I don't know if there is any soil or compost that is good. For some new beds this Spring I got some "Kellogg" (not the cereal) brand organic composted bagged soil and it is full of partially sort of not composted wood pieces. Not really sticks but maybe wood that was run through a shredder at some point. Smells woody too. Good for drainage, maybe to mix in some soil in a planting but not sure if it is good for a vegetable bed. The root maggots like it. Mixed in some compost I had made and peat moss. I suppose there are no short cuts.

These are regionally made products and may use different ingredients in different locations. Stable/stall bedding is also included with the straight manure and could account for some of larger particles you see. And it is not unreasonable to assume that some recycled wood products would be included as well. They are not "fillers" but a perfectly acceptable compost ingredient and actually contribute more to soil texture and fertility than if the product was just the straight fully composted manure.

I prefer to purchase any needed compost in bulk from my local bulk soil yard. This is typically yard (and sometimes, kitchen) waste compost so very mixed ingredients and very textural.....which is what you want for soil amending. And bulk is always far cheaper than purchasing bagged stuff. I can buy a cubic yard of bulk compost for right around $50.........you would need roughly 27 bags of the Black Kow for the same quantity.........you do the math :-)

I'm not saying wood has no value for a compost pile, and may help with drainage, but contributing what looks like 50% volume of raised bed "soil" includes all kinds of issues (including heat, settling, mold, and root blockage), and as an amendment I doubt has the same nutritional quality as manure by weight (but I could be wrong). What is the NPK of wood? Black Kow is supposed to be 0.5-0.5-0.5. Regardless, it takes a very long time to break down, it is a nutritional trickle.

Around here buying quality bulk anything is not cheap, unless it's from from the local communal leaf and wood compost pile.

The cows that made my one-time purchase of Black Kow stuff were apparently rock eaters. :O) I get all kinds of crap in everything I buy -- including the bagged compost from the multi-county compost/recycling facility. One bag of compost I bought from there had a full-size spray can in it!

ETA: the only good stuff around here is what I make myself. :)

I'm sorry but I don't understand your concerns: (including heat, settling, mold, and root blockage) None of these are any more likely to occur with wood incorporated in compost or used to amend garden soil than with anything else of organic origin and in most cases - other than seed starting - do not create any negative conditions that would impair or retard plant health and productivity.

Whatever its source or specific ingredients, compost is not a fertilizer and cannot be relied upon as a significant or even fast nutrient source. It is a soil conditioner, period.

If 50% of the black cow "manure" consists of sticks, I would call the Black Cow people to complain. You are not paying for sticks, but manure and they should give you credit for a replacement bag.

The bags of "Kellogg" OMRI compost I got smelled and looked a lot like regular hardwood mulch with some more composted dirt mixed in, kinda wished I didn't use it but I had already bought. Got and added some $2 a bag compost and it at least looks more like soil, with some clay dirt clods and rocks mixed in. Mixed in some peat and worm castings and hopefully my new beds will be good.

Suppose should be happy if you don't find glass or nails in the "compost", or bones. You might get lucky and find a finger with a ring still on it in the compost.

Some cows do prefer roughage ;-) but with 2 stomachs even sticks wouldn't get stuck.

The stuff basically looks like mulch now. Very disappointed with it. The Kellogg's "soil" I put in my raised bed is the same junk. Say what you want about wood chips, it is not soil, nor compost -- it is large hunks of uncomposted organic matter. And it uses up nitrogen as it very slowly breaks down among everything else I listed. It certainly has a use in the garden, but thats not mixed in with plant roots.

Kellogg's raised bed "soil"