EXTENSION REPORT

Neighborhoods Buying in Bulk Programs

The approach of spring seems to stimulate the gardening skills in all of us.  I have enjoyed learning new techniques from local gardeners as I travel around beautiful Baldwin County attending workshops and community plant sales.  Horticulturalists never stop learning because our profession is extremely broad and just when you think you have a good grasp on things, the green industry will introduce new products or someone will discover  a better way of doing things.

The comment I hear most often from local gardeners is, “if I had the same resources that you have as a professional then I could create a better garden”.  I agree there is a great need for residential landowners to buy in bulk and tap into professional resources. Large scale residential landscape projects can take a longer time to complete simply due to the lack of inventory in local garden centers.  However, most garden centers can locate and special order supplies for you in a few weeks depending on availability from their wholesale suppliers.  I encourage you to preorder and accurately estimate your supply needs prior to implementing your landscaping plan.  Special ordering will increase the quality of your landscape material as well as contribute to your landscape planning strategy.  By special ordering your materials, you can better plan for detailed materials in your design and you will not be forced to utilize only what is available on the retail lot.

Purchasing products in bulk are often difficult because of the minimum order requirements.  Let’s say that you need 14 cubic yards of garden loam soil but the minimum order is 20 cubic yards.  What do you do with the excess?  I suggest working with your adjacent neighbors to see if they are also in need of the material being delivered.  Most distributors will generally require you to have one drop location (the primary location where the material will be offloaded).  If surrounding neighbors agree to share the material cost, then together you can workout the logistics on where to offload and work together to distribute the materials throughout the neighborhood. 

Buying in bulk by neighborhoods is a relatively new concept that I am developing in my programming.  By promoting bulk sales we not only save on the cost of materials being delivered, but we also save on trips to garden center reducing our labor and fuel expenses.   Additionally, the garden centers will benefit from the same reduction in labor and fuel cost ultimately increasing their revenue with lower prices to the consumer. Think of the Neighborhood Buying in Bulk concept as a way to promote small business, increase community involvement, reduce fossil fuel emissions and beautify neighborhoods all in one simple plan.

So how do we determine our bulk needs? Most bulk soil and rock are sold by the cubic yard which is equal to an area measuring 27 cubic feet.  Another way to define a cubic yard is an area measuring 3 feet in width by 3 feet in length by 3 feet in height.  As a general rule for measuring your soil or rock needs, you can calculate that 1 cubic yard will cover: 160 square feet at 2 inches deep, 108 square feet at 3 inches deep, 80 square feet at 4 inches deep and 54 square feet at 6 inches deep. 

Remember, determining square feet of an area will get more complicated if the area is not square or rectangular.  For determining the square feet of a square or rectangle you simply multiply the length (in feet) by the width (in feet) (Area = L X W ).  To measure a circle (within 5% accuracy) multiply 0.8 by the diameter of the circle (in feet) squared (Area = 0.8 D2 or Area = 0.8 X D X D).  To measure a triangle you multiply 0.5 by the base of the triangle (in feet) by the height of the triangle (in feet) (Area = 0.5 X B X H). 

Okay this is the hard one, to determine the square feet of an irregular shape you measure the length (in feet) of the longest axis (length) across the area.  At every 10 feet along the length line, measure the width (in feet) of the area at right angles to the length line.  Then total all width and multiply by 10 (Area = A + B + C, etc times 10).  If the area is smaller and you measure the width at 5 foot intervals you would total all widths and multiply by 5 (Area = A + B + C, etc times 5).  Another option for irregular shapes is to try and  reduce the irregularly shaped areas into one or more geometric shapes then calculate the area of each figure and add the areas together to determine the total area. 

The following measurement equivalents may also prove useful in determining your material needs:  1 square foot = 144 inches, 1 square yard = 9 square feet, 1 acre = 43,560 square feet and 1 square mile = 640 acres.

Additionally, I would like to provide information on sod measurements from a local sod resource.  The average piece of St. Augustine sod measures 16 inches by 24 inches resulting in a pallet of St. Augustine covering approximately 480 square feet.  Most of the Centipede sod in Baldwin County is sold in squares measuring 2 feet by 5 feet resulting in a pallet of Centipede sod covering approximately 500 square feet.  Remember to always prepare your turf areas prior to ordering your sod and the sod should be laid within 24 hours of delivery.

Accurate estimates of landscape needs will contribute to your budget planning and provide more “ bloom for the buck”.   The information in this article will assist you with pre-planning estimates if you choose to hire an independent contractor to install your landscape.   

Please feel free to call me if you need additional assistance.  Happy gardening !

Email address: wellsta@aces.edu
Phone: 937-7176 or 943-5611, 928-0860, ext. 2222

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work in agriculture and home economics, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, and other related acts, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System (Alabama A&M University and Auburn University) offers educational programs, materials, and equal opportunity employment to all people without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, veteran status, or disability.