Nicole Johnsey Burke shows how to layer leaves in raised beds without them settling into mush. Add 6-inch layers, compress and wet each one, repeat until 8-10 inches from the top, then fill the rest with topsoil, sand, and compost. Two beds prepped this way in fall were ready to plant the next spring.
Chapters
Do not put leaves on the bottom of your new raised bed until you watch this video. Adding leaves to the bottom of your bed can be a great way to fill it with organic matter, slowly build great soil and also save money. But if you don't do it this way you could end up with your soil level dropping within days of installing the garden. Install the leaves in layers about 6 inches at a time, then compress the leaves and wet that layer down. Then you're ready to add the next layer of leaves. Do this until you've got about 8 to 10 inches left at the top of your raised be. Fill that with topsoil, sand and compost. The soil level is still going to go down but not nearly as quickly as it would if you forgot to compress and wet those leaves. This is the method I used to fill these two raised beds last fall and this is how they grew in this spring. Learn more in the caption.