Fill Dirt vs Topsoil What to Use

The landscape of your home and garden is important. It says a lot about you, has the potential to increase the value of your home, and is also a great way for you to spend quality time outside. Whether you grow flowers for joy or vegetables and herbs for cooking, working outside can be not only rewarding but also good for your health.

If you work outside, you’re definitely interested in landscaping supply. You might have questions such as “What is fill dirt for?” or “Why use potting soil?” Understanding some of the differences among types of soil and dirt is a great place to start as you improve the landscape of your property.

  • What is fill dirt for: Why it matters to know. When it comes to landscaping and gardening, dirt is not just dirt. Topsoil, fill dirt, potting soil: they have different names because they do different things. Just as you wouldn’t use a backhoe to plant tomato seeds or spreader to lay concrete for a patio foundation, you don’t want to use the wrong tool for your soil and dirt jobs, either. The wrong type of soil can keep from accomplishing your objective, or it could compromise the final quality of your project. In the end, it could even end up costing you more in time and money to redo!
  • What is fill dirt for: Understanding the difference between fill dirt and topsoil. If you start digging into the ground, you’ll soon identify more than one layer. Topsoil is the layer on top, as the name implies. It’s full of organic matter and is usually darker. It can feel sandy, loamy, or be made up of clay, but the key is that organic matter. This makes topsoil ideal for plant roots to take a hold and thrive. If you dig below the topsoil layer you’ll find more dirt, but this dirt won’t have any organic matter. It is just clay, sand, and broken down rocks. The great thing about fill dirt is the stability it provides. Soil that’s full of organic matter shifts and settles, but fill dirt does not.
  • What is fill dirt for: How to use fill dirt properly. Fill dirt will come in handy for a number of gardening projects. Many gardens have low points where flooding happens and it seems impossible to grow plants. The first step in fixing these areas is usually to get fill dirt to bring up the level so that new grass or sod can be laid down. Other homeowners want a landscape with contours. Fill dirt can be used to increase interest by creating hills or even multi-layer terraces. Fill dirt also makes the idea first step for laying the foundation for any building and for packing around septic tanks.
  • What is fill dirt for: Topsoil uses and when to buy it. Any time you want to grow flowers, crops, fruits, or vegetables in the ground, topsoil is what you need to provide the right nutrients and pH balance for your plants. The pH measures how acidic or how alkaline your soil is, and the pH measurement ranges from 1 to 14. A pH of 7 is considered neutral, and many plants prefer soil that is neutral or lowly acidic. A range of 6.2 to 6.8 is ideal for many growing things. Topsoil helps to get the balance where you need it. Healthy topsoil is also made up of what plants more want to survive: 45% minerals, 25% air, 5% organic matter, and 25% water. Topsoil is great for places on your property that hold water, and for any type of gardening.

Choosing the right dirt is key to a great landscaping project. Make sure your landscape and garden are giving you what you want by getting the right type of dirt for the right type of job.