I've had good luck mixing potting soil, garden soil and compost. I've also used Miracle Grow's product labeled Raised Bed Soil. What they sold two years ago was fantastic, but I can't find it at Home Depot now.

Debra

I've done raised beds for several years due to poor soil conditions in our former home in NY and most recently in our new home in WV. For our prior home I had yards of top soil delivered. Luckily we had a tractor with a bucket loader so moving the soil was very easy.

For our new home in WV, I purchaed bags of Miracle Grow garden soil at first but given how heavy those bags are and the quanity I was going to need, I decided to just go and purchase a couple of yards of a mix of top soil/leaf mulch which the local nursery delivered. It took me a couple of weeks to move all of it to the new beds with the wheelbarrow.

For a good rasied bed you need several inches because it will settle. If your just going to add a new layer to an extisting bed to "refresh it" it might be a good idea to get the garden soil and some compost and mix them together.. Most big box stores are putting on sales for their bags of soil, compost and mulch. One thing I did find is with raised beds, I did need to have several inches of mulch to help retain moisture.

I will be doing a couple more new raised beds in our backyard next year. I wonder if I can rent a tractor with a bucket loader to move all the soil i will need.

Good luck.

Julia