Of course! Good point.

I got wrapped up in the math and didn't think about the solution.

"Pam" wrote in message
...


Darby Wiggins wrote:

I'm trying to price how many bags of topsoil I need. I used the Miracle
Gro last year and really liked it, so I'll use it again.

Each bag is 1 cubic foot.

The front area has never had any good soil, so I anticipate needing to
dig out a lot of bad soil and replacing it with good soil. How thick of
a layer of new soil should I use? Also, the area is shaped like a kidney
bean cut in half. Its about 5 maybe 6 feel long and at best 2.5 feet
deep. I want to put seeds of asylum and forget-me-not there and see
what happens.

The back had new Miracle Gro soil put in it last year and its maybe 2' x
3'. I also plan to use 2-3 pots that are about 12" in diameter at the
lip and about a foot tall. I assume I don't need to put all dirt in this
and can use some med. sized pebbles for drainage....

I'm terrible at math, so how many of the bags do i need to get good
coverage?

Darby

Unless it is contaminated by toxic waste, there is no such thing as "bad
soil" - soil that is not very fertile is something else altogether. You
certainly don't need to dig any out. What you DO need to do is add organic
matter. Invest in some good quality compost or well composted manure.
Potting soil (like the Miracle Gro stuff) is an extremely expensive way to
go as a soil additive for regular garden soil and not enough organic
matter
to sneeze at. You can buy bagged compost or purchase it in bulk by the
cubic
yard (far less expensive). You DO want to use potting soil for any
containers - garden soil is too heavy and doesn't drain fast enough. Avoid
putting pebbles in for drainage - the change in structure and size (soil
to
pebbles) actually impedes proper drainage rather than improves it.

You have a pretty small area - 5-6 bags of compost should be sufficient.
Most tend to be 1.5-2 cubic feet.

pam - gardengal