To place an order, all customers must fill out an Order Form. Once we receive your completed form, we will call you back to obtain any missing information, answer any other questions, and/or to schedule your delivery.
There are significant differences between our Farm-Crafted Compost™, Topsoil Plus - Lawn/Flower Mix™ and Topsoil Plus – Raised Bed Mix™ that determine their best use for a particular application. Farm-Crafted Compost is comprised of 100% composted horse and dairy manure and does not contain any sand, silt, or clay. For this reason, and described below, it should be used only to amend or improve existing soil, as either a “nutritive mulch” or by digging it in before planting - it is NOT recommended for use as a planting media on its own. In other words, compost should never be applied at a rate that will create a final mixing ratio that results in the compost being more than 20% to 25% (by volume) of the planting media.
However, our Raised Bed Mix™ is specifically formulated to be used as a “stand-alone” planting media since it contains a mixture of compost, virgin silt and other ingredients selected for their ability to help create a rich garden soil with optimum drainage and water-holding qualities. Our Lawn/Flower Mix™ is also a “stand-alone” planting media, and is ideally suited for growing grass and annual and perennial flowers.
1. Measure the area to be covered:
Compost and topsoil are sold by the “cubic yard (cu yd)” - think of it as a box or “cube” 3 ft wide by 3 ft tall by 3 ft deep. Or viewed another way, one cu yd of compost is equivalent to about 4 large or 5 medium-sized wheelbarrows. If thin layers of this cube were sliced off (e.g. 1 inch thick by 3 ft long x 3 ft wide) and laid out next to each other, there would be a specific number of slices that would cover a specific sized area (square footage) based on the thickness of the slices (e.g. 1 inch, 2 inch, 3 inches, etc.). Therefore, to determine how much compost or topsoil you need, you first need to determine the size of the area you want to cover by multiplying the length of the area (in feet) by its width (e.g. 27 ft x 12 ft = 324 sq ft).
2. Decide the thickness of the compost layer you want to apply:Compost is used in two ways, either as a “nutritive mulch” (ie. a layer left on the soil surface), or mixed into the soil, either by hand or with a roto-tiller.
When being mixed into the soil:
As explained below, care should be taken not to over-apply Farm-Crafted Compost. Our suggested application rates are as follows:
-Mixing in one inch to maintain soils that already have a relatively good supply of nutrients and organic matter.
-Mixing in two to four inches to improve soils that are significantly depleted.
-In general, we recommend achieving a MINIMUM 80% dilution rate - meaning that 1 inch of compost should be mixed into
a MINIMUM of 4 inches of soil, 2 inches of compost should be mixed into a MINIMUM of 8 inches of soil, and 3 inches of compost should be mixed into a MINIMUM of 15 inches of soil.
-As shown on our Compost Application Guide (below), at a depth of one inch, one cubic yard of compost or topsoil will cover 324 sq ft, 162 sq ft if spread two inches deep, and 120 sq ft if spread three inches deep.
When being used a “nutritive mulch”:Because compost encourages plant growth, it should not be used to try to suppress weed growth. Instead, bark mulch or wood chips are better suited for that purpose. However, when Farm-Crafted Compost compost is being used as a nutritive mulch (ie. around the base of individual plants, or in DENSELY planted gardens), we do NOT recommend applying it at more than 2 to 3 inches thick for the reasons described below:
-Excessive Salt: Most vegetables and flowers are salt-intolerant, and since our Farm-Crafted Compost is made exclusively from animal manure, it therefore contains higher salt concentrations than compost made from plant residue and food residuals.
-Excessive Phosphorus: While phosphorus (P) is an essential plant nutrient, excessive P concentrations in the soil can negatively impact the uptake/availability of other key plant nutrients. Additionally, when there’s the potential for run-off, excessive P levels in the soil can also cause disruptions of the ecology of nearby rivers, ponds and lakes. Similarly, our Farm-Crafted Compost will also contain more P than compost made from plant residue and food residuals.
-Persistent Broadleaf Herbicides: Unfortunately, “broadleaf” herbicides are widely used in agriculture and horticulture, and some of these herbicides are “persistent”. In other words, these herbicides are intentionally manufactured to resist degradation, even in compost piles. And while the “low-input” or “slow” compost method that we use promotes the growth of microbes that can consume and neutralize these herbicides, whenever ANY compost is used in excessive amounts and/or not adequately mixed into the soil, there’s increased potential for these herbicides to harm broadleaf plants such as vegetables, flowers, and trees.
Use this quantity calculator to determine how much Compost or Topsoil you need.
There’s 27 cu ft in a cubic yard, so measure the length (in feet), width (in feet) and depth (in feet) of your raised bed, and then divide by 27 cu ft/cu yd. For example: 4 ft x 8 ft x 10 in (.83 ft) = 27 cu ft divided by 27 cu ft/cu yd = 1 cu yd.
Use this quantity calculator calculator to determine how much Raised Bed Mix you need.
Our compost and compost-based products, including our Farm-Crafted Compost, Topsoil Plus-Raised Bed Mix, and Topsoil Plus-Lawn/Flower Mix, are approved for use on organic farms by Vermont Organic Farmers (VOF) which certifies they were NOT made from any prohibited materials and we utilized practices to promote the destruction of potentially harmful pathogens (per section §205.203 of the National Organic Program).
