[sclarke624]

Does anyone know how many 75 ltr bags go into 1 ton of Topsoil.  Trying to work out my cheapest option as 75ltrs of compost at my local garden centre is £2.99 where as one ton of topsoil is £58.

[Lardman]

There have been a few posts on this lately - and the answer seems to be you really can't measure compost in weight as the water content varies so much.

If you're filling a bed get the soil and just mix a few bags of compost in - or at least thats what Id do, Im sure you'll get lots of differing opinions    My local landscaping place does decent but not the best soil for 35 quid delivered, have you tried somewhere like that rather than a GC?

[PennyS]

I may well be completely wrong, but I think a ton of topsoil would normally fill one of those big square bags which are about 1 cubic metre.    Does that help in the slightest? 

[UrbanG]

Kg is a measure of weight.
Litre is a measure of volume.

So:
Weigh 1 ltr of 'compressed' compost and note down the weight in Kgs.
Times that weight by 75
That will give you a 'rough' idea of how many Kg's of that particular 75ltr compost weighs.

1 ton = 1000Kg

Lets say compost is same as water (its NOT so make sure you calculate)
So, 1ltr = 1kg
1 bag of 75ltr compost weighs 75Kg
1000kg (1 Ton) divided by 75 = 13 bags of 75ltr Water.

I hope I'm making sence??  lol.

Weigh a kg of compressed damp compost and post it here and I'll try and do the rough math.

[JayG]

I've had a look around (i.e. been googling again!) and the volume of 1 metric tonne of topsoil seems to vary between 0.6 and 0.8 cubic metres depending on whether it is "consolidated" or "loose" respectively.

So, taking 0.7 cubic metres as an average, this is equivalent to 0.7 / .075 75L bags of compost which is around 10 (9.33 to be exact)

So no comparison pricewise but then again cheapo compost and good (or bad) topsoil are completely different animals also!

[mumofstig]

That seems to be a good price for the soil, so I would deffinately go for that, as the multipurp this year is seeming to slump very badly after a few waterings, so you could end up with only a half filled bed

[DavidT]

The average weight of a pallet of 75ltr bags of peat based compost is 1 ton, and that is 40 bags.

[sclarke624]

OH already ordered the topsoil, before I could work it out. I meant to say the compost is from the garden centre the topsoil is from a builders merchant.  It was just that I wasn't sure if the topsoil was cheaper than compost, we have more beds to do yet.

So thanks for all your great ideas.

DavidT says its 40 bags and I will take his word for it as he seems to know his stuff.  Therefore the compost would cost approx £120 for the same if bought in bags.

Therefore have decided to mix topsoil with some new compost I already have and some old compost.  Which should help with any slumping.  Round here £58 seems to be about the cheapest for 1 ton of topsoil, its actually on special offer at 'Covers' don't know the usual price.

Just noticed The topsoil is called Earth Cycle Topsoil Supreme, and that company is in Oving, which is just a 10min drive down the road from us.

[Rangerkris]

Ring Ring your soil will arrive at 9.30 am hahahhaha

[JayG]

DavidT says its 40 bags and I will take his word for it as he seems to know his stuff.  Therefore the compost would cost approx £120 for the same if bought in bags.

Yes DavidT is also correct because the volume/weight ratio of compost is much higher than for topsoil, but as I tried to say earlier the properties of the two materials are completely different.

Apart from some added nutrients, non soil-based composts are composed of almost 100% organic matter, and as such if used on their own as a growing medium would eventually completely disappear!

I'm sure your plan to mix compost with topsoil is exactly the right way to go and should provide an excellent growing medium. 

[sclarke624]

Yeah I didn't think of that JayG about compost disappearing eventually or at the least very slowly sinking down.  Our first bed had sunk 6 inches over three or four years.  So a mix would be good and come to think of it maybe thats what a woman at OH work meant when she said compost alone wouldn't be substantial enough it would just blow away, not explaining herself clearly enough for me.  I know it won't blow away but decompose more.  Even if ! ton of topsoil is only 20 bags rather than 40 it would still be cheaper so not too worried about that now as big margin for error, dampness whatever.

Hey Rangerkris try from 8.15 in the morning tommorrow, its years since I have seen the sky at that time. I'll have to go to bed at midnight instead of 4 in the morning. LOL