Best economical (cheap!) compost/topsoil?

pootlegirl

We are having our first go at growing veg this year and have bought some raised beds but I am a little stumped as to what to put in them! Having a quick look on the internet I have worked out a 50/50 mix of compost and topsoil seems to be the norm. (correct me if I'm wrong!) We have no 'spare' soil in the garden, the beds are going straight onto gravel, so all this has to be bought in.
I've had a quick look at this forum and several people have said B&Q's multi purpose compost is a good compost for it's price, but can anyone recommend a good topsoil or warn me about what I should be wary of when buying topsoil/compost?
Any advice greatly appreciated!

alm721

I was going to ask the same question so will be watching this thread with interest. I was going to look in yellow pages and try and find someone selling topsoil?

paybacktime2008

If you need heaps it might be cheaper to buy in bulk I saw1 cubic meter of top soil for £60 delivered. That was at a pretty expensive garden centre so you will probably get cheaper.

Of course the cheapest compost is home made, too late this year but do think about starting compost bins if you haven't already.

conradmum

When I made raised beds I dug the paths around them down about 9 inches or so and used this soil to raise the beds. Then I filled the paths with woodchip from the council. Not sure if this is possible in your situation but I thought it was worth posting in case anyone is working with lawn/bare soil.

balloo_2

keep an eye on freecycle for people offering topsoil for free. Not sure if you should add things to it (Prepare it) before planting?

artha

Does your local council offer free compost from garden waste recycling? Ours does so I imagine most either offer it free or at a small charge

mi_jardin

sometimes I have seen topsoil on ebay and freecycle, it may be worth looking.
other than that, it depends how much you are after. if you need a lot it will be worth looking into tonne bag from your local garden centre or diy store. if you only need a bit, sometimes growbags work out cheaper than buying the 70/100L bags.

earthlysparky

Be careful with cheap "topsoil" from councils or building companies. Often this is actually reclaimed soil, at best poor quality, at worst carrying diseases.

It can be worth biting the bullet and buying what seems to be more expensive top soil. We pay £42 a ton for good quality, loamy soil. And as a bonus, I'll be using the bag it comes in to grow spuds in!

pootlegirl

Thanks for the advice everyone. Unfortunately our council doesn't seem to offer anything and we don't have any 'spare' in the garden so it is going to have to be bought in. We've got a little bit of our own compost, but no where near enough so going to top that up with B&Q compost. Will have to go round the local garden centres tomorrow to price up the topsoil.

Jake'sGran

alm721 wrote: »

I was going to ask the same question so will be watching this thread with interest. I was going to look in yellow pages and try and find someone selling topsoil?

I get a catalogue from The Book People and this month noticed that they have a couple of Veg Growing and Allotment guides. Well worth having a look as the prices are usually about a quarter of the price on the book and one of them was by the RHS.
They are on line of course.

olbas_oil

This is probably more than anyone wants, but British Sugar deliver Landscape20 sandy loam, TOPSOIL. "It is ideal for general
landscaping projects such as seeding, turfing and planting."
Costs about £12.50 ton delivered... but the downside is that it is a minimum delivery of 20 tonnes.