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Page 8
Buying Soil If you need to import fill, your best bet is to call a company that sells top soil. Buying topsoil by the bag from a DIY store or garden center is quite expensive. Good top soil companies can and will mix the soil to your specifications - adding sharp sand, compost or other materials in the percentages that you specify. They can give you a soil of just about any pH you request, too. They will also certify that it is top soil and free from weeds and unwanted items like slabs of concrete and old beer cans. To be absolutely certain that you are going to get what you want, it's best to go to the company and look at the soil they are selling. There are vast differences among "top soils", believe me. I learned this the hard way when I did not take my body to actually see the product before delivery. I wanted sharp sand added and was told the soil was already sandy. Fine. It was. But the "sand" was in the form of silt. It arrived soft, black and beautiful; a joy to work until it got wet and then dried out, when it became nice, rich, black concrete. So, a word to the wise from the school of experience... How Much Fill Will You Need? Most soil products are sold in cubic yards. To determine how many cubic yards you will need to fill your bed, measure the length and the width and the depth of the bed. Multiply the length by the width. Then multiply that result by the depth of the bed. That will give you the square yards. Divide this result by 27 (the number of cubic feet in a cubic yard). Example:
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