"Vox Humana" wrote in message
...

"Matt" wrote in message
.. .

I think that 12 inches in minimal. I would go with more - maybe 24 or 30
inches. Also, If you intend to grow shrubs and perennials, I would find
out
exactly what "top soil" means from your supplier. Sometimes it is horrid
stuff. Most likely your supplier has a variety of soils available. The
place I get soil sells top soil, super-soil, perennial mix, and well as
all
the components needed to amend soil. They will mix large loads to your
specifications. I had to trench out a ditch along one side of my house
for
utilities. I discarded the heavy clay soil and replace it with 24 inches
of
super-soil. One the other side of the house I had a landscape company
plant
a bunch of shrubs. I won't home when they did the work. They said they
would amend the soil and add soil to correct the grade. What ever they
did
it was minimal and the health of the plants shows it compared to the ones
grown in the deep super-soil bed that I put in.

OK, thanks for the info. I will definately dig it out deeper than 12" now.
I'll go 36" down around the area that the spruce will go. I will probably
only go to 24" in the rest of the beds where other smaller shrubs will be
going. I have used this top soil supplier on smaller projects before and
have not had any complaints about their soil. The hydroseed contractor we
hired also recommends them. They sell an ammended top soil and then their
standard screened topsoil. I planned on using the ammended soil in the
flower beds and the standard screened topsoil for the other tree/shrub/rock
beds. I had planned on ammending the soil around the planting site of my
larger trees and shrubs with compost as we planted them.
thanks for the info.