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Lanarkshire, United Kingdom Gb

I am planning to build a small raised bed for growing veg and want to buy topsoil for it. Am I right in assuming I would be cheaper to buy it from a soil merchant than bags of it in a garden centre? Bags are measured in litres, whilst soil merchants work in metric tonnes it makes it hard to compare. Litres are a measure of volume whilst tonnes are of weight so not knowing the weight of a litre of topsoil makes it difficult to know. I am assuming however the bigger quantity I buy will be generally cheaper.




Answers

 

Hi and welcome to GOY
in my experience, buying bulk is always cheaper. but you have to consider how much you need, if you can fetch it yourself [as in what is the delivery charge], and how far you need to travel. As for the volume needed, if you are familiar with the bulk builders bags, they are approx. 1cubic metre=1000 cubic litres/ which in the case of sand/gravel = around one metric tonne. I imagine soil supplied in bags will be less than this as soil holds more air [bulks up] when loading shovelling etc . With most things in bags, it sometimes depends how wet the materials are when loaded, as in loaded wet you will get a little less due to weight of moisture.
to get your volume take your length [L] multiply this by width [W] and then multiply this by depth [D] . This done in metre measurements will give you the amount of cubic metres. Not sure what the weight of a cubic metre of soil should weigh, I`m sure others on this site may be able to add something more specific.
Hope this has helped towards your answer
Cheers kev

14 Feb, 2016

 

Just make sure that what you are getting is good quality top soil, there are roughs out there that will try and sell subsoil as topsoil!

14 Feb, 2016

 

The weight of soil depends on how wet it is. Soil holds a lot of water so if the soil has been lying outdoors in the rain and you are paying purely on weight, you will be buying a lot of water! On the other hand, I would not buy the silly little bags from the garden centre.

14 Feb, 2016

 

For a small raised bed, 2 or 3 bags of topsoil should suffice. Here in US, each bag is 3 cubic feet. I usually top off with 3 bags, plus a bag or two of composted manure. You can add sand of peat to improve drainage.

14 Feb, 2016

 

Top soil I bought for my raised bed was awful, it was full of clay particles so buy from a good source, ask around, my Dad used to test it by putting some in his hand & would spit in it and would squeeze, if it stuck togeather he would send it back LOL.

14 Feb, 2016

 

Many thanks folks some great answers and advice. It's all appreciated.

14 Feb, 2016

 

Our local skip gives you free compost.

And when we were walking along the beach at St Andrews you could also collect free compost.

16 Feb, 2016

 

IF you are walking along the beach, get some of that seaweed that washes up on shore. It makes a super compost

16 Feb, 2016

 

I must check that out Scotkat. I live in North Lanarkshire and they collect garden refuse to compost every fortnight but I haven't heard them giving it out at the skip.

Bathgate - great idea. I will do so the next time I am there.

16 Feb, 2016

 

Kath's idea is great. Just be careful buying topsoil. When I moved here 2 years ago I soon discovered that the last owner had been fobbed off by his contractor with solid clay subsoil for his raised borders. Really ridiculous as we have some of the best topsoil is Scotland here in Angus! If it were me, I'd try the local quarry. We have a good one in Barry just down the road and their prices are great.

26 Feb, 2016

How do I say thanks?

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