Hi all, Am now looking to buy a bunch of soil to replace my failed (=slow) lasagna garden and to allow me to re-plant all of my PNW native species in a growing medium that won't be inclined to kill them before summer. Anyway, I was wondering whether anyone in the Lower Mainland can recommend (or comment on) garden soil sources in our area. Notice that I said "garden soil" and not compost or manure or even top soil - it's hard to find real soil in anything bigger than a 25kg bag. I know that there have been similar requests here before but the companies that have been suggested in the past were all REALLY far away. I live in the West Side of Vancouver and would definitely prefer to avoid making three trips out to Abbotsford or Surrey in my small car to pick up the 4-5 cubic yards of soil that I'm going to need to cover the area. So while Stream Organics, Terralink & others come highly recommended, I'd rather stick to places in Vancouver, Richmond & maybe the west side of Burnaby. I've found a few places that seem to fit the bill and I'd love to know whether anyone here has dealt with them before (or has any alternative places to suggest): -- Yardworks (Richmond) -- Richmond Soil (Richmond) -- Dirt Truck (?)Everywhere else that I've heard about either doesn't sell garden soil, is too far away, or charges way too much for delivery (especially for small loads). Hope someone can help. Thx.
if you need 4-5 yards, just get it delivered. Stream Organics has a single axle dump truck and is able to deliver otherwise, try talking to Lawn Boy, they are a bulk materials dealer near the dump on cambie (at Kent), they may have a soil product you can use.
Thanks. I actually called Lawn Boy yesterday but was told that they only have unfinished compost+sand or peat mixes, not soil per se, so I crossed them off my list. Have also called Sandy's (closed) & Dirt Truck (no answer), and may ring GardenWorks & David Hunter to see if they can offer me a deal. Unfortunately, though, it looks like it'll cost me about $200 to get enough soil to cover ~300sqft (@ 6" deep), regardless of who I buy it from & if I get it delivered or not. And that's WAAAAY more than I'm willing to pay right now, especially since I put a ton of money into buying ingredients & tools for the lasagna layers (don't ask). So I'm now trying to decide whether to only get 1/2 - 1/3 of the amount for now and to fill in the rest with my own clayish soil until my next batch of compost is ready. It's not exactly an ideal solution considering all of the work I've put into this patch of garden & how much of the area I'd hoped to have filled with plants by now. But it may have to do until I can afford or can 'make' the rest of the soil mix. This is SO frustrating. Well, thanks for your suggestions jimmyq - I appreciate your help :)
My experience is that soil is free but the trucking is at least $100 a load. We did have some construction nearby where the truckers were delivering the soil to us homeowners for free because they were paid to get rid of it, and had to truck to a "fill site" otherwise. But really, a lot of this soil is removed from building sites and has to be disposed of, and it's always the trucking that is the issue. Where you are, fern, the chances of getting construction type soil is pretty slim, compared to out here in the burbs. I would try somebody like Mathers Trucking/Bulldozing who do a lot of this in Richmond, but the problem is going to be trucking a small load is pretty well the same cost as a full 16yd load. I know how expensive running a truck is so I don't argue with the $100 or more charge for delivery, but it probably doesn't make sense for the amount you need. I'm no help am I!
Gardenworks doesnt deliver soil but one of their suppliers might be able to help you, western lawn and garden supplies their topsoils I think .
I've been growing everything in the heavy clay soil that came with the house. The plants grow fine, and though I'm sure they would do better if I amended it, but I'm impatient to get growing. (All my plants are always a little shorter that what they should be.) I'm slowly amending with sand, compost and manure as I work on new beds. I'll try to look up the names and addresses of the two places that I've got topsoil from (in Burnaby), but one place provides sandy soil and the other, a rich heavy soil. It seems the best thing to do is by a yard or 2 of top soil, and a yard of compost and mix your own. I haven't done this myself.
HI I have lived in many places air force brat my mom thought us to take all our left over greens of any kind and simplly chop in blender with a lot of water because we moved on short noticeshe did'nt want to have to haul ahalf done compost to dump and it work will I live inA.z now pore soil will take pic of my yard and post it it green green
Thanks guys. I priced out all of my soil options in the area and, rather than spending $125 on 6 cubic yards of soil and another $75 to have it hauled out to my house & dumped unceremoniously at the curb (meaning I'd still have to carry it up 2 flights of steps to my garden!), I decided to buy 25kg bags of 'outdoor soil' from the David Hunter nursery near my house. It's definitely not as cheap as buying in bulk and I still have to haul to bags myself but, by focusing on the most urgent areas of the garden and mixing in some of my own clay soil (+ woody/leafy mulch or compost on top), I'm hoping to keep my tender plants happy and my wallet reasonably full. I've also ramped up my composting efforts in the hopes that I can produce enough finished material to suppliment my native garden in the near future. It's far from an ideal solution but I think it's going to have to do for now. I spent SOOOOO much time & $$ setting up my now defunct lasagna garden that I really don't have much of either to spare for this new soil-based incarnation of my native garden. Thanks so much for your help.
