This is a fairly debated topic, and has been discussed many times here, and it largely depends on who answers :)

I know there are several here (including myself) who have gone 100% compost, and not used Mel's mix. Although this will be my first year with it (I had it delivered in the fall when I constructed the beds), so my opinion doesn't count as much!

I guess I'm just trying to say I did exactly what you are considering - I had a local mulch company / cow farm deliver 5 yards of compost (Cow Manure + Leaves composted), instead of going the "mel's mix" route. I can report back later in the summer with how wise it is, but everything I"m reading seems to say it is 100% doable, and many people have a lot of success with it.

I was in the same position as you last year, but my total was a potential $400 savings going the bulk mix route. I went build your own Mel's Mix and would do so again in a heartbeat. The mixes don't compare in terms of drainage, water retention or nutritients depending on the variety of composts you use.

That said, you can grow veggies in whatever you want and nobody but you will know or care. However, I would probably mix different varieties of bulk compost before a mix that undoubtedly includes topsoil.

So, there's my 2 cents for what it's worth.

First off forget the sand in a raised bed you will not need it. Check with the local horse boarding/riding stables. They usually have all you want free. Usually they will also load it free. They may also have HM over a year old, if they do just fill your beds, throw in some seeds and jump back Jack.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: My Journal

Leaf & Twig compost costs $40 a yard where I live in WA. I went with the cheaper "Dairy compost" at $19 and my garden grew great. Some was mixed with topsoil, but most was nearly straight compost. I am going to splurge and top with the leaf & twig this spring, as I should only need a yard of it. I hope after that I'll have enough of my own homemade compost to use.

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

I tend to like mel's mix. If you can get the aged horse manure that John recommends, then you could probably also afford the vermiculite while still cutting your costs in half. I found a local source of coco coir that is cheaper than peat moss!! Fred Meyer, believe it or not. Course, now it doesn't matter for me, lol. I went light on the vermiculite for cost reasons, but I really think it makes a big difference in drainage, also. I'm going to try a compost only bin this year, but If you do exactly what mel recommends for soil, then if you have problems, you know it wasn't the soil. Does that make sense?

I filled mine somewhat lasagna-style, with aged/composted horse manure as the main ingredient. I layered some aged chicken manure, some leaves & pine needles, coffee grounds, a little bit of fill dirt, some hay, whatever I could get for free in short notice last spring. My garden did pretty well. Only problem was the shrinkage. I think they settled down about 4-6" in a 16" deep bed. I topped them off this fall with more manure & leaves etc.

The beds are thick with worms, so much that when I started to dig down to see how everything decomposed, I stopped because I there were SO many worms, and I didn't want to mess up their little world before cold weather came.

First, I'd recommend borrowing a pickup truck and avoid using bags from a bigbox store, as these bags are NOT cost-effective. Get your OM from somewhere like described above. No bigbox bags.

We went a slightly different way than folks above (YMMV), as we are out on the plains on the Front Range with heavy clay, and we did a ~295 ft^2 bed/28 yd^3 fill all at once on the south side of a 2-story house. We put down a layer of planter fill and turned into the clay, then applied Superphosphate, turned, then filled with planter fill - machine-made soil with ~15% sand. We get excellent moisture retention in a raised bed. Last fall I double-dug with organic plant compost (we wanted to stay away from animal manure) to put some nutrients back in and to take up the settling. The more organic compost - hay etc you put in, the more settling you get but of course the more OM and nutrients you get, so it is a tradeoff.

Dan

Thanks for the advice everyone. I've decided that I'm going to go with the mushroom compost from the local company to get started with this year and have one less thing to think about. I'll also add a couple bags of aeration particles to it as well..not sure if I'm going to use sand or vermiculite yet, cost will decide.

I'll just have them dump 5 yards of it in my driveway and wheelbarrow it back to the beds. This will get me started for this year and then in the fall I'll add HM and leaves to add to it.

Sounds good. May I suggest a big tarp to help with the cleanup? Worked well when I dumped and mixed 6 yards in my driveway last year. Hehe oww my back hurts just thinking about it.