topsoil for new raised beds.

[Suky]

My local GC has an offer of 1 ton organic topsoil for £69 delivered. I have a couple of aquaintances who have used it and were very happy with the quality, lack of weeds etc but I can't work out how good the value is. Maths & I are not a good mix. The size of the white bag the soil is delivered in is approx 1 cubic metre. Does anyone know what this would equal in litres (approx!) so I can compare it with the comercial bagged stuff.

I will be using it for some new raised beds to lift the soil level.

[Scunny Zeb]

I thought the idea behind the metric system was that everything was standardised (no funny amounts)

So....

1000 ltr = 1 metric tonne ????

[womble]

I think £69 is good value, especially as you have a couple of people that rate it.
For that price from a firm I would be expecting to get run of the mill topsoil.

[Suky]

I thought the idea behind the metric system was that everything was standardised (no funny amounts)

So....

1000 ltr = 1 metric tonne ????

Well that's what I thought, bearing in mind I never went metric, but my hubby frowned and said it was 'too easy' and that ton = kg not litres! And he was right!

[Welsh Wizard]

I have noticed here in the Fatherland that gardening gear is cheap as chips. I bought 200L of quality topsoil for 5 euro today, which seems a bargain after B&Q prices last year. Good size packet of branded f1 seed= 69c. Lidl doing packs of common seeds like Lollo Rosso lettuce, Early Nantes carrots for 15c at the moment. Brilliant....

Mind you everything is just so nice here in Germany it makes one despair when one sees how screwed up the UK has become in comparison. Houses 60% of UK prices. I might be able to afford a really nice garden here if wanted! I really cant see any reason to come home, especially as the natives all speak great English! Only downside is absolutely nowhere open on Sunday, but that just means a whole day in the garden!

[Suky]

Well, clever clogs son has just come home, Googled it with different words to me and the answer is ....... 1428lt!!!!!!!! Don't you just hate them!
I guess that's what I go for. Thanks for your help.
Certainly cheaper than buying MPC and easier than buying it 3 bags at a time, so saving on petrol. Win, win!

[rustylady]

Fair enough, but being a bit of a cheapskate I think I would be aiming to build the level of my raised beds gradually with home-made compost and organic material, rather than bought in topsoil.

[Suky]

That's what I have done so far but the four new beds are on really poor soil where some trees have been removed and my garden cannot create that much compost quickly enough. We also need to raise the ground where paved area has been removed and some of the soil will go for that to enable Hubby to create more lawn!
It will have to wait till payday anyway.

[kentvegplot]

1 cubic metre = 1000 litres.

[Paulottie]

CuM about 15 barrows full. or 20 X 50 litre bags at about £4 each I guess ...so you save a tenner at best...but then most do 3 bags for a tenner anyway.

You need to work out the volume of your raised beds...don't forget it compacts down a cubic metre fluffed up soon reduces to 1/2 its volume in a bed.

1 cubic metre of mushroom compost £7 collected(mate with trailer?)...£10 delivered...to be fair I buy a lorry full (15) at a time...it is more expensive in tonne bags.

Sounds better to bulk it out really...what does your local recycling charge?...ours extortionate for compost.

or possibly think 'can I grow £70 worth of veg in that?'

[Suky]

1 cubic metre of mushroom compost £7 collected(mate with trailer?)...£10 delivered...to be fair I buy a lorry full (15) at a time...it is more expensive in tonne bags.

Sounds better to bulk it out really...what does your local recycling charge?...ours extortionate for compost.

or possibly think 'can I grow £70 worth of veg in that?'

Mushroom compost is out - I am allergic to it and an asthma attack when gardening is not good. Local council recycling not avaiable to the public

Still thinking about it

[Paulottie]

Not available to the public?!!....providing a service to the rate payer ...the Council...sorry should have known better.

[Paulottie]

Saw my friend in the pub...been spreading topsoil today...£12 a cube.

[organic]

Not available to the public?!!....providing a service to the rate payer ...the Council...sorry should have known better.

You really should have!

Can't get to the compost, can't salvage from the tip.
In fact, all the tips around here - 3 different council areas within a 5 minute walk of my front door - have staff watching you like hawks to make sure you don't take so much as a shred of it away. I seem to recall news articles involving people trying to take stuff from the tip... either they were arrested or the poor sod who's job it was to enforce the idiotic rules got a beating for his trouble. Possibly both.

Bloody daft rules whatever though.

When used together 3 of the worst words in the english language are "Duty of Care".


EDIT
Pah - hit "post" instead of "preview" - I really need to stop doing that!

On the weight/volume/metric thing...

1000 litres isn't necessarily a tonne.

1000 litres of water, of lead and of feathers would be vastly different weights, just like a tonne of each would be different sizes.

However... 1000 litres of water would be 1 metric tonne.
1cc (or 1ml) of pure water weighs 1 gram at 4 °C. (1 gram is actually not defined as that any more... but it's close enough)
1 litre (1000cc or 1000ml) of water weighs 1 kilogram.
1000 litres of pure water = 1 metric tonne.

Just for fun - those builders bags are usually smaller than 1 cubic metre. To the best of my knowledge they are actually 3 feet x 3 feet x 3 feet or 27 cubic feet... which is roughly 0.75 cubic metres.

I could be mistaken on that last paragraph - but I don't believe so. Anyone got one handy to measure?

[Paulottie]

On the weight/volume/metric thing...

1000 litres isn't necessarily a tonne.

1000 litres of water, of lead and of feathers would be vastly different weights, just like a tonne of each would be different sizes.

Just for fun - those builders bags are usually smaller than 1 cubic metre. To the best of my knowledge they are actually 3 feet x 3 feet x 3 feet or 27 cubic feet... which is roughly 0.75 cubic metres.

I could be mistaken on that last paragraph - but I don't believe so. Anyone got one handy to measure?

Interesting..

I don't know the density of sand (depends largely how wet it is I suppose)...but I buy that by weight loose

I normally buy topsoil and muck by volume. As I said earlier I know that 15 cuM of mushroom turns into about 150-160 really full barrows.

The exception to this is the high clay topdressing loam for the cricket square which has come in by the 'tonne bag' before but the bags were definitely bigger than those sand ones (of course I buy that dry or it would come as a lump)

Everything seems more expensive by those bags ...is that cos a Hyab costs a lot? or is it the hopper to fill them?...I know it would be a damn site easier to swing them onto the front wall rather than barrow it all down a 100 metre track to the lottie tho.

I do have a few 'a tonne bag's' I'll measure one later.