Dirt

I spent this afternoon calling around for prices of dirt. Yes, who would buy dirt? Well, when you live in town and your yard is on a clay hill, you buy dirt.

I learned that my garden boxes hold 1.2 cubic yards of dirt. 4ft x 8 ft = 32 square feet divided by 27 (b/c they are 12 inches deep). So, if I plan on having 7 boxes, I am looking at 8+ yds of dirt. One cubic yard is approx 2 scoops with the bobcat. This is a lot of dirt.

My first call was to Pahls Greenhouse, thinking they are nice and close (< a mile away). Their price for a garden blend: $32.99/yd + $55 delivery per truck load. Ah, no thanks.

Next, I sent some emails to places that I found on Craigslist.

While waiting for responses to those emails, I called no fewer than 5 more places for dirt. The cheapest was coming in at $22/yd + delivery. This was not looking good.

Finally an email came. $10/yd for black dirt and black peat. $75 for delivery, and they can deliver 14 cubic yds at a time. Bingo. This works out to a much better price. Esp considering our neighbors need dirt as well. They may not need as much as I do, but they need it for around a building and a few garden boxes as well. So we decided to order up a full 14 yds.

14 x $10 = $140 for dirt + $75 delivery = $215
$214/14 = $15.36 delivered per yard.

Now, even though this price is much better than the others, it still makes me a little sick. Good thing my dinner only cost me $1.91 tonight!!!

I will order dirt tomorrow to be delivered on Friday. Friday's plan is to build the rest of the beds and get a start on the dirt. Between Friday and Saturday, we should get it all done. I just want the dirt in the beds for a while before I plant so that it can warm up in the sun.

Tomorrow morning? We are picking up poop.