What did you build this bed out of? I am asking since if it is blocks stacked up, or perhaps 6 inch panels stacked x 2, have you considered having just 6 inch high beds? A whole foot seems pretty high for veggies.

Can you buy leaf mold or mushroom compost to mix into "topsoil" that you might be buying? Mix in some of those leaves you have. And shredded leaves on top will make good mulch. Sounds like you have the veggies and sawdust good for starting a compost pile - I would let the sawdust compost first before adding to the bed to help the veggies get more nitrogen. Is there a coffee place that can give you used grounds (UCGs) for your compost pile? I sprinkle my raised beds with UCGs also. Get those newspapers under the edges of the bed to help kill grass or weeds from growing at the outside edge.

The "square foot garden" forum here has lots of ideas for filling raised beds, too!

It's made out of cedar 2x6's. I hadn't thought of making the beds any shorter than a foot, mainly because all the directions I read for building raised beds said 12". We could definitely delay filling it all the way, though.

Not sure about leaf mold, but I'm positive I can get mushroom compost. How much used coffee grounds are we talking? My husband brews a pot of coffee every day.

It sounds like you are suggesting that I just get several bags of topsoil to mix with all of my "compost-ables" and let it compost in the beds rather than worrying about buying a pre-made soil mix... Is there anything else I should add in? I know I've seen peat moss mentioned a LOT.

I take it that 2 months will be enough time then?

If you're new to gardening and composting, you are probably not going to be able to make your own productive compost in time to have it benefit your raised bed this year. I would visit a good garden center. There are several in your area. You can purchase bagged planting mixes, or you can purchase all of the ingredients individually, and mix them yourself. If you like Mel Bartholomew and his square foot method, buy compost, vermiculite, and peat moss. But there are many more recipes for planting mixes. Also, I started planting spring veges in my bed last weekend, when it was beautiful. This week it's been cold and icy. There aren't any tomato plants in the garden centers yet, but I expect they will start to show up very soon. Last year I waited until March to plant tomatos, and wound up covering them up with a 5 gallon bucket to protect from the foot of snow we received that freak day. That worked fine, and I had good production once the weather warmed. This year I will try to start the tomatos sooner.

This link might be helpful.

Personally, I don't see the point in spending $3-$5 per square foot to start a garden. Unless your yard is tiny or your soil is terrible. I'd take the cedar boards you used and use them as a border to a regular old garden bed. Sink them 4-6" below grade and use your existing soil, build it up year after year with composting. It's not an overnight thing.

And you mentioned something about going with a raised bed to avoid fighting with grass? I assume you know that even with a raised bed you need to remove the sod and prepare the soil underneath the bed as if you were going to plant directly in it. Scrape the sod and first 1" or so of soil with a hoe, then dig and turn the dirt down to the full length of the shovel (8" or so). 6" or 1' of garden soil isn't going to snuff out all the existing grass (especially bermuda).

Most new gardens fail because of weeds. People till up a spot in their lawns and plant immediately, and end up with corn that never gets bigger than knee-high but weeds that are taller.

Here is a link that might be useful: raised beds

Wokney, I was under the impression that we could cover the grass underneath with cardboard or several layers of newspaper before we filled in the beds. We already dug up about half the grass in the spot already when we leveled the ground. You say most new gardens fail because of weeds... wouldn't breaking up the grass and tilling the existing soil increase the chances of exposing and sprouting some buried angry weed seeds?

I'm pretty sure we have St. Augustine in the yard, and I'm not sure how well established it is. The homeowners (this is a rent house) said they resodded the entire back yard a month or two before we moved in (October or November '10). However, when we were leveling the ground, we DID have to break through a BUNCH of roots to get to the actual soil.

I wouldn't be TOTALLY opposed to digging the bed into the ground, but I'm pretty sure my husband would be :( He hates digging. The soil here isn't terrible - I was actually pretty happy when we were leveling the ground because about every other shovel of dirt had an earth worm or two. But it is predominantly clay, and I feel like I've been fighting with clay my whole life since I was a kid helping my parents in the garden.

emileeg,
You have done your homework, you are on the right track, yes,simply cover your grass with water saturated cardboard and fill with a "Topsoil Compost Blend" (bulk/truckload)from your local landscape supply company.
BTW... Fill your beds to the rim, they shrink down every year as it is,and you will continually "top off" the beds with compost ,from this point forward.

Start a compost pile with all of the stuff you mentioned, and next year, you will be able to spread your own compost on your garden.

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I lived in Dallas. So I say don't waste any time trying to make that yard soil into a garden. we found that making a square foot garden was the way to go down there. I think you are right on the 12 inch depth. If you are in a hurry then buy your soil ready to go, or buy the book New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew and buy the ingredients in bulk to make his mix and fill your beds. You can start composting now and might get some black gold for the fall planting season. You will need some by then.

Curt

Re: controlling St.Augustine grass: My experience has been that it is nearly as hard to eradicate/control as Bermuda. So just covering [lasagna] will not really kill the runners.

Also, as the whole yard was just resodded before you moved in, are you sure the landlord is OK with covering/digging up? ...

Re: weed seeds in newly planted gardens ... mulch, mulch,muclh ... any weeds that do come up are wimps and easy to pull ...

BTW ... there is a GW Forum for Texas...

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas forum

When I was talking about gardens failing the first year its because people will till up the lawn thinking that kills the grass, but it doesn't. The mature grass grows right back, not that they stir up seeds.

In your beds you're not worried about stirring up seeds. Anything that germinates 12" down isn't going to make it to the surface. It's the existing grass that would be able to send up chutes and establish itself in the bed if it's not removed root and all. Not sure about St Augustine, I had it when I lived in Houston so I know it's persistent but maybe not as much as Bermuda.

Layering with cardboard could work but also think about the fact that your vegetable roots are going to want to grow down below grade, they're not satisfied with just 12" of soil. Give them some help by breaking up the dirt since it's probably rock hard.