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Essential Topsoil Tips for Thriving Gardens & Lawns

Quality topsoil is a crucial ingredient if you want your garden to thrive. Whether you want to grow a lawn, plants, vegetables or just create a bedding area for some flowers, it all starts with getting the right soil.

While compost is essential for growing, you need a certain amount of topsoil to give structure and add extra nutrients that make it ideal for growth. With this in mind, we wanted to answer some common questions about topsoil and provide tips on how to make the most of your garden through this simple, but essential material.

Let’s dig into it, shall we?

What is topsoil used for?

Because topsoil makes up such a large proportion of the top layer in a garden – hence the name – it’s a crucial material with a number of purposes. Made up of various organic matter, you can use topsoil for some of the following projects:

Creating raised bedding
Introducing a base layer for turf/sowing grass seeds
Creating borders in a garden
Levelling out sloping gardens
Preparation for growing plants and vegetables

No matter what you’ve got planned, we’ve got both multi-purpose topsoil and bedding topsoil that you can quickly and easily order online.

How much topsoil do I need?

The answer to how much topsoil you need comes down to a number of things. The biggest part of working out how much you need is knowing how many square feet you’ve got to cover, which you can work out with a rough width and length measurement.

Then, you’ll need to think about how deep you want your layer of topsoil to be. This very much depends on the type of landscaping work you’ll be undertaking, as filling a void or making a garden level will require a greater depth than creating a quick border for some plants.

You should now have your general dimensions with which to work out how many metres cubed you need (m3). If you’re unsure about doing these sums, don’t worry, you can use our handy aggregates calculator online to then quote with your order.

When is the best time to lay topsoil?

Technically speaking, you can lay topsoil at any point in the year if you really want to. However, if you’re looking to grow anything with it, we’d recommend springtime as the ideal point to get a new layer in place.

Laying your topsoil just as spring arrives means you’ll be ready for the growing season and your soil will be able to make the most of the moisture that it’s in the air and on the ground.

Do you need topsoil for turf?

If you’re replacing old turf, then you may decide you don’t need new topsoil, but if you’re embarking on this project in the first place then it’s probably because your lawn isn’t as healthy as you’d like it to be.

Topsoil is an absolute must for growing your lawn, with a good two-inch layer needed to create the perfect surface. Having topsoil beneath your new turf gives you several benefits:

Contains all the microbes you need for healthy grass and plants
Absorbs the impact of your movements across the lawn
Absorbs rainwater which it can store
Gives roots a path to find nutrients and water

Can you buy topsoil in bags?

You’ll often see topsoil being poured as a loose load, which is something we offer here at Aggregates Express. However, you can also get topsoil in bulk bags from us if you need to maintain a tidy site or if you want access to topsoil in multiple locations across a large area.

Our topsoil bedding bulk bags come in 850kg (approx.) packs and are high in nutrients to help your garden flourish.

Order your topsoil online today for same or next-day delivery within Milton Keynes and Hertfordshire – including Watford – and get your landscaping project underway. We have over 30 years of experience in delivering quality materials within a 25-mile radius of our depot. Alternatively, you can collect directly from us if this is more convenient.