How do you replace the soil in your raised beds

lilolpeapicker, I just continue to add to it. I’m short on compost because of changes that we made, but we are long on leaves. Hubby shreds most of our leaves and they get dumped on the beds when gardening has ended. I can no longer dig and lift to stir in the leaves, but with a potato fork I can stir the leaves in by digging in and using the wood edge of the bed as a fulcrum . I can push down on the handle of the potato fork a lot easier than lifting a forkful.

We also have two small piles of wood chips. One is mostly composted and I can use it to add soil to the beds. The second pile is still cooking. It’s about half chips, half soil.

I have never replaced the soil in my raised beds, nor have I ever added more soil either.
And I have been no till for the past 4 years. In the fall I just spread compost and manure or coffee grounds, and then mulch with crushed leaves. Leave it to cook all winter. Then in the spring I just plant. Easy peasy. It's the best change I've ever made in my gardening habits.
I also put hardware cloth at the bottom and am so glad I did. 

Same here, for even longer. Before planting, I put down a few inches of compost. After planting, I cover the bed with mulch hay, which is basically hay that got rained on at some point and can't be used for feed. It's pretty cheap. A bale covers almost two large beds. It keeps weeds down, maintains soil moisture and feeds the worms. By fall it has broken down nicely and I spread hay again for over the winter. My beds have been getting taller and the soil better and better.

This year I am also using some wood chips from the giant, steaming pile left from the mulberry tree (good thing they didn't leave all of it). Going to use some for the chicken coop. It took a strong young man two 4 hour sessions to move it all from the driveway into several piles in the back. When they overflowed I decided it could become part of the mulch, so we will see how that goes.

Should also mention that I don't think the soil needs tilling, as long as you don't walk over it and compress it. I only till when making new beds. The rain carries nutrients down to the plant roots. The earthworms do a good job of mixing the compost in. The plants appear to be well fed.

I can't find hay for less than $17/bale. I am eyeing a place that didn't sell their hay last fall for fall decoration and was thinking of talking with them. And I can talk with the rabbit lady to get more from her. Maybe my lawn man will have something.

Like I said I have not tilled for 3 or 4 years either but was thinking about it because digging in is difficult for me.

desertwoman, you have mentioned coffee grounds before...use it alot? I add it to my compost for sure.

I don’t till either. Just add shredded leaves to the beds. And chickenpoo. Then cover the tops of the beds with landscape fabric to keep blowing weed seed from germinateing in the beds overwinter. I just use a hand fork to move the dirt and plant. To say that less work is more.? Last fall I wasn’t able to add leaves or cover and boywhat a difference start up was. DAYS of weeding, weedwacking and cleanup of the areas...then I was forced to use plastic mulch to keep weeds at bay. Mother Nature doesn’t toss soil or change it out...she just adds every year, right? Follow her lead. Believe it or not..no till works.