Raised garden bed Cost

Hi everyone i am new to gardening. We have moved to a new home which have a big backyard. The soil here is very clayey. And i intend to grow veg for home with intention of saving money. Currently i am a stay at home mum. So I am thinking of having a raised garden bed filled with loose garden top soil. But its all so expensive to buy a bed soil or to even do the garden bed ourself. I calculated around 100$ for soil for the bed of 2m x1m. And buying timber from bunnings will be around $60. Add it with other fertilisers, seeds its going sky high. How did you all do your garden bed. Any suggestions/tips to cut down the costs will be very helpful.

Unfortunately the soil is the most important part so you can't skimp too much on that. A good quality soil will save you money as it will already have everything added to it. Fertilisers are cheap. You can use recycled materials to lower the cost of the garden bed construction (old timber, old iron, etc). Cheap soil means adding compost, soil conditioner, etc which adds up pretty quickly

Thanks dalemangel.

Do I need a greenhouse as melbourne is very windy and cold at the moment to grow veggies?

>> I calculated around 100$ for soil for the bed of 2m x1m.

Thats about right if buying a loam/compost mix from a landscaping supplier, Bags will cost you twice that much. My raised bed is 2m x 1m my loam/compost was $115. Make sure you check it out first, look for plastic bags/hard plastic rubbish pieces as some suppliers get a bit slack with the standards (of course its all made from recycled organic material so sometimes crap gets in there). Google can help you with what it should look/feel like.

Dont buy a bunnings raised bed, The steel is garbage. Find someone who makes them from galvanised corrugated steel, Its not hard. Australian steel is cheap because we make so much locally. Dont buy it off the net without seeing them first.

Wind is your enemy for lots of plants, Shade cloth makes an effective wind blocker. But with a raised bed, Just keep the top 20cm unfilled and theyll have a nice windbreak however given it will compact naturally from rain you can do this by just leaving 5cm. Make sure you bury it 10-15cm too to stabilise it (stamp it in around the edges real firm). You dont want the soil falling out the bottom. Consider a tall one to make working easier as you dont have to bend over really. You can plant sun /heat /dry loving plants like rosemary around the edge to protect it from direct sun and heating up too much, Theyll drink the spare water from the bed once established.

Cold isn't an issue growing vegetables use the ABC gardening guide/app to figure out what you can plant. Spinach, Roquette , Root veggies don't mind the cold. Some cherry tomatoes grow through autum/winter. (tiny tim)

HTH

Thanks for the detailed reply. I have learnt a lot from your post. Thanks again.