I’m going to show you step by step how I get my own quality soil for a low price. The free workout is also a plus, if you are able to delude yourself into believing that lie the same as I do. I fill up my soil box (1/2 cubic yard) and it only costs me $35. The soil I buy is high quality, and my veggies absolutely love it.
NOTE: I do have the privilege of using my husbands truck, so I understand this is not for everyone. The U-haul in my area does have a $20 per day use rental available, which would still make it worth it for me if I needed a cubic yard or more of soil. I also use a wheelbarrow, a shovel, and a whole bunch of coffee.
Basically, I’m going to buy bulk garden soil from my local Sand & Gravel supplier. Mine is Hastie’s Capitol Sand & Gravel, but if you google search for “sand and gravel near me” you should be able to find one (hopefully) close to you. These places typically carry garden soil as well as sand, rocks, and gravel.
I drive there and buy the soil, they scoop it up, dump it in the truck bed, and then I drive it home and shovel it into my soil box. The whole process takes me about an hour and a half – but I’m genetically prone to self-inflicted torment as well as being obnoxiously stubborn, so I wheel 9 wheelbarrows full of soil in a determined rage and do not stop for breaks.
The reason I’m explaining this in so much detail is that I never really understood how it worked and used to buy bagged soil from Lowe’s/Home Depot. I’m a bit of an anxious introvert, and yes, I know I’m a grown adult, but I hate calling businesses and/or talking to people in general, and I put it off for way too long. If I had known how the process went (or that it even existed) I would have done it a lot sooner.
Here is my empty soil box. It is 3′ x 4.5′ and about 20″ tall – it holds 1/2 a cubic yard of soil, which is about 14 cubic feet.
I thought my last batch of soil would last longer, but oops I built yet another small raised bed that wiped out the last of it, so now I need a refill.
Before heading to Hastie’s (my local Sand & Gravel supplier) I laid down a tarp. After doing enough of these trips, I’ve learned that this really makes the cleanup SO much easier. No push broom, water hose, etc, to use for cleanup. I’ll shovel out the soil, gather up the tarp corners, and throw it over my shoulder like I’m Santa Claus. The truck will be left as clean as it was before I started. Easy peasy.
I used bungees to hold up the corners around the edges, and I put a brick in each corner to keep my dear old gray tarp from flying out on the drive there.
Knowing that I won’t have to use a push-broom later brings tears to my eyes, so I pause and take in the beauty of it all.
My go-to is Hastie’s, which is close to me and they’re all very nice. I go to the office first and buy my soil. There are different types and quality levels, but the price list explains what they are made of. (Mushroom compost, chicken manure, etc…) I go with the Garden Mix, I’ve used it for years and have no complaints.
You can buy a yard, half yard, 1/4 yard, etc. They sell bagged soil as well, which is still a bit cheaper and higher quality than the big box stores if you ask me.
They give me this precious receipt to hold onto, since the person who scoops my precious soil will need to see it.
Next step is to hop back into the truck and find the pile of soil that I purchased, and park next to it. There are big aisles with sand, rock, etc, but it’s fairly easy to navigate once you see the garden soil section. Mine is the “Garden Mix” pictured here.
Note: Don’t block the soil by parking in front of it, the excavator will need access.
The excavator will come out, check my receipt, and scoop the soil straight into the truck bed.
For my daughter, this part is as exciting as when we go through the car wash, so I highly recommend bringing children along for the experience. Also it’s adorable when they try to say “excavator.”
Anyway, once they’re done, you’ll get the cutest little double-honk which means you are good to go. I drive home at a regular speed of around 40mph, and don’t bother covering it up. It doesn’t blow away, though I wouldn’t recommend getting on the freeway like this. The soil does not reach above the rim of the truck bed. If it did, a cover tarp would likely be helpful.
Now I’m home and the hard work is about to start.
Once more, I will delude myself into thanking my lucky stars for the “free workout”, chug some more coffee, and fetch the wheelbarrow and shovel.
I highly recommend letting any teenagers within a one block radius build some character here with some manual labor, but if you don’t have one at your disposal, join me in my delusion.
This 1/2 yard of soil took me nine wheelbarrow trips and about 45 minutes from start to finish.
Somewhere around wheelbarrow number six or seven, I began to regret letting my teenager enjoy a fun day of swimming and eating delicious food at Grandma’s house. A grievous error on my part.
BUT, here we are, all done. The first few wheelbarrows-full were easy to unload. The 2x4s in the front can slide right out of the corner blocks, so I just removed them, wheeled the barrow right in and dumped it out. That is just one more reason why I LOVE LOVE LOVE these garden wall blocks; they are so useful and versatile.
Once the bottom half was full, I did drop the lumber back in and had to empty the wheelbarrow out with a shovel, so that slowed things a bit, but at least the first several wheelbarrows where easy to dump in.
For a cost comparison, this $35 box of soil equals about 14 bags of soil (1 cf each) from the garden center. The cost savings are real! Even if you find a quality bag of soil for $5, that would still cost $70 at the retail store.
For me, it’s definitely worth it.
So if you have been on the fence about buying from a Sand & Gravel supplier, I hope this helps you, my garden friend. Or maybe you never knew even that you could. There is definitely more work involved, but this a great way to save money without sacrificing soil quality – and I am never going back to the big box stores for soil!
I’m interested to hear your thoughts, do you have a soil box? Do you have any other tips and suggestions for the whole process? I would love to hear them.
Happy Gardening! 🌱
Kate
