Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
SOIL FROM LANDSCAPE CONTRACTORS: THINGS TO
KNOW
Acquiring soil for a community garden is a bigger endeavor than getting soil for a backyard. Instead of
going to a nursery or big-box store and getting a few bags of soil, you'll order in quantity, by the cubic
yard. A raised bed that is 4 ft. by 8 ft. by 8 in. takes almost one cubic yard. If you have ninety raised
beds, you can visualize how much soil is required for a community garden. But no need to panic! There
are professionals out there who can help you. They specialize in bulk soil orders and, by following
these tips, you'll know the right questions to ask to make sure everything goes smoothly.
If you know nothing about soil, find someone who does, or educate yourself before you talk to a
landscape contractor or wholesaler.
Have a rough idea of the soil mixes you want to use (usually a mix of composts, topsoil, and oth-
er elements such as sand or peat).
Find a landscape contractor or wholesaler who understands vegetable gardening vs. landscape
gardening. Ask for a few references from vegetable or community gardeners who have worked
with a landscaper and call them to make sure the soil they received worked well.
If you are relying on the contractor's or wholesaler's expertise, be clear about the type of soil you
want and communicating the intended use (vegetable gardening). Ask their expertise for what
will work best within your budget.
Understand how much soil mix you will need. Explain your garden scenario and ask the land-
scape contractor to calculate the cubic yards required. This will affect price and delivery.
Be prepared to pay a bit more for organic soil mixes.
Ask them to view the garden entry before they deliver—there may be obstacles (telephone wires,
gate size, impossible turn radius) that prevent them from using a certain dump truck size.
Be there during delivery to ensure you get what you ordered. If a delivery doesn't look right,
speak up immediately.
The soil supplier may not be able to deliver in rainy weather. Develop a back-up delivery plan.
If rain is expected on the day of delivery, request help to cover and secure the soil with tarps.
(You will want to keep your soil as dry as possible. It is hard to shovel mud—plus, wet soil
compacts into a less-than-perfect growing medium.)
If you have a short-term lease on your garden space, the effort and space required might not be
worth it. If you have secured garden land for a longer period, consider getting the garden started for a
year or two to understand your gardeners' and volunteers' level of dedication before committing to a
compost program.
Here are a couple of options if you don't want to manage a composting program in the community
garden.
Work with a local composting program to use your garden space as a pickup site. Some food
scrap programs provide five-gallon buckets to homeowners to fill with kitchen scraps. The full
buckets are then traded out for empty buckets. This exchange could happen in your garden and
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