From Dirt to Dinner: Soil Enrichment Simplified - Soil Secrets Planting starts, not with digging a hole for your seedlings but to improving the soil Fertility. I have raised beds. So, I used bags of topsoil and composted manure for my different types of boxes. I have 3 raised boxes 8” high and then I have 6 raised beds make of wood standing on 2 x 4s and are waist high. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to stand up and plant potatoes. I never grew a garden with raised beds