Do your beds have a solid base? This is considered a "garden soil" meaning it is a perfectly acceptable amendment for inground soils and a standard filler for raised bed gardens. Generally these sorts of garden soil mixes will be labeled as not appropriate for containers (ie. NOT a potting soil). But standard raised beds are bottomless and not considered an actual container.

The easy answer is if these do indeed have bottoms, they are considered containers and you need a potting soil, not a garden soil, as those will have the fast drainage a container requires. If bottomless, then they are true raised beds and any sort of garden soil will work although that particular mix would not be my first choice.

Personally, with 8 beds to fill, I'd opt for a garden mix that was sold in bulk - vastly less expensive!! And these are usually some sort of screened topsoil/loam enriched with compost or other organic matter. If possible, you really want that mineral component that topsoil or loam offers.

Hi Gardengal, thank you so much for your response! I understand everything you've said so far. Yesterday after I wrote my question (above), I did some reading on Schultz's website; and for raised beds, they recommend a 1/3 mixture each of sphagnum peat moss, vermiculite and their garden soil. Since I already have a lot of the garden soil, I went out and bought a few bags each of the peat moss and vermiculite. When I got home, my husband and I evened out each of the eight beds to be only half full of just the Schultz Garden Soil. Do you think it would be a good idea just to mix the leftover garden soil I haven't opened yet with the peat moss and vermiculite I bought yesterday and then top off each bed with that mixture?? Also I live in Illinois, which gets very cold winters. Is this a good permanent mixture to have in the beds? Thanks so much for your advice!!

...and yes, the raised beds are bottomless.

Gosh, the Schultz's website has lead you a bit astray - I'm sorry you didn't get back to us before running out to buy the peat moss and vermiculite :-( You need neither of those - the peat is excessively acidic and really doesn't add any OM and vermiculite is just a waste of money to add to any raised bed or potting mix. It doesn't serve any purpose in a raised bed and once it is fully saturated with water, it collapses into a flat mess. So any hint of drainage enhancement (unnecessary in a raised bed) is completely lost.

If I were to add anything, I'd just get some cheapo bagged topsoil (the mineral soil component - very necessary) and some bagged compost or composted manure. That's it!! And as rina indicated above, you will want to add more compost/manure at the beginning of each growing season.

Thank you both, Rina and Gardengal. Funny, as I was reading your responses, I had a flashback of my grandfather 40+ years ago dumping his lawn clippings into his garden. Never knew why he did that, and now I do, so thank you!! I will return both the peat moss and vermiculite. And if I understand you right, I should also return the six bags of Schultz Garden Soil I have leftover and exchange it for bagged topsoil and bagged compost or manure? Should I then mix the topsoil and compost in with the garden soil I have filled halfway in the beds? Is that the way to do it? Also, any particular kind of topsoil and compost, or will any brand/type do? Thanks so much for the valuable information!! Also, I'm going to try to attach a couple pictures below. This is the project so far. You can only see some of the raised beds in one of the pics, but there are eight total, going halfway around the pool.

Good looking beds; are they from a kit or made to order? Or perhaps made by you? They look quite deep (2' or even more?). I see that you have some galvanized tubs and other interesting containers :)

Lawn clippings could be used too, especially if there are no weed killers used. But be careful with them, since they should dry first - just like hay, before added in larger amount. Gras clippings will mat and stink a lot if you pile them up. But if they are turned/fluffed over, they are great. I usually shred all fallen leaves with grass clippings, and they will (leaves) compost faster. I don't put out any leaves in bags for collection in fall - even pick them from neighbours lawn.

If my garden beds, I would buy some compost and manure (or even just one of those). You can mix it with the soil you already have in beds. And after plants are established, mulching is great idea: you can use compost, grass clippings, straw (weed-free), any commercial mulch...Any of these will further decompose over the winter and enrich your soil.

If you can and still need a lot, buying in bulk is less expensive (but have to consider delivery charge unless you have truck or trailer and can pick it up yourself). Sorry I can't help with a brand of bagged products, I usually buy in bulk from garden center/soil supplier and am in Canada :)

There are many calculators for amounts needed, here is just one of them: soil volume calculator-click me

I bought them online from this website: metalgardenbeds.com. I just looked on the website and the exact ones I purchased have been taken off the site for some reason. Maybe they're out of stock. They're made of corten steel, so they will rust. I love that look. They're 3 feet 5 inches long, 1 foot 11 inches wide and 1 foot 6 inches tall.

Thank you both so much for the information and help with this. I'm running out now and buying some compost and manure and will add that to the beds. I mostly want to plant flowers in the beds to surround the pool, and maybe some chives and cilantro toward the end. I will just keep the leftover garden soil I already purchased but just make sure to mix manure and compost with it.

I have lots of trees, so lots of leaves in the fall. I will possibly figure out how to shred those leaves (instead of burning them) to use in my beds. That's a whole other project. Thank you!!!!

I think it will look very nice with lots of flowers...I can see some trailing over the sides :) Hope you post some photos when planted.

Lawnmower is all you need to shred eaves. I keep leaves in separate pile from compost heap, and even in big black plastic bags (with few holes punched in for ventilation). They make excellent leaf mold.

I bought 16 bags of "composted manure." That's all that Menards had available. Hopefully that is the right product. Thank you again!!...And yes, I'll definitely post pictures when the project is finished.