I like Singh Farms for compost, they are at 101 and Thomas (NEC lot). But they are only open to the public Friday's and Saturday's so it's hard for me to get over there sometimes.

Another alternative is Pioneer Landscape Materials (or something like that). They have several sites around the valley where you can drive in with a pickup and they will load a yard at a time into the bed. I think it's $40/yard. I have twice purchased a mix of sandy loam and compost for my raised beds and been happy. Interested to hear if there are other solutions folks like.

Singh farms , period.

Good question.

I don't recommend Singh farms. I think their compost has way too much woody pieces in it. First year using it 2 yrs ago and nothing grew. Compost wasn't aged enough. A year later the compost was fine.

Singh Farms is only compost. They don't have garden 'soil', and toucan is right - the compost is hot and it's best to let it rest at least a month before planting in it. This would be a good time to buy a load of it if you're prepping winter beds.

Also, I have sifted the rough compost and used the bigger pieces for top dress/mulch. toucan, someone told me you can ask for the 'fine grade' compost which has fewer, if any, larger pieces.

I just dumped 60 yards into my new mango banana orchard. I would not have invested big money in this product if it had not been successful for me in the past. I sprayed down yesterday with fish juice and will let it rest for 6 weeks. I have used this medium for years. It is not for container growing.

Get the blend. Its a 50% mulch compost, 25% sand, %25 silt.

ppa, did you get that blend at Singh? That would be great. One stop shop.

I did. he started making offering the blend not too long ago per request. Nice cuz you can use as a medium, not just amendment on top of ground. You can go there and see his gardens, he only uses his soil plus the fish juice to get the microbes working.

That's great news, thanks for passing it along.

Any... uh.... problems with the fish juice? I'm imagining my horse's flies having a party....

My husband gets mad and won't speak to me for days when I spray fish emulsion. But I have not tried Singh's yet, maybe it's low/no odor???

Ken Singh uses fish hydrolosate as opposed to emulsion. It is indeed lower but not no odor.

There's a guy who will build you your raised bed plus put some good soil in it. I got it for less than I could buy it. I forgot his name, but possibly someone else might remember.

I have to agree with toucan. After getting all excited about Singh's compost, I went and got some. I asked the guy doing the loading which pile was which and told him I had two different projects; I needed soil to prep an area for sod and I needed soil for gardening, *including* containers. The stuff I put under the sod was fine and dark. The 'garden' soil is all wood and sand - and nothing grows in it. When watered, the woody stuff rises to the top and the rest becomes like cement and is very hard to dig in. Really disappointing. I'm trying to find time to get over there again and have a little chat about this, but I haven't so far.

Hi,
Im just ducking in here on the advice of another member. Since I am new to the site, I am looking for advice on how to make some good things happen with the raised beds I am putting together. After reading this thread, I got the idea to call my own local nusery (I live in Yuma)and asked about bulk soil purchase. The gent that I spoke with told me that the mix they have is 50/50, a mix of sand and something else at $42+ per yd. Im guessing that perhaps I could learn from Tomatofreak's dilema but I dont have access to many other choices here. I also thought about just purchasing Kellog's garden mix in the 3cuft bags...but this will get a bit costly since I need approx 3yds and that will come to approx $230. I also thought about just doing a yard at a time while saving money along the way to complete the next yard. Any suggestions? Thanks.

I have had good results with the Sandy Loam Mix from Pioneer Landscape Supply Co.

http://www.pioneersand.com/az/top_soil_soil_mixes.htm

SANDY LOAM

33% screened fill dirt, 33% mulch, 33% manure. Sandy Loam is A great medium for vegetable gardens and other applications that utilize the warmth and micro nutrients of manure.

When I purchased it the price was only $ 27.00 PER CUBIC YARD delivered when I ordered 7 cubic yards.

A word to any novice gardeners. Do not water heavily with a hose. Use a drip system or soaker hose. If you water with a garden hose the soil will separate and the soil will retain moisture unevenly. Also, soil is meant to be worked when it is dry. Don't do it when its wet. If you do your results will be spotty as moisture retention will be uneven. Also be sure to mulch at least 2"-4". Your plants will love you for it.

Here is a link that might be useful: My vegetable garden 2011 and 2012

thisisme, those artichoke flowers are amazing! Ive never seen those before. I'd like to plant some of those too. One day...soon I hope!

I agree with thisisme re: Pioneer Landscape Supply. Since I only need one yard at at time and have an old Ford F100, aka The Farm Truck, I drive to the location on Northern and 115th Ave. 3D, there's one in Casa Grande.

Same as thisisme, I get the sandy loam mix however one time I got half a yard of that and half a yard of compost. I'm happy with the result. Cost is $40/yard.

I've also used lots of Singh compost with good result, it's just a long way from me. Not sure what went wrong in your case tomatofreak. When I got the mix that had lots of large chunks I sifted it over a wheelbarrow and used the larger pieces as top dressing. Loved it but it was a lot of work. Now I get only the fine compost but remember, when you buy compost it should be mixed in with native soil. tf, maybe that's what went wrong. You don't want to plant in just compost, mix it with your garden soil.

3D, my raised beds are 4'x6' and one yard will easily fill one bed. HTH.

Thanks marymcp,
I called the local nursery today again to inquire more about the composition of the bulk soil they have. They said that its 50% sand and 50% wood shavings/mulch. The guy told me that since I wanted to use it for a garden that I would have to amend it (obviously). At first I thought that I could get this bulk soil as my base and then bring in the added items I would need but at this point, Im just thinking that it might be better for me to go ahead and purchase a little quality stuff at a time...say a few big bags at a time. not really what I wanted because I know that right about now is the time to start getting things ready for the fall (correct?) I wont have this issue in the future though. One of my buddies has horses on his land and said that I can come and get the manure for free...all I gotta do is compost it!!

Thanks everyone for all of the advice and insight. It looks like there is a strong community down here to discuss issues with. I am going to go with the Sandy Loam mix from Pioneer. Going to get it today. Going to try Sign sometime in the future. Thank you again for everyone's input!

I have been reading this thread with interest. Would someone be kind enough to tell me how much a yard of dirt is? Volume-wise, I mean -- I'm trying to envision whether it would fit in the back of my station wagon, lol.

Thanks in advance!

About 10 wheelbarrow loads. I doubt you could get it *into* the back of your station wagon. Places that sell soil by the yard use a front loader to dump it into the back of your pickup truck. Singh Farms sells large burlap bags of compost and they may sell the garden mix. I'm not sure. It's $16 a bag and I watched two men heave bags of it into someone's wagon last weekend. HTH.

Baubo, when I purchased from Pioneer the price varied by how many yards you purchased. Delivery price also changed depending on how many yards where purchased by delivery zone you live in. In my case it was $ 27.00 per yard if you purchased 7 or more yards and the price for delivery was free with a purchase of 7 or more yards.

They will load a truck with a loader if you only want a truck load. They also sell empty burlap sacks you can fill. You can also bring your own sacks or containers. If you load your own its sold by weight. You drive onto a scale on the way in and drive onto a scale before you pay. Of course the price is a lot higher when purchasing in small amounts but still cheaper than bagged soil and far better.

Thanks for the input 'me. I did not realize that you could 'bag your own'.

It's a bit of a challenge to determine how much dirt you need for a specific project. This site might help you figure that out (if you're not sure already) and could be interesting even if you do know.

Here is a link that might be useful: what's a cubic yard