# What's in your raised beds? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 1, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-raised-beds/573002 "2011-03-01T01:20:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-raised-beds/573002/1 "2011-03-01T01:20:57Z")
I’m building new raised beds, now I just have to decide what to put in them! Buying from a local soil and compost company, not bags of plastic and manmade chemicals from Home Depot. I don’t have enough finished compost to put int he beds, but I’ll do a topdressing/mulch after I plant. Any suggestions? What do you have in your beds? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-raised-beds/573002/2 "2011-03-01T01:41:20Z")
Are you asking what plants or what soil is in my beds? If you want to know about soil, I purchased a dump truck full of topsoil from a local landscape company. They were able to back over the beds to dump and I was able to spread it out manually. If you want to know about plants, I combine flowers (both annuals and perennials) mixed in with my crop vegetables. I only have iris and hostas now because I sacrificed my entire garden to eradicate Canadian thistle. Unfortunately, it didn’t completely get rid of them. I usually border the beds with low growing easy annuals (marigolds, petunias, etc) then plant crop plants like tomatoes, beans, radishes, lettuce, in the middle. I try to plant spreading plants like wave petunias near my early-harvest crops (onions, radishes, lettuce) so that when they are picked, the area fills in with flowers. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-raised-beds/573002/3 "2011-03-01T14:30:02Z")
At the moment? Snow and ice, mainly. 😛 I only have one small (4’x8’) raised bed, so I couldn’t order from a soil company. I bought a bunch of bags of topsoil and a couple of compost/manure from Home Depot. That turned out to be a mistake - the topsoil was awful, full of small stones and sticks. The compost and/or manure (I forget exactly what I bought) was fine, though, and my plants grew well last year. I had it crowded with a bunch of veggies and herbs, but this year I’ve reduced the number of plants I’m planning to grow so that they get more room. The raised bed is getting _checks notes_ basil (Italian and Thai), radishes, peas, tomatoes, and a butternut squash plant. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-raised-beds/573002/4 "2011-03-01T15:41:05Z")
In my smaller bed, I have peat moss, vermiculite, compost and topsoil I purchased from Lowes. The smaller boutique garden stores are a total ripoff, in my opinion. It’s dirt. Heirloom radishes, beets, carrots, spinach, lettuce, onions and peas are growing great right now. This early spring has been awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-raised-beds/573002/5 "2011-03-02T01:03:18Z")
I can’t be the only person who thought the OP meant they were building raised beds (that you sleep on) and couldn’t decide what to keep underneath/inside of them. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-raised-beds/573002/6 "2011-03-02T01:16:28Z")
Front beds: rosemary bushes, lavender bushes, natural grasses, crocuses Back beds: vegetables, herbs and (right now) ground cover that provides nutrients over the winter. Small, triangular beds against the fence: morning glories