My friend is starting a garden and we will be buying our produce from her this year. She has been searching for the best deal on organic dirt, preferably in bulk. She needs a lot of it so getting it at the best price is important. Does anyone know if garden centers or nurseries sell organic dirt in bulk? It seems like there would be a big market for it but it is hard to find.
To be fair - its actually quite the opposite - mainly because - as organic gardening is in reality nothing more than making the most of what mother nature has given us - meaning recycling organic composts and mulches back into the soil - in order to both amend and fertilize it and most organic gardeners prefer to make their own composts and soil amendments from decomposed kitchen waste and discarded plant material - as that way they can be absolutely sure - that what they are putting into their soil is totally natural and chemical free - there is very little demand for organic soils. Particularly as not only are they extremely expensive - but finding a truly organic soil blend can be extremely challenging - for the simple reason - that you can never be 100 % sure that what you are getting is purely organic - especially as - many of the so called organic soil blends - generally contain pasteurized animal manures obtained from non-organic farms. To be honest - as someone who does grow all their own produce - although I would just say - that if planning to grow produce - its generally better to prepare the ground well ahead of planting out and preferably during autumn or winter - if planning to plant in spring - as not only are there no guarantees that what you got would be 100% organic - but more importantly - as organic soil is highly likely to be so expensive - that the cost of growing the produce would probably be way more than double that of buying fresh produce from the store or farmer's market for well over a year - it seems daft to pay such an extortionately high price for something commercially produced - when some of the best soil amendments, fertilizers and compost can easily be made for free - by recycling leftover kitchen scraps and plant waste.
Prepare the soil in advance! Compost, compost, compost! My local government gives away free compost to residents. See if your city has a program like that and you can just utilize the dirt right in your own backyard. Just compost and get nutrients back into your soil.
Your friend shouldn't buy "organic soil." It's what you put in it that changes it into something else. As it has been suggested, your friend should instead make compost, apply it to the garden even before it fully decomposes as mulch. Do this for a few months and she'll have what she wants and spend $0 in the process.
