Soil, Mulch & Compost Melbourne

Botanical Blend for flowers, shrubs, hedges, trees and general garden beds: plants that live in the one spot for years and want a soil that drains well and keeps its structure. Veggie Mix for growing food: it has our Dig In Compost blended through it, so it is heavier and richer, built for plants that are fed hard and picked in a season. If a bed does both, Veggie Mix is the safer pick.

Yes. Spread it, water it well so it settles, and plant the same day or the next. For a bed that is going to be planted heavily, fork some Dig In Compost through the top first and it will carry the plants through the first season without any extra feeding.

It will work, but Turf Loam is the one made for it: a sandier, more even-screening soil that levels well and drains the way a lawn needs. Use Botanical Blend for the beds and Turf Loam for the lawn, and both can come on the same truck where the volumes allow.

The truck tips the load where you tell us — a driveway, nature strip or front lawn. Put a tarp down if you want a clean pickup afterwards, and let us know about tight access, overhead wires or a steep drive when you order. One truck carries up to 4 m³ of soil, so orders over 4 m³ are two or more trips and we'll confirm the cost with you first.

Yes. The compost in Veggie Mix is finished, not raw, so there's nothing that needs to break down before roots go in. Spread it, water it well so it settles, and plant the same day or the next.

Veggie Mix if you're growing food: it's heavier and richer because vegetables are fed hard and picked in a season. Botanical Blend if it's flowers, shrubs or a general garden bed, where a lighter, freer-draining soil suits plants that live in it for years. If a bed does both, Veggie Mix is the safer pick.

Not for the first season. After that, veggies pull a lot out of the ground, so fork a few centimetres of Dig In Compost through the bed between crops, and keep 50 mm of mulch on top so the soil doesn't dry out and bake in summer.

The truck tips the load loose where you've asked for it, so lay a tarp down first and it's far easier to barrow and clean up. The truck needs to get in safely, so if your street is narrow or the driveway is tight, tell us when you order and we'll plan around it. Orders over 4 m³ of soil take two trips, which we'll confirm with you before the day.

Same material, different screen. Australian Native is up to 40 mm, so it is chunkier, lasts longer on the ground and costs less per metre, which suits big areas, native gardens, paths and slopes. English Country is 12 mm, so it is finer, neater and breaks down faster, which suits garden beds, veggies and anywhere on show. If you're mulching a whole block, Native. If you're mulching the beds along the house, English Country.

Longer than any other mulch we make. The coarse pieces break down slowly, so a 75–100 mm layer will hold its cover for a couple of seasons and often more before it needs a top-up. It feeds the soil as it goes, just more gradually than a fine mulch does. If you want the longest gap between mulching, this is the one.

It is composted hot for a month, which kills weed seeds and pathogens, so you are not bringing weeds in with it. The colour can vary a little from batch to batch because it is a natural composted product rather than a dyed one — it is always a natural brown, but some loads are darker than others. If the colour matters for a particular job, ring us and we'll describe what's in the yard today.

The truck tips the load where you tell us — a driveway, nature strip or front lawn. Put a tarp down if you want a clean pickup afterwards, and let us know about tight access, overhead wires or a steep drive when you order. Mulch is light, so one truck carries up to 8 m³, twice what it carries in soil; orders over 8 m³ are two trips and we'll confirm the cost with you first.

Same material, different screen. English Country is 12 mm, so it is finer, neater and breaks down faster, which suits garden beds, veggies and anywhere on show. Australian Native is up to 40 mm, so it is chunkier, lasts longer on the ground and costs less per metre, which suits big areas, native gardens and paths. If you're mulching a whole block, Native. If you're mulching the beds along the house, English Country.

A 75 mm layer does a full season and usually more, but because it is fine and composted it is feeding the soil as it goes, so it does thin out. Most people top up with 50 mm each spring. That is the trade-off with a fine mulch: it looks better and does more for the soil, and in return you add to it a little more often.

It is composted hot for a month, which kills weed seeds and pathogens, so you are not bringing weeds in with it. The colour can vary a little from batch to batch because it is a natural composted product rather than a dyed one — it is always dark, but some loads are browner and some blacker. If the colour matters for a particular job, ring us and we'll describe what's in the yard today.

The truck tips the load where you tell us — a driveway, nature strip or front lawn. Put a tarp down if you want a clean pickup afterwards, and let us know about tight access, overhead wires or a steep drive when you order. Mulch is light, so one truck carries up to 8 m³, twice what it carries in soil; orders over 8 m³ are two trips and we'll confirm the cost with you first.

Compost goes in the soil; mulch goes on top of it. Dig In Compost is fine and finished, so you dig it through the ground or spread it thinly where the worms can pull it down. Mulch is the same material screened coarser, left on the surface to hold moisture and keep weeds down. Most beds want both: compost in, then 50 mm of English Country Garden Mulch over the top.

No. Compost is a soil improver, not a growing medium, and a bed filled with pure compost sinks and dries out fast. If you need to fill a bed, Veggie Mix for vegetables or Botanical Blend for general planting are the ready mixes, and both already have Dig In Compost blended through them.

The compost is held hot for a month, which kills weed seeds and pathogens, and it is screened fine so there are no sticks or lumps. It has a clean, earthy smell rather than anything sour. On a cold morning a fresh load can arrive steaming — that's just the heat still in it, and it is perfectly fine to use straight away.

No, it isn't certified. It is made from 100% recycled green waste with nothing else added, so there is no manure, no biosolids and no chemical feed in it, but we haven't put it through a certification scheme. If you need a certified product for a specific reason, ring us and we'll talk it through.

The truck tips the load where you tell us — a driveway, nature strip or front lawn. Put a tarp down if you want a clean pickup afterwards, and let us know about tight access, overhead wires or a steep drive when you order. Compost is light, so one truck carries up to 8 m³, twice what it carries in soil; orders over 8 m³ are two trips and we'll confirm the cost with you first.

Turf Loam is a screened sandy loam chosen for a consistent, fine, free-draining finish, which is what you pay for. Lawn Mix is a blended soil that does the structural job under turf — building up, levelling, firming — without that fine screening. Under 30 mm of turf with roots pushing down through it, that difference matters less than it does on the surface, which is why we offer both.

No. Top-dressing needs a fine, even soil you can brush down between the grass blades, and Lawn Mix is too coarse for that; it will sit on top and smother the leaf. Use Turf Loam for top-dressing, levelling an existing lawn or preparing ground for seed.

No. Turf is cut fresh at the farm and sent straight to you, while Lawn Mix comes from our yard on a soil truck, so they are two deliveries with two delivery fees. Order the soil first, spread and level it a day or two ahead, and have the turf arrive onto a bed that is ready, so it goes down the day it is cut.

The truck tips the load where you tell us — a driveway, nature strip or front lawn. Put a tarp down if you want a clean pickup afterwards, and let us know about tight access, overhead wires or a steep drive when you order. One truck carries up to 4 m³ of soil, so orders over 4 m³ are two or more trips and we'll confirm the cost with you first.

If the existing ground is level, drains well and you can rake it to a fine, firm surface, you can lay straight onto it. Most Melbourne yards aren't like that: they are clay, or uneven, or full of the old lawn's roots. In that case 50–100 mm of Turf Loam gives the new turf a clean, level, free-draining bed to root into, and it is the single biggest thing that separates a lawn that takes from one that struggles.

No, and you don't want it to. Turf is cut fresh at the farm and sent straight to you, while Turf Loam comes from our yard on a soil truck, so they are two deliveries with two delivery fees. Order the loam first, spread and level it a day or two ahead, and have the turf arrive onto a bed that is ready, so it goes down the day it is cut.

Mow low first, spread 10–20 mm across the lawn, then work it in with the back of a rake or a stiff broom until the grass tips show through. Water it in. Do it in spring or early summer when the grass is growing hard, so it covers the loam in a few weeks. Kikuyu, couch and buffalo all take it well; just don't bury the leaves completely.

The truck tips the load where you tell us — a driveway, nature strip or front lawn. Put a tarp down if you want a clean pickup afterwards, and let us know about tight access, overhead wires or a steep drive when you order. One truck carries up to 4 m³ of soil, so orders over 4 m³ are two or more trips and we'll confirm the cost with you first.