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Products
Choosing a Topsoil or Soil Mix for Your Yard or Garden

April 18, 2022
Eve Hart
by Eve Hart

Which topsoil or soil mix is best for your lawn or garden? In this article, we discuss the differences between our four residential soils.

Washington Rock’s topsoil is mined and produced at King Creek Pit. True to its name, the topsoil sits on the surface. We separate topsoil from the sand below it. Then we used special equipment to remove larger pieces of gravel from the topsoil. You can see each of our residential soil products compared side by side below.

four soils compared side by side
Our four residential topsoil types are compared side by side to demonstrate the difference in composition.

Our Basic Topsoil is a screened sandy loam. If you look at the Soil Texture Triangle below, you can see how much sand, silt, and clay our sandy loam has compared to other soils.

The Soil Texture Triangle helps to visualize how much clay, silt, and sand a material contains. Sandy Loam (aka Basic Topsoil), for example, contains a large amount of sand and a little bit of silt and clay.

Sandy loam contains a large amount of sand and a little bit of silt and clay. It drains well, and plants grown in it need to be watered more frequently. Basic Topsoil is a great material to use to mound and build up areas of your yard.

Our 3-Way Topsoil is a blend of clean sandy loam and compost. It’s a great choice for flower beds, gardens, and new lawns. Our product meets the planting bed soil requirement for Post Construction Soil Quality required by Pierce, King, and Thurston counties.

The Elks Lodge in Puyallup used Washington Rock’s 3-Way Topsoil to create this beautiful new beep ball field in 2018.

Wanting to build a rain garden? Our Bioretention Soil Mix is just what you need. It’s a blend of 60% well-graded sand and 40% fine compost. It is free draining, and the compost helps retain moisture. The City of Seattle uses the same blend around retention ponds and in gardens on high-rise buildings.

If you’re looking for something hardier, try our Garden Mix. It’s a blend of 50% clean sandy loam and 50% organic yard waste compost. It’s an excellent choice for gardens and raised planter boxes. It drains well and provides lots of nutrients for plants and vegetables.

A local homeowner used Garden Mix to grow an impressive vegetable garden.

For more information about Washington Rock’s residential topsoil products, visit our Residential Topsoil Products page.

This article was originally published in March 2017 and was updated in April 2022.

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