Screened topsoil filtered clean of rocks, roots, and debris. Smooth, consistent texture that is ready for lawns, gardens, raised beds, and finish grading.
I used Mulch Mound to have 3 cubic yards of garden soil delivered. The process was easy and I love that I didn't have to call anyone. I placed my order online, picked my delivery date, laid out my tarp and the dirt was delivered. My delivery had to be pushed back, but I was ke...
Screened topsoil filtered clean of rocks, roots, and debris. Smooth, consistent texture that is ready for lawns, gardens, raised beds, and finish grading.
I used Mulch Mound to have 3 cubic yards of garden soil delivered. The process was easy and I love that I didn't have to call anyone. I placed my order online, picked my delivery date, laid out my tarp and the dirt was delivered. My delivery had to be pushed back, but I was ke...
How Much Material Do I Need?
For New Berlin lawn leveling and topdressing, plan on a quarter to half inch of screened topsoil across the target area. New planting beds and raised garden installations typically need 8 to 12 inches of quality soil above the native silt loam to give roots a fully uncompacted, well-aerated growing environment through the Zone 5b growing season.
Use our free soil calculator
What is a yard?
A yard is approximately 27 cubic feet. As a general guideline, one yard of material can cover an area of about 100-160 square feet at a 2-3 inch depth.
What is a yards?
A yard is approximately 27 cubic feet. As a general guideline, one yard of material can cover an area of about 10 feet by 10 feet at a few inches deep.
I used Mulch Mound to have 3 cubic yards of garden soil delivered. The process was easy and I love that I didn't have to call anyone. I placed my o...
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I used Mulch Mound to have 3 cubic yards of garden soil delivered. The process was easy and I love that I didn't have to call anyone. I placed my order online, picked my delivery date, laid out my tarp and the dirt was delivered. My delivery had to be pushed back, but I was kept informed via text, which was great. So why not 5 stars? The description of garden soil on the website is "A balanced mix of topsoil and organic amendments ready for raised beds, flower gardens, and new planting areas. Good drainage, solid nutrients, easy to work with." What I got was more like fill dirt. It had a lot of gravel, a lot of clay, and random trash mixed in. I didn't test the soil to see if it actually had "amendments" because I already have compost and alpaca manure ready to add, but if I'd known the quality of the dirt was going to be the same as the bagged dirt I bought last year, I probably would have gotten 2 yards of top soil and a yard of leaf compost for better quality, especially since the leaf compost is cheaper. Photo of my mountain of dirt and just some of the trash I found in it.
To calculate how many cubic yards of soil you need, multiply your area's length by its width in feet, then multiply by your target depth converted to feet (inches divided by 12), and divide the total by 27. Because New Berlin's silt loam base is often compacted and irregular — especially in older lawn areas and previously untilled beds — add 10 to 15 percent to your estimate to account for settling that occurs after the first season of rainfall and Zone 5b freeze-thaw cycling. Bulk soil compresses once it gets wet and trafficked, so erring slightly over your calculated volume means you won't end up short when you're trying to hit a final grade.
Complete Your Outdoor Soil Project
Once your soil work is complete, top your new planting beds with a 3-inch layer of shredded hardwood mulch to protect that fresh soil from New Berlin's rainfall compaction and lock in moisture through the long growing season. For pathways between raised beds or along garden borders, a layer of decorative stone adds a clean, low-maintenance finish that holds up through New Berlin's wet springs and harsh winters without decomposing, compacting, or needing seasonal replacement.
How much topsoil do I need to level out my New Berlin lawn after a Zone 5b winter?
A typical New Berlin lawn that has gone through several Zone 5b winters will develop depressions and uneven spots from freeze-thaw heaving and soil settling. For light leveling, a quarter to half inch of screened topsoil topdressed across affected areas is usually sufficient — one cubic yard covers roughly 300 square feet at a half-inch depth. For more significant low spots, you may need 2 to 4 inches of fill, which adds up quickly in cubic yards, so measure your trouble areas carefully before placing your order.
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Can bulk soil actually improve the drainage issues in my planting beds?
Yes — and in New Berlin, where native silt loam can become waterlogged in low-lying areas after heavy rain, it is one of the most effective corrections available. By raising bed elevations 6 to 8 inches with a well-draining amended soil mix, you move plant roots above the saturated zone and into consistently aerated, workable growing medium. For in-ground beds, tilling a few inches of quality soil into the existing silt loam improves structure and drainage without the need for a full raised bed installation.
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When should I get soil delivered to prep my vegetable garden in New Berlin?
With a last frost date of April 30, New Berlin vegetable gardeners should aim to have beds built and soil delivered by mid-April so the material has time to settle and warm before transplant time. Silt loam warms slowly in spring at New Berlin's 922-foot elevation, so getting fresh, darker-colored bulk soil into raised beds a couple of weeks early helps absorb solar heat and provides a warmer root zone than surrounding native soil right when you're ready to plant out your seedlings.
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What's the difference between topsoil and garden mix, and which one do I actually need?
Screened topsoil is best for grading, filling, and establishing lawn areas — it's a mineral-rich base that provides structure and stability without a lot of added amendments. Garden or planting mix typically includes blended compost and organic matter, making it better suited for flower beds, vegetable gardens, and raised planters where you want immediate nutrient availability. In New Berlin, where the native silt loam is already reasonably fertile but compact, a blended garden mix is usually the better choice for new planting projects, while screened topsoil handles grading and fill work most efficiently.
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How do I figure out how much soil to order for a raised bed build?
Measure the interior length, width, and desired depth of your raised bed in feet, multiply all three together to get cubic feet, then divide by 27 to convert to cubic yards. A standard 4-by-8 raised bed at 12 inches deep needs roughly 1.2 cubic yards of soil. In New Berlin, most gardeners build beds 12 to 18 inches deep to get roots fully above the compacted native silt loam and into loose, workable growing medium from surface to bottom of the root zone.
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My yard has low spots that collect standing water after every decent rain — can bulk soil fix that?
In many cases, yes. New Berlin's 35 inches of annual rainfall is enough that low spots in silt loam yards stay saturated for extended periods, damaging turf and making those areas functionally unusable. Filling and grading those depressions with screened topsoil, then seeding with a turf blend rated for Zone 5b, restores surface drainage and eliminates the standing water problem. For chronic wet spots connected to a high water table or poor subsurface drainage, pairing the grading work with a French drain system gives you a more permanent and reliable solution.
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Will new bulk soil mix well with New Berlin's native silt loam, or will they just sit in separate layers?
They integrate well as long as you avoid creating a sharp textural interface between the layers. When placing new soil on top of existing silt loam, till or fork the native surface to a depth of 4 to 6 inches before adding the new material so the layers don't create a perched water table — a condition where water pools at the boundary between two different soil types. For thin topdressing applications on lawns, tilling isn't necessary, but for deeper bed construction, breaking up that native silt loam surface first ensures the entire root zone functions as a single continuous growing medium.
Mulch Mound Pro Tip
New Berlin homeowners grading new lawn areas with bulk topsoil often underestimate how much the material will settle after a full season of rainfall and Zone 5b freeze-thaw cycling. Grade your fresh topsoil 10 to 15 percent higher than your final target elevation to compensate — it will compact down to the right level naturally over the first growing season without requiring a second round of leveling work the following spring.
Mulch Mound Pro Tip
Timing your soil delivery to match New Berlin's spring warm-up matters more for vegetable gardens than most homeowners realize. Native silt loam at 922 feet of elevation can remain cold and slow-draining well into April, but a raised bed filled with a dark, organic-rich bulk soil mix will warm several degrees faster than the surrounding ground. Delivering and filling raised beds in mid-April — about two weeks before the April 30 last frost — gives the soil time to reach planting temperature right when you need it most.
Mulch Mound Pro Tip
When using bulk soil to fill low spots in a New Berlin lawn, resist the urge to dump and seed in a single afternoon. Watering the filled area lightly for several days before seeding allows the new soil to settle naturally and reveals any remaining low spots that need additional material. New Berlin's spring rainfall will do much of this work organically if you fill in early April — by last frost at the end of the month, your soil will have had time to firm up and you can overseed into a stable, level surface with much better results.
The Unique Landscape of New Berlin
New Berlin sits at 922 feet of elevation on a landscape underlain by native silt loam — a soil that is naturally fertile and moderately moisture-retentive but notoriously prone to compaction under foot traffic, lawn equipment, and the hammering effect of 35 inches of annual rainfall on unprotected surfaces. Over time, compacted silt loam loses the air pore space that plant roots depend on, and drainage slows to the point where standing water becomes a recurring problem in low spots after spring and summer rain events. Bringing in quality bulk topsoil or amended soil allows New Berlin homeowners to correct grade issues, build productive raised beds above that compacted native layer, and give new lawn areas the loose, nutrient-rich starting medium that years of compacted silt loam can no longer reliably provide. Zone 5b's long cold winters also mean that soil heaving and settling leave many New Berlin lawns visibly uneven by April, requiring topdressing to restore a smooth, level surface before the growing season gets fully underway after the April 30 last frost. Whether you're establishing a new garden bed, filling low spots in a lawn that's developed winter divots, or constructing a raised vegetable bed above a dense native soil layer, starting with a high-quality bulk soil makes every subsequent planting effort more successful. New Berlin's 164-day growing window from last frost to first frost rewards every investment in proper soil preparation with stronger plants, fewer inputs, and more consistent results season after season.
