Come spring, gardeners and homeowners keep running into the same question, why does one topsoil cost 50 EUR per cubic metre and another 90? At a glance they look the same. The answer comes down to how the material is processed, where it comes from, and what's mixed in.
Sifted or unsifted
Sifted topsoil has been run through an industrial screen that pulls out stones, bits of wood, root remnants and other rubbish. It's ready to go, just rake it level and start planting. Unsifted is noticeably cheaper, but you'll have to pick out the stones and roots yourself, which in a garden is a serious amount of work.
What good topsoil looks like
- Dark brown to nearly black colour, light brown means sand mixed in
- Crumbly, non-sticky texture, not a wet clay ball
- No stones or root remnants
- No off smell, smells like earth, not rot
- Certificate from a licensed quarry or compost producer
How much you need
The maths is simple. Covering a 100 square metre lawn with a 5 cm layer takes about 5 cubic metres. For a vegetable bed the layer is usually 20 to 30 cm, since veg needs deeper fertile ground. 1 cubic metre weighs roughly 1.3 tonnes, worth knowing because a standard tipper delivers up to 3 cubic metres per run.
When to schedule delivery
The best time to order topsoil is when you've already prepped the spot it's going. If it sits in big piles for weeks, it compacts and loses some of the porosity that matters for roots. Komanda24's Renault Master tippers can drop the load exactly where you want it, including in tight courtyards.