How to Pick the Right Soil

How To Pick the Right Soil

The Stone Zone & Landscaping Centre are proud to offer a wide range of soils, mulches and composts - namely our best-selling Wessex® range. Spring is just around the corner, meaning the weather will be warmer and the days will be longer, ideal for planting and gardening! This article goes through the range of soils and compost to help you decide which is best for you. 

Wessex® BS3882 10mm Soil

If you're searching for adaptable, multi-purpose soil for your plant beds, our Wessex® BS3882 10mm Soil is the ideal choice. If you are thinking about seeding areas in your outdoor area – be it your front or back garden, remove any unwanted soil and replace it with our high-quality 10mm Screened Soil.

Due to its fertility, it acts as a booster for your plants; promoting strong root development. Whether you're planting shrubs, flowers, or even fruit and veg, this soil will meet your requirements.

Purchase Wessex® BS3882 10mm Soil HERE

Wessex® Dutch Tree Sand

Often referred to as ‘Amsterdam Tree Sand’ our Wessex Dutch Tree Sand is a Stone Zone exclusive Soil that has been custom blended with one main purpose in mind; urban tree planting. This has derived from Government schemes that are trying to encourage the introduction of more trees to built-up, urban areas.

Our bespoke Tree Sand is a 10mm screened soil, blended from carefully hand-picked locally graded silica sands and organic compost. The sand allows tree pits to stay free of draining while withstanding heavy foot and vehicular traffic without compacting. The added compost is what gives the tree roots the nutrients to develop well and grow strong.

Purchase Wessex® Dutch Tree Sand HERE

Wessex® Blended 10mm Loam Topsoil

The Wessex® Blended 10mm Loam Topsoil is an excellent choice for high-quality soil due to a wide range of gardening or landscaping projects. They are a great option if you want to design a raised bed for your plants or if you want to cultivate a colourful flower garden. The Wessex® Blended 10mm Loam Topsoil is exceptionally useful for developing a healthy and blooming garden because of its good drainage and nutrient retention abilities.

Purchase Wessex® Blended 10mm Loam Topsoil HERE

Wessex® Borders & Beds Topsoil

Our highly-reviewed 10mm Borders & Beds Topsoil blend is freshly screened and then blended locally in Dorset. The Borders & Beds Topsoil consists of organic, peat-free, multi-purpose compost mixed with high-quality British Standard 3882 soil. This unique mix of soil has been created specifically with slow-releasing nutrients for a variety of plants.

Irrespective of whether you have decided to build a raised plant bed in your garden, a visually appealing garden border, or simply top up some old, useless soil, you want to offer your plants the best soil to feed them with the nutrients they need. Wessex® Borders & Beds Topsoil would always be our best recommendation for these types of planting formats.

Purchase Wessex® Borders & Beds Topsoil HERE

Wessex® Fruit & Veg Topsoil

Our Wessex blend of Fruit and Vegetable Topsoil is freshly blended and created specifically with growing in mind. This soil is suitable for many different crops for consistent growth. It doesn’t contain manure which can sometimes be harmful to fruit and veg. Consisting of organic, nutrient-rich compost mixed with high-quality British Standard 3882 soil, screened down to 10mm.

The Wessex® Fruit & Veg Topsoil is a great soil option for a wide range of projects. They are a great option if you want to grow fruits and vegetables for your garden, they are even great for growing herbs. The Wessex® Fruit & Veg Topsoil is extra special because it has no chemicals or anything that would harm your produce, which will enable you to go a plethora of fruits and vegetables to your garden.

Purchase Wessex® Fruit & Veg Topsoil HERE

Wessex® Lawn & Turf Seeding Soil

This prevalent Seeding Soil is renowned for enhancing root establishment. It is quite sandy in texture, making spreading it across larger areas easier, enabling you to get durable, strong grass.

This Seeding Soil also adds natural, organic nutrients to your garden which are imperative for plants and flowers to grow strong and healthy. Our Wessex® Seeding Soil helps release its nutrients slowly to be more effective and is a suitable and environmentally friendly option for gardening.

Wessex® Lawn & Turf Seeding Soil also aid in improving the soil quality structure & fertility for regularly planting trees and shrubs, therefore making it a great option if you are looking to cultivate a healthy garden.

Purchase Wessex® Lawn & Turf Seeding Soil HERE

Wessex® Eco Coffee Soil

Guaranteed to stimulate plant growth, our Wessex Eco Coffee Soil consists of 100% recycled Soil tested to BS3882 Standard, thoughtfully blended with locally-sourced, recycled Coffee grounds and PAS 100 Organic Compost that is completely peat-free.

By adding used coffee grounds to our already popular British Standard Soil, we are adding nitrogen to the soil blend, which is key in the growth stage of certain plants. It's important to note that the addition of nitrogen to our Soil will turn the soil acidic, where the plant can secrete an acidic H+ into the soil solution.

Purchase Wessex® Eco Coffee Soil HERE

Wessex® 10mm Top Dressing

Consisting of a 70/30 mix of Wessex BS3882 Soil and sand, this has been screened to 10mm for consistency and to prevent the presence of unwanted, large debris.

The traditional mixture of Sand and Soil is what makes this popular product great for growing grass seed as well as topping off your already-laid turf. The high quality, BS3882 Soil will provide the best nutrients for the roots to thrive, and the mixture of sand throughout the dressing will provide moisture retention in wet seasons, as well as manage even drainage.

The additional benefit of sandy soils is that they will be able to retain moisture better and so the grass will be more resistant to drought; perfect if you're laying your grass seed in Spring, before the hot weather hits.

Purchase Wessex® 10mm Top Dressing HERE

Wessex® Peat Free Multi-Purpose Compost

Our best-selling Wessex® Peat Free Multi-Purpose nutrient-rich, reduced-peat compost is perfect for cuttings, rooting and planters. This multi-purpose compost is ideal for use as a general growth medium, particularly for grass, vegetables and herbs.

The material improves the quality of soil by developing soil structure and increasing water retention. Multi-Purpose compost is nutrient-rich, an excellent source of organic matter and helps plants to establish themselves quickly. The product is easy to use and requires little maintenance. Used regularly in potting and seed trays, the material is a great option for fledgling plants and seedlings.

Purchase Wessex® Peat Free Multi-Purpose Compost HERE

Wessex® Soil Improver Compost

If you're looking to plant an entire bed of plants or vegetables, but are worried that the soil you currently have isn't quite up to standard, our Wessex® Soil Improver Compost is a great addition to most basic soils to give it that nutrient boost it needs to give your plants the best chances of establishing strong roots.

You can also scatter this Wessex® Soil Improver Compost onto current plant beds and vegetable crops. The benefits of this peat-free Compost are that a little bit goes a long way, and is very friable, meaning it’s really nice and easy to work with.

Purchase Wessex® Soil Improver Compost HERE

Wessex® Soil Features

PAS 100 Compost

PAS 100 Green Compost is what makes up most of our Wessex® Soil Compost. This compost is present in all of our Wessex Soils in different quantities.

You can be reassured that this PAS 100 Green Compost is fully recycled through green waste collected from gardeners and landscapers. The process then involves mulching and composting, which all happens locally on the same site in Dorset.

Due to this product being naturally available through a recycling scheme, and never cut down from virgin greenery, our Compost is 100% peat-free.

The Publicly Available Specification that it has been awarded, is a widely recognised compost quality standard within the organics recycling sector.

To ensure a high standard of compost, PAS is set by the British Standards Institution which requires producers to establish a top-quality production policy.

This product status is given in recognition of non-hazardous waste that contains biodegradable materials only, making it safe to use in both domestic and commercial settings.

BS3882 Certified

The British Standard 3882 certification for topsoil has been invented to ensure a consistent level of top performance; a standard set out by the British Standards Institute. This standard is the updated version of 1994 originally set out.

BS3882 is measured on three components: Soil Structure and Classification, Free-from Contamination and Fertility. BS3882 topsoil suppliers are also able to provide results of the soil analysis which includes the origin of the soil, the contamination parameters and written confirmation that the soil complies with the standard BS3882:2007.

All of the Stone Zone & Landscaping Centre's soil contains BS3882 Soil for multi-purpose use, ideal for all gardening and landscaping applications.