Which topsoil should I buy?

[gardening_gal]

I have many raised beds to fill and I intend to buy one of those bulk bags of topsoil.

I'm ordering it today but I could use opinion as to which to get please?

I will be growing by far mostly all fruit and veg (with maybe the odd flower pot but not many).

So, do I buy ordinary topsoil that will cost around £65 ish delivered or the specialised Rolawn fruit and veg topsoil @ around £110 ish delivered?

I don't want to waste money but I loathe false economy and after all the effort I've put in, I want something that will be decent for my plants to grow in. (Completely self contained raised beds that are sitting on tarmac so no normal earth underneath.)

I don't have the time or energy to source other ways, I just want it ordered online or by phone now and delivered to my door soon, so help me decide please?

I know someone who bought the ordinary stuff locally and he seemed pleased enough with it but he only wanted to add it to his garden to grow his bedding plants and flowers in so his use was different to mine if it makes any odds.

I've never bought anything other than a bag of compost out of the garden centre before so I'm concerned about making a bad buy.

[Mikey]

I personally wouldn't buy topsoil at all, I would contact some local stables and see if you can get hold of a large pile of well rotted horse muck. I have a local contact I got off freecycle which I go and collect a tonne of muck for £5, my trailer only holds about 1/2 a tonne so I make 2 trips, with fuel it costs me approx £8.60 for a tonne of very fine tilth well rotted muck, which I have to load myself.

I do get weeds in it as you'd expect nettles are a prime example, but I keep pulling these by hand throughout the season and they don't take hold. I grew some of my best carrots ever in the beds I made last year.

You'll only have to this once as you can make your own compost to continue to top them up in future years.

To work out quantities a tonne of soil is approx .86 cubic metres, the bags you get from a merchant are 1 cubic metres bags though this can vary by exact weight dependent on whether its wet or not. If you work out the dimensions of your beds and multiply by the height it will give you your cubic meterage, though you probably already know this.

[Veggielot]

I bought my top soil from a local supplier which was cheaper then the online suppliers. Not probably the best quality you could get but has been fine for both my flowers and vegetables.

[fishpond]

Providing the cheaper one isn't full of stones, then I assume the only difference is that the more expensive one has got some added fertilizer.
Sadly, no experience of buying in topsoil, but providing you can be assured by the seller (in writing) that it is not full of stones and rubbish, I would go for the cheaper one.
Also ask the other gardener if it is possible if you can look at his (topsoil) also ask what it was like on delivery and since.

[Kristen]

I personally wouldn't buy topsoil at all, I would contact some local stables and see if you can get hold of a large pile of well rotted horse muck

Given the beds are on tarmac, rather than soil, I think it would need some soil in there - 50:50 for example. But a high proportion of manure would make the soil lovely to work in coming years ... the organic matter will rot down.

I expect Rolawn's soil is lovely black, alluvial, fenland soil, and will be gorgeous. The cheaper one might be too - or it might be heavier. Assuming not full of stones I think the likely difference is that the cheap one has been scrapped off a building site, and is probably "OK" whereas Rolawn will be from Grade 1 agricultural land.

I'd want to see a sample of each! but I expect that is unlikely to be practicable?

[alldigging]

When I bought local top soil in bulk they were happy to tell what it was like. One lot offered to shred muck into it but as I was buying by weight and had muck already I didn't see the point. I think it was £26 a tonne - Reasonable sandy stuff.

Some places do cheaper stuff that's not as good - so depends how much effort you want to put into making it better.

[Martin H]

I bought a builders bag of topsoil from a local place a couple of years ago. It was their "premium" stuff, seived and stone-free.

It seemed okay when I spread it out but then when it dried out it set like concrete. I'm guessing it had just the wrong proportions of clay and sand.

Since then I've been spreading organic stuff over it; it's slowly starting to open up and I'm sure it'll be fine eventually. In the meantime, the flowers I've planted seem to like concrete so it can't be all bad.