard waste bins at the back of our yard that aren’t fully composted.

Step 3: Add leaves

We’re using leaves for the next layer because when leaves are fully composted, they provide a rich source of nutrients for your plants. They degrade over time and turn into a soil-like rich organic matter your plants will love. People pay good money for leaf compost, so if you can make your own, you’ll save a lot!

Now all of these bags of leaves we emptied into this bed are leaves we picked up on yard waste day at a nearby neighborhood. We leave any leaves that fall in our yard in place until the spring when we mow-mulch them and let them degrade in the grass. However, if someone else is required to bag theirs up, I’m going to put them to good use 🙂

Step 4: Add raised bed soil or compost

I started filling this bed in February in Maryland zone 7, so it was still a bit early. So I decided to add a thin layer of soil over the leaves and let them further decompose and settle for another week or two.

I’m using bags of raised bed soil we picked up in the fall for $1 each at Home Depot! There was nothing wrong with them—Home Depot was just clearing out their fall product. So that’s another tip you can use to save money…think ahead to the next season and shop end-of-season sales! So up until now, I’d spent about $1 on filling this bed.

Step 5: Finish with more leaves and soil

The materials in the raised bed had settled quite a bit over a few weeks, which was exactly what I wanted. I emptied out a few more bags of leaves into the bed. These bags had been sitting out in the elements for several months, so the material in the bottom of the bags was actually already turning into a really nice leaf compost.

I stopped adding more leaves when I had about 4 inches left to fill in the bed. This is when I started dumping more bags of the raised bed soil we got into the bed to top it off.

Now since we’re talking about ways to save money, using bagged raised bed soil is super cost-effective for us because we got a bunch on closeout sale. But if you’re buying bagged soil in the spring or summer, you might want to see if there are any nurseries near you that can deliver finished compost or raised bed soil in bulk.

Depending on how many beds you need to fill, that could be easier and cheaper. However, if you’re just filling a bed or two, buying bagged soil is probably easiest. Just look for something designed for raised beds, not containers. The container mixtures generally have more perlite and similar things added into them to make them even more lightweight.

As the layers continue decomposing, you’ll notice the bed begin to settle more. You may need to add another bag of raised bed soil or compost as this happens—just keep and eye on things. And that’s it!

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