MG has taken advantage of you with a play on words. A combination of organic soil and chemical fertilizer (soil with MG mixed in) is no longer an organic product.

Well, I went to Scotts and read the MSDS. The product lists compost, peat, manure and poultry manure. So I don't think that there is any of the 'blue stuff' mixed in.

Why gloves? Well organic products contain a lot of bacteria, possibly some that might cause a skin infection if rubbed into a cut.

But getting back to your question of 'now what?', I think you have a heck of a good start on soil for your raised bed, now what you need is mineral component for good drainage. If I were in your shoes I would find a supplier of large bags of perlite, mix maybe 2 parts soil, 1 part perlite. Equal parts would not be too much, the experts have said.

I used to think that sand would be the thing to use, what could be cheaper than sand and it drains reasonably well. I was shocked to find that per cubic foot, perlite can be price competitive with sand. Many container gardeners agree that perlite is superior to sand. I buy my perlite at a horticulture supply company, but for a couple of dollars more a bag my Home Depot has it as well. I do note that in my area Home Depot has play sand on sale for the next day or two, so that would be another choice.

But one thing is for sure, you can get a lot of mixed advice on soil formulas. I think you need:
organic material to hold moisture
mineral content for drainage allowing air to enter the soil
fertilizer, either organic or chemical
If you have those 3 in good supply, I guess you will have no problems regardless of the exact contents and percentages.

Gary

we've always started our beds using mushroom compost from the farm, works for us, then we feed the medium by adding our kitchen scraps daily and keeping it heavily mulched with green mulches like sugar cane mulch and pasture hay.

got the pic's and the how to on our site.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Diane, I agree with others. I don't think you have made a mistake at all. If you have space, just add some bags of top soil. The Perlite mentioned above is great. I add Perlite to everything, it really helps with drainage.
Wiley

Wow, buying that much Miracle Grow organic soil to fill those big raised beds, that must have cost you a pretty penny. I fill my raised beds with free scavenged materials, am almost finished with the biggest one, about 4.5 ft. X 25 feet and about 15 inches tall. I used old produce, other people's leaves, and horse manure, with a little sand and wood ashes thrown in. In other beds I have used old straw and/or wood chips as well. And I mean a huge variety of old produce. I have been putting a little real soil in with the tomato plants, yes the bed is already planted but I am still planning to throw some finished compost and soil on top. But, sounds like your bagged stuff is basically compost, so I don't know why it wouldn't work fairly well with some small addition.

You can buy some clean sand or topsoil to mix in, so you are not really in such a pickle. I don't know how you can have this much space for raised beds and not have any 'native soil,' couldn't you just dig a big hole someplace and throw the dirt into your beds? Then fill the hole with compost and fill it back up and get yourself a nice new gardening space for next year. Even rocky soil is helpful when mixed with pure compost.

In the future, I suggest you throw in used coffee grounds, leaves, compost, whatever you can get your hands on. The free stuff is just as good and obviously cheaper. Gardening is a learning experience, though, so don't feel bad that you were confused about what you bought.

Marcia

thank you all for the good advice. I checked into some soil it is called garden soil. They sift topsoil and then add some organic material into it. It costs 23.00 dollars a yard. According to them I need about 1 1/2 yards per bed but I am going to only get 1/2 that much and mix it with the miracle gro garden soil. We bought 60 bags of the 1 cubic foot and had ordered more but not yet paid for them. After reading your answers We cancelled the bags that they were having shipped from the warehouse so we saved all that money We live in an inlaw with my son, daughter=in=law and three grandchildren so I couldn't go digging up the yard to fill in the beds. once again thanks for the advice

The advice about using gloves to work soil goes to our (US of A people) paranoia with germs. Watch all the ads for products meant to kill "bacteria". Many people do not seem to understand that we need bacteria to function, to exist, and they want to kill off all the bacteria there is. These antibacterial and antimicrobial hand cleaners release to the ground water system these antiobiotics so the pathogens that do live there can, and will, develop immunties to these requiring stronger antibiotics in the future.
That you bought a product that did not meet your needs indicates that what many of us know, that these ads are meant to sell you a product whether you really need it or not.