Oh no, that does sound very expensive. I had leftover clay from my garden, so I filled them up with clay at the bottom, I was able to shape it with clay, then the next layer is one bag of steer manure for $1.57, then I'm going to fill it with my compost, then the top layer will be some dirt from Costco. The purpose of the dirt is to keep my compost at bay, they sprout things easily, competing with my melon plants.