Good, local business with fair pricing and nice people who are there to help. My primary ding is on the quality of the product (topsoil), which has clearly been mixed with some other filler/junk. Not necessarily Larry Larson's fault, but I hope this review helps others know what they're buying.
I bought soil for raised garden beds since the native earth is far too sandy to support vegetable garden at my home. Larry Larson's dark brown to black topsoil product looked good at first (i.e. not sandy), but after placing the soil in the beds and watering over time, it became apparent that there is considerable sand and some debris (plastic, glass), and more problematically, shells in the mix. While the debris doesn't bother me so much, the primary problem with actually using the topsoil to grow plants is the high pH which results from the shells.
The topsoil tested to have a pH of 8 or more. Unfortunately, good plant growth requires slightly acidic conditions (less than 7, and ideally between 6.0 to 6.5). And attempting to grow vegetables in this topsoil led to very clear plant chlorosis (inability to absorb nutrients, especially iron and nitrogen) due to the soil's high pH. It's also worth noting that high pH soil problems apply to almost all plants (e.g., sod/grass, trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables, etc.). Thus, Larry Larson's topsoil will not be good to grow plants with unless the pH can be lowered.
After doing further research, free calcium carbonate (shell matter/filler) in the soil mix makes this otherwise good loamy earth very difficult to grow in. Unfortunately, it's not easy to lower the pH of soil like this because of the shell matter, which must be eliminated first by acid, and it will take a cost-prohibitively large amount of acid to first get rid of the free calcium carbonate first before the remaining soil will actually lower to the needed slightly acidic pH. Calcium carbonate essentially acts as a buffer, keeping the soil pH very high. Besides the pH, the moisture retention is good due to high humic content, but still drains well due to the addition of the sand/shell filler.
I would strongly suggest that anyone planning on using Larry Larson's topsoil to grow plants to go and test it first to find out what you're buying so that you know beforehand whether the price and subsequent labor are worth it for your intended use of the soil.
Lesson learned. read more