British Columbia: Buying garden 'soil'

I recently bought bagged garden soil mixtures from 3 different suppliers, and seived them together. The cheapest one at $2 per 40 lb bag, was at least half obvious woodscraps, some sand, and the balance unidentifiable, average moisture. The second bag, at twice the cost, was virtually the same, and the 3rd bag at 4 times the cost of the cheapest, and promoted as potting soil, was also mainly woodwaste, altho the size of the chips was smaller.

None of the 3 bags had anything I could remotely identify as 'earth', didnt smell or nor look like earth.
I had a year earlier bought their most expensive composted soil from a North Van recycling yard, and they admitted to it having wood waste, and sand as the main two ingredients.

None of the mixtures have given good results, and all had a healthy proportion of weed seeds.

Can anyone advise me where decent earth might be obtained? Thank you, Ellis

 

You don't say what you are actually using the soil for. Do you use it as potting soil for containers? If so, the wood scraps in fact serve a very good purpose: drainage and aeration. See this article dealing with container soils. Compost should be used sparingly only in container soils, it quickly collapses and ends up hindering drainage and aeration.

 

Friend has grown many thousands of dollars worth of nursery container nursery stock for years in nothing but bark and sand, plus slow release fertilizer. When I labored at a wholesale rhododendron and azalea nursery a long time ago we potted the evergreen azaleas in pure bark. After being placed in the greenhouse these then got a liquid feed when being watered.

For making raised beds or filling low areas buy soil in bulk, by the yard.

 

I purchase all my soil from delta landfill which is really just composted yard trimmings. (http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/solidwaste/landfill/index.htm)
It too has some (not much) tree and shrub fragments, but those are pretty easy to filter out. Soil is minimum charge of $5, or $10 per cubic yard, which is about a pickup truck full.

I also purchase perlite from Grower Central also in delta (http://www.growercentral.com/about_evergro.cfm). You may want to chose vermiculite as it will retain a bit more water and look prettier. Perlite is $14 per HUGE bag.

You will also need some peat moss which you can get from walmart or home depot for pretty cheap.

Mix them all 1/3 parts by volume and you will have the best soil you can wish for. It will be light, water retaining, quickly draining, and very nutritious soil. The best thing is, it will cost you less than $60 for the whole yard.

 

We recently bought our local nursery's premium compost mix (ie. no sand) for our veggie patch. They told me it is organic as well. Maybe!

Over time I will dig in our own compost as these commercial mixes tend to be very rough and woody (the Delta municipal dump compost may be suitable for your new garden's under-layer, but I found it very cedar-y and rough for the top layer...I also have reservations about pesticide and herbicide residues in the raw material, collected local garden trimmings as most of my elderly neighbours spray their beds and lawns with impunity).

IMHO eight tenths of gardening is ongoing soil amendment with fab home made compost (I used to beg to dig out bags from local horse stable piles when I was putting in large new beds). At least 1 tenth is comprised of the passionate labour of the gardener. The rest, from sourcing good stock and seed!

 

I recommend West Creek Farms's soil. They are in Langley. http://westcreekfarms.com/

The fellow who owns the company (Frederick) is passionate and knowledgeable about soil. He gave me a tour of the facility when I went out, describing each ingredient and letting me touch them and telling me what it was and why it was used. He has test beds to try out different soil mixes. He has a variety of different soil mixes for different uses.

I am not related to the fellow or allied with the company. It was recommended to me when I took a garden class in Burnaby last year, so I went to check it out and was impressed. I got 7 yards of the stuff delivered to my house this spring. So far so good.

 

Many thanks to all who have contributed information on this subject. By next summer we will know which works best! Thank you all, Ellis