Thanks @lazy gardener ! This is the third incarnation of this bed and definitely my most successful year. I had a critter get in early and when it dug around my seeds all ended up in different places than I planted them so my arugula has taken over everywhere. But I've fixed the hole and nothing's gotten in since and the fact that arugula is even growing is a first! Instead of starting seeds inside, since I put the window frames, I planted all my seeds directly in the ground and let them do their thing and grow when they were ready. I should take another picture of this box now, you can barely see any soil, it's all green. I've also been doing much of the watering with my duck pool water. All the wood came from a deck that was torn off a neighbor house.
Back to the OP and the filling of the box, I have rocks in the bottom, like football down to baseball size. Things can still drain and critters have a harder time getting in (though once in awhile something squeezes through. I don't think I've had any rabbits in the box this year. Then I added topsoil. In spring I added compost from the summer before, so it was well aged. I mixed it all in and it probably sat another month before I planted anything. In that month I dumped my dirty duck water in the box daily. This is my favorite tool for turning my soil, a long handled cultivator; very little bending required.
The trash can in the background is my homemade compost tumbler. Depending on wildlife and how close your neighbors are, sometimes a tumbler is more acceptable than an open compost pile. Since I live somewhere cold I think that having a dark tumbler helps keep the heat in my compost pile some as well.
Back to the OP and the filling of the box, I have rocks in the bottom, like football down to baseball size. Things can still drain and critters have a harder time getting in (though once in awhile something squeezes through. I don't think I've had any rabbits in the box this year. Then I added topsoil. In spring I added compost from the summer before, so it was well aged. I mixed it all in and it probably sat another month before I planted anything. In that month I dumped my dirty duck water in the box daily. This is my favorite tool for turning my soil, a long handled cultivator; very little bending required.
The trash can in the background is my homemade compost tumbler. Depending on wildlife and how close your neighbors are, sometimes a tumbler is more acceptable than an open compost pile. Since I live somewhere cold I think that having a dark tumbler helps keep the heat in my compost pile some as well.
