Garden soil prices escalate

You have a conflicting pair of ideas in what you wrote. First, you said "garden soil prices", which suggests that ALL garden soil has increased in price. Then, you mentioned "black gold", which sounds like a brand name. Matter of fact, it *is* a brand name. I wonder if other brands have NOT increased in price and had their packages made smaller.

It might be worthwhile to hire a private detective for a day, to assist you in finding stores which sell a different brand.

Thanks for your comments. I went to three mass merchandisers and the prices have all increased. The phrase "black gold" came from the mouth of a guy on TV describing the process of taking waste building material and making it into compost. Last season I was able to buy one cubic yard of soil for $24.00 but this year the prevailing price is $48.00 for the same amount of stuff. I would say that such an increase is quite significant and troubling. Harold

It sounds like a weird product, so I don't know why you'd buy it to begin with. And, the main thing contributing to the price increases you've mentioned is the cost of fuel for vehicles which deliver pretty much everything. My company ships product by truck, and the per mile rate is up drastically over the past 18 months.

My only alternative is to buy it by the truck load which would give me more than I can use and don't care to have a big pile of dirt in my yard.

With every response, this gets more interesting. In the beginning, you referred to bagged soil. Are you saying that where you live, there is no source of a different brand of bagged soil? There are NO other sources of BAGGED soil?

AND - this black gold stuff may contain lead and all sorts of other crap. Were you planning on using it to grow things you plan to eat?

Harold may live under a bridge.

Bill

Yeah, and in case you didn't notice, that soil is delivered by rigs and gas is now almost $3.00 a gallon. So, that is one of the big reasons why everything has gone up.

So talk to the neighbors, and split a truckload. Or topdress your lawn with the remainder. I've ordered half-truckloads before, too... if you don't care about exact delivery time, one of the local compost suppliers just waits till someone else wants a half load and delivers half to you and half to the other person. Or it may be cheaper to get an entire load and offer the remains on freecycle.

You might also want to add some mineral elements to your raised bed soils, if you haven't already -- decreases the "shrinkage" of soil over the year, buffers the soil pH, adds cation exchange capacity, improves drainage and texture...

Kay

We ought to go back to using trains!

Sherw> --

We do use trains. We deliver American cars made in Mexico or Canada. Big, honkin gas guzzlers. My Expedition is now ten years old. There is 67,000 original miles on it. I barely drive it, but it's all I have. I could try to sell it, but what car on the market truly gets good gas mileage? A Mini Cooper?

The reference was to freight costs, not car mileage. Shipping things by truck has gotten a LOT more expensive over the past couple of years. The less "things" on each truck, the more expensive each "thing" becomes.

So what's your point?

Why don't you go to another group if you want to stir up controversy

Read the paragraph above - the one beginning with "We do use trains". Tell me if you think it's a sensible response to the one which preceeded it, beginning with "I am a retired Teamster".

What exactly is the controversy you think I tried to stir up?

So what's the big deal?

It's pretty obvious...

Since there is NO controversy, it is NOT obvious. Explain what you imagine you're seeing, or we'll assume you're just another troll.