[lars1273]

My uncle is an old school organic farmer, and we're debating soil choices for our full term plants in nor cal. We garden in approx 4 yard mounds on top of the native soil here. Going to add 3 new mounds this season.

He wants to get compost from the local land fill and then use horse manure to boost the micro biology. That is definitely the more affordable option but I'm concerned that the yield/quality won't be as good as if I purchased custom blends from the soil king or nor cal soil builders. In your opinion, is it worth spending the extra money on the custom blends? The special blends are 130-140 dollars a cu yd vs 25 a yd for compost from the dump and free horse manure from our neighbor.

What kind of soil have others been using? What have you been paying?

[HqFarms]

Custom blends from people like soil king are just a route for people to take who don't know how to make their own. You can do the same thing as he does for cheaper and be better than his horse manure and compost mix

[lars1273]

Thanks for the reply. I went with a 'garden blend' from nor cal soil builders and mixed in the horse manure we had. will be adding amendments on our own to save some money.