Organic Top Soil

I am not an advocate of buying Top Soil especially in small quantities.

What is Top Soil

• Top soil is the upper layer of soil in your garden.
• Top soil is the part of your garden soil that has the highest concentration of organic matter, humus and micro-organisms.
• Topsoil is where most of the plants roots grow and thrive.
• Deep top soil would be one spade spit deep up to 10″.
• Shallow top soil may be all you have when gardening on chalk or heavy clay soil but 2 inches is a minimum.
• Sub soil is the compacted uncultivated soil under the top soil. The quality of this soil is varied and not so good for growing your plants

Why and When to Use Top Soil

• Top soil is the natural home for plant roots.
• In a newly built house the top soil has often been removed to facilitate the builders. I have bought lorry loads of top soil to cover the sub soil that builders have left uncovered.
• Increasing the depth of top soil when you garden in difficult conditions such as limestone or rocky areas also require large quantities.
• Some soils suffer from erosion of the top soil by wind or rain and it needs to be replaced and protected from further erosion.
• Top soil, like that in the bag photographed, can be used in pots and containers, leveling lawns or making compost.
• Top soil may be used to replace old diseased soil such as that with rose sickness.
• There is no added nutrient as there is with John Innes. This may be important when setting up a special bed for plants that do not want fertilizer such as many alpines

Organic top soil is another of my less loved phrases. Soil is mainly inorganic carbons and elements. The humus content may be free of chemical treatments like pesticides and fertilizers but top soil is just muck.