When spring rolls around, it’s time to start cutting the grass, filling the flower beds and planting your gardens. You’re probably used to seeing big yellow (or other coloured) bags of soil dropped on people’s driveways. Highly convenient for your seasonal landscaping projects and an easy way to get lots of dirt where and when you need it!
…But are they a good deal or are they insanely expensive? Are you better off hauling a bunch of small bags of dirt or mulch from your local garden centre? Or are there other better and cheaper options?
(Click here or scroll down to go right to the comparison chart)
After looking into it a bit myself, I wanted to provide some pros and cons to each method of acquiring your landscaping supplies! Particularly garden soil, triple mix, topdress, mulch and similar. Below you’ll find a few methods of getting your materials to your home along with the good, the bad and of course the price! You can make your own decisions from there.
Small Bags
Getting your soil in smaller bags is great if you don’t have the means to transport a large load. You can choose the quantity you want to purchase — as much or as little as you like. Bags will also frequently go on-sale throughout the season, sometimes for half the price so keep your eye out for discounts and stock up than on what you need.
You also have a good amount of choice and selection with multiple types of soil, mix and mulches available in many colours and brands. So you aren’t stuck with whatever dirt the “bag” company is offering or you may want a variety of products for whatever reason, depending on your application. Another bonus with small bags is you can easily move them around your garden or yard without needing a wheelbarrow.
Small bags, on the other hand, can also be a hassle if you need a lot of material. Loading them all into your car adds wear and tear to your vehicle. Then of course the repetitive task of unloading — the stuff isn’t light!
The quality of some of the bagged soil products can also be somewhat questionable. Some mixes are better than others, so just because you see really cheap garden soil, doesn’t mean it’s a good deal. For my comparisons below I’ve tried to use mid-range pricing for everything to make comparing quality as accurate as possible.
From my research, it seems that the quality of the cheaper bags is not great and is also on average more expensive than getting it from a garden centre (even on sale). The triple mix also seems to stand out as being sold as a “premium” product in a lot of cases at big box stores (in terms of the price being higher) but was actually cheaper than other soil types from the garden centres.
Large Totes
Driving by a home with multiple big tote bags is actually one of the things that got me curious about the exact pricing differences on soil delivery. On average the prices for various products ranged from about $150 – $180 per bag! With not much of a discount offered for multiple bags.
While the price is high, large bags of soil do offer some advantages. For one they take up a small footprint on your driveway/yard since they’re …in a bag. So you don’t have to worry about a big messy pile of soil that needs to be moved ASAP. The fact that it’s in a bag that comes with a built-in cover to keep your soil dry, is also extremely handy. This is really helpful if you are taking your time with your gardening projects and only want to use a bit of dirt at a time. You can work on smaller gardening projects and then wrap the bag up until next time.
Delivery options were another positive in the sense that they were usually more frequent and readily available, as a garden centre may have you wait a few days for a smaller load if they aren’t delivering something else in your area at the same time (to make it worth their trip). One quick tip – try to have the bags dropped on your driveway if you have space. I’ve seen many people have it dropped off on their lawns, only to not get around to using it and it ends up smothering and killing a big patch of grass. You end up with beautiful fresh garden soil and a big square of dead grass in front of it.
Now the negatives with the big tote bags. First off would be the PRICE! Take away the convenience – even if you factor in $50 dollars for delivery, the products are still extremely expensive comparatively. Top Dress for example at $180/cubic yard vs. $52 from a garden centre. So if you need more than a cubic yard of soil, you will likely be paying for the delivery costs over and over with the bags. Another issue with the bags is that “they are yours to keep”. Sounds great, but do you really want or need a giant soil bag once it’s empty? You can return the bags to be recycled, but if the drop-off location is out of your way, it kind of kills the convenience factor of having them delivered in the first place.
Garden Centre in Bulk
So if you’re all about saving money (which is why you’re here I’m assuming) then buying landscaping soil and mulch in bulk is the way to go – of course only if you need a full yard or more. Local garden centres generally have the cheapest cost by far and will add delivery service for around $50. This becomes substantially cheaper than all other options if you have a large truck or a trailer as you can simply have your own trailer loaded up and transport it yourself.
Just be careful to double-check how much weight your vehicle or trailer can hold. Mulch weighs about 1,000lbs / cubic yard (more if it’s wet) and soil weighs around 2,200 lbs / cu. yd. Another consideration is the quality of the product, lots of people believe you will get a better and more consistent product from the garden centre vs. bags at the store. One other great benefit is that you can just split the cost with a neighbour or two if you are planning on doing some maintenance together to share the delivery cost. Everyone pitches in and everyone saves!
Now for the bad points when buying in bulk. The dirt or mulch will be dumped somewhere, usually on your driveway, so it’s best to buy a tarp or something to lay down where you want it (might cost you another $5 – $10 for a tarp if you don’t have one). If you have limited space on your driveway, the dirt will take up a fair bit of room, so plan ahead so you can work shortly after the delivery and hopefully clear it off quickly if you need the space.
You’ll also need a wheelbarrow or something to move the materials along with a shovel. If you don’t use your materials right away, you will likely want a second tarp to cover everything in case it rains. Lastly, you might end up ordering more than you needed and then have to figure out where to use the excess but usually is not a big deal and better than running out of material.
Comparing Costs
Below I’ve tried to compile some basic data using average costs and readily available brands and products. You may find better deals and sales on all these options, but I’m attempting to represent the average costs for each option and average quality based on available product reviews.
Here are a few examples:
Popular sizes
Garden Club Top Soil – 25 L – $2.59 | equivalent: 30.5822 bags – $79.21
Garden Club Triple Mix – 25 L – $3.99 | 30.5822 bags – $122.02
Vigoro Garden Soil – 28.3L – $2.50 (4+ bags) | 27.016 bags – $67.54 (cheaper/poor ratings 2/5)
Vigoro Triple Mix – 28.3L – $3.50 | $94.56
Scotts Turf Builder – 28.3 L – $6.29 | 27.016 bags – $169.93 (more expensive but higher quality)
Pro-Mix – 85L – $16.99 | 8.994 bags – $152.81 (also excellent reviews)
For comparison purposes of a bulk order, we are using 1 Cubic Yard = 764.555 Litres and dividing that by the volume of product available in bags.
| Products | Garden Soil | Triple Mix | Top Dress | Mulch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Bags | $79 | $122 | - | $76 |
| Large Tote | $155 | - | $180 | $165 |
| Bulk Delivery | $48 (+$50 delivery) | $39 (+$50 delivery) | $49 (+$50 delivery) | $52 (+$50 delivery) |
In Summary
The conclusion here is that if you’re looking to buy any sort of volume and save money, buy in bulk from the garden centres or somewhere that will dump materials for you (or even better – pick it up and save the delivery charge).
Some products seem to be more expensive when buying in totes or bags from a retailer, namely things like top-dress and triple mix. Marketed as a more “premium product” than plain “garden soil” but in reality, it doesn’t cost much more and is simply soil with peat and compost added, which you can just buy yourself separately as well. Read labels and don’t just assume things are way better because the bag says “premium”.
Hopefully, this helps you save some money this spring and summer and make the right selection for your landscaping projects.
Happy gardening!
