Sounds great...you have to do whatever you can do... as the journey continues, keep yours eyes open for amendments you can toss in the mix... Most of all, just "get on it", all other things will work themselves out.You never know...a neighbor might hear about what you are doing and offer some stuff they have lying around, just keep on adding to the mix, it is going to shrink like crazy, so keep it watered and keep adding stuff.before long, you will have the best beds in the neighborhood ;-)

I agree, and fall is fast approaching, and that means lots of leaves. The best thing is when neighbors mow the lawn in fall, and they put a big pile of mulched leaves & grass on the curbside. Also, topsoil isn't really all THAT expensive for a smaller bed, but mixing in compost is an excellent thing to do.

Joe

"Top soil" is simply the top 4 top 6 inches of soil from someplace. It may be something what ever the charge is or it may be junk. Spent foundry sand was once sold as "top soil" around here although after 10 years of mulch mowing both the grass clippings and leaves back into that it is beginning to resemple something that will grow plants without large doses of synthetic fertilizers.
I would put in some kind of soil, maybe about 6 inches, and then build a Lasagna Bed on top of that since you want aerobic bacteria to work on the organic matter, not anaerobic bacteria which is what would if you buried that OM under the soil.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lasagna Gardening 101

When I say "grass clippings" I really mean "weed clippings" since we don't have a lawn to speak of. Its a new construction in a rural area and we didn't get around to planting grass. The assortment of weeds will become dense brush before long.

The more I think of it, I'm a little afraid to put those cut weeds in there, even under a foot of cardboard and shredded paper, but its the only greens I would have right now, in the quantity I need.

There is nothing wrong or bad about composting the plants people call "weeds" as long as there are no seeds from those plants. It is seldon the plants that produce new "weeds" it is the seeds from them.
Those "weeds" have been growing in your soil removing nutrients that you can uyse elsewhere.

I have had good results with using free used coffee grounds that you can get in quantity from St*rbucks if you call ahead & ask them to save for you to pick up in a few hours. People have cautioned against using a lot of it, so I do try to spread it out a bit, but really just dump out the bag, push it around a bit to spread & dump something else on top.

Other ideas for compost materials -
-household kitchen scraps
-household papers: tissues, paper towels, toilet paper rolls, junk mail (w/o plastic windows on env.)
-hay sweepings from a feed store: as long as it's a bottom layer you won't have many seeds sprouting (if they do, just pull up & let lay to add to your composting)
-manure: rabbit & alpaca are usable w/o composting, the others need time, but again if down in the layers will be great esp. if you can get some partially composted with the red worms already in it! Horse manure works as a bottom layer quite well w/o a lot of weeds if you also use mulch. Works for me!

After your fall crops are done you could add more compost layers over winter. Works especially well if you can shred leaves, etc. before putting it on. Then you don't have to turn it under in spring, just pull back the mulch & plant. The beauty of a raised bed w/ no feet walking in it is that you won't have to turn it!