That will require 14 cubic yards of soil. Call around to price it and I believe you will opt for garden soil and amend it.

Hmm okay so i should buy Kellogs all natural garden soil at 3 cubic feet for $8.48 then add amendment to that?

Being the frugal gardener that I am,I would look for a less expensive source (like a dump truck). At $8.48 for 3 cu ft,14 cu yds would cost $1,068.48. Nothing wrong with Kellogs all natural garden soil if you can afford it.

Yikes thats way too expensive. I may just hire a gardener to advise me after he or she sees my garden.

Im very frugal too.

Aaahhh yes,that's an exelent idea. Google "Hugelkulture". This time of year you should be able to get all the free leaves and woody plant material you need then top it off with soil.

I'm with Saypoint. 4 feet?! You have a raised bed that comes up to your waist? Most of what you will grow puts roots down 6 inches at most. That's a tremendous amount of wasted soil you are trying to create and then maintain. But maybe I am just not picturing it right.

You could fill that bed with about 3 feet of sand and 1 foot of a good soil comprised of a mix of about 45 percent sand, 25 percent silt, 25 percent clay, and 5 percent organic matter. Filling that bed with a lot of "compostable" material, aka organic material, means that every year you would need to add more soil as that "compostable" material is digested.

I wondered if the OP meant 4 inches instead of feet, but...?

If there are already shrubs growing there, 4" is risky to add around them. 4 feet will bury them, won't it?

As for Kellogg's, etc., one thing to keep in mind is that soil has two basic components: the mineral part, which is pretty constant (sand, silt, clay), and the organic matter part. Compost will continue to decompose and eventually leave behind a small amount of essentially permanent soil organic matter.

Bagged products vary quite a bit in composition. Just because one says "Garden soil" does not mean it has appreciable mineral soil content. I've seen some of these that are really an organic soil amendment. As such they will continue to break down and shrink, and if you use only that, you will be buying more in a year or two. Even 'topsoil' can sometimes be mostly compost and shredded wood.

Always examine the product before buying. If you do end up using bags, you can use about half to 2/3 by volume of a mineral soil, and the rest compost or 'garden soil' that is pretty much all organic material. Expect to top it off a bit in coming years but not as much since you've got plenty of mineral soil there.

BTW you can find online calculators to tell you how much soil or gravel or concrete you need for a project. Just search for 'gravel calculator' or 'soil calculator'. And remember to watch your units. :-D