More and more, homeowners in Geneva (IL) are creating their own at-home “farm-stand garden.” They have good reason to do so. A grocery-store tomato just can’t compare with the texture and taste of a tomato from your own garden.

With your own vegetable garden, you know the truth about the food’s true origin, cultivation and amount of time from harvest to table. Once the results are enjoyed, most people agree that growing one’s own produce is worth the time and effort.

The same is true in creating a lush, green lawn for our homes. Chemical treatments purchased commercially can often be costly while falling short on desired results. They also raise questions about safety. Are they safe for children and pets? Can they harm the yard as well as the environment?

Applications of status-quo fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides can similarly leave many homeowners in Geneva wondering why their lawn doesn’t look like the one featured in the brochure.

Just as for your vegetable garden, you can know what you’re putting onto your lawn, why it’s being used and how it’s being applied. Tim Wallace Soil Mix Supply supports you with the ideas, advice and materials for a vibrant garden, lawn and landscape for your Geneva home.

Your Geneva (IL) Yard: Start with the Soil

Desired results begin with the soil you select. At Tim Wallace Soil Mix Supply, our soil blends arrive to you ready-for-use – they’re already mixed.

Our nursery also houses the region’s only onsite soil-mixing facility, where we move your chosen soil mix through our four-step blending process.

1) Gather all required materials from their enclosed and covered storage bins

2) Pile the materials atop one another in our mixing bin and then turn them over multiple times with an end-loader

3) After blending, mechanically process the soil mix in our diesel-powered pulverizer

4) A conveyor belt attached to the pulverizer moves your blended soil mix up to where it drops the finished product into the bed of the truck that will deliver it to you in Geneva

Three Key Elements for Garden Soil Geneva (IL)

Your ideal soil blend for your Geneva garden will embody three essential elements: primary planting media, moisture control and organic fertilized soil.

Primary planting media. The right garden soil mix will have plenty of quality topsoil (black dirt). Note that topsoil alone isn’t enough for the garden to thrive.

Moisture control. All gardens must have sufficient moisture. A good soil mixture with plenty of organic matter will hold more of it.

Too much moisture can cause root rot, however. The same can be said of the wrong kind of sand because sand will either hold or shed moisture depending on the type in the mix. A soil mix that includes composted soil with horse manure is best used without adding sand because manure is a natural moisture retainer.

Organic fertilizer. A quality garden soil with a vigorous organic material such as compost is likewise important to the results you desire. When included in correctly measured proportions, compost adds vital nutrients to the garden soil mix for good soil health (too much can hurt plants and burn tender roots).

Geneva (IL) Customer Favorite Soils

The specialists at Tim Wallace Soil Mix Supply have created the following garden soil blends with the ideal ratio of premium materials for perfecting the lawn or farm-stand garden you’re planning. They are among our Geneva customers’ most popular choices.

Tim’s Original Garden Mix: 50% topsoil, 25% organic compost, 25% fine sand

All composts can dry out quickly, so mixing compost with topsoil and fine sand will provide balanced bedding for vegetables. This Tim Wallace soil mix gives your garden the best of all worlds, as topsoil offers a healthy home for roots with plenty of water, compost provides a nutrient boost and sand supports soil porosity and water retention. You can also use this blend as a topdressing for your lawn in Geneva!

Enriched Vegetable Garden Mix: 50% topsoil, 50% composted horse manure

Because it is consistently nutrient-dense, topsoil helps sustain plant life. Farmers also prefer including horse manure because composting it super-charges the compost pile while increasing soil fertility, regeneration and high-quality yields. Tim Wallace Soil Mix Supply’s composted horse manure is aged and turned regularly to establish a distinctively subtle character.

While not high in phosphorous and potassium, horse manure is nitrogen-rich, which benefits non-flowering plants such as garden vegetables. Because the composted horse manure has its own water-retention quality, our Enriched Vegetable Garden Mix also requires no sand.

Raised Bed Mix: 50% topsoil, 25% coarse sand, 25% organic compost

According to Gardening magazine’s trial of the best soil mixture for raised beds, a blend of 50% topsoil, 25% coarse sand and 25% compost is best. The study determined that though the mix was heavy to put in the bed, it didn’t settle much and was simple to dig. Weeding by hand also was easy, soil fertility was good and the beds produced the highest yield.

The mix’s coarse sand (more porosity and drainage) is desirable for making a dense soil such as clay more porous. Flowers, tomatoes and root vegetables such as beets and radishes are all examples of plants that can thrive in soil with coarse sand.

Organic compost, which is a by-product of recycled organic materials such as leaves, vegetable scraps and small twigs, turns into a rich soil amendment gardeners refer to as “Black Gold.” It is the perfect compost amendment for your raised garden bed.

The topsoil in the mix also contains its own lush blend of nutrients needed for healthy plants. Our Raised Bed Mix is by far one of our most popular garden soil mixtures.

Premium Compost Mix: 50% mushroom compost, 50% organic compost

Garden soil will shed vital nutrients over time. When that occurs, plant growth, production and health will be affected. To maintain soil that’s fertile and high in organic components, compost should be re-applied every two or three years.

Tim Wallace Premium Compost Mix is a robust blend of two organics that will rejuvenate and energize your Geneva garden. Because this mix has no topsoil, it should be added only to existing gardens that have sufficient black dirt. Some of our Geneva customers have used this blend in their landscape beds with great success as well.

In addition, because many mulches used around plants and shrubs will eventually deprive underlying soil of nitrogen, adding a 1″ layer of the Premium Compost Mix before you spread your mulch can help naturally fertilize plants, trees and shrubs.

Purple Cow: An Upgrade

Nationally recognized Purple Cow Classic Compost is a proven, time-tested way to add beneficial microbes, carbon and balanced nutrients to your soil for your Geneva vegetable garden.

A fully plant-based and organic component, the Purple Cow Compost improves soil structure and porosity: a superb asset for plant roots. It also reinforces nutrient retention and use while reducing nutrient loss caused by leaching. Purple Cow includes humus for greater soil aggregation and nutrient availability for the plant as well.

Because even the best compost can dry out quickly, mixing it with topsoil and sand will provide the balanced media needed for lawns and the right bedding for flowers and vegetable plants. Our premium soil mixtures provide three top benefits for your garden.

Topsoil: a healthy home for roots with plenty of water

Purple Cow Compost: a healthy boost of nutrients

Sand: soil porosity and water control

Our premium garden soil mixes further save effort and time as all that your garden requires is ready in a prepared blend for spreading.

Premium Garden Mix: 50% topsoil, 25% Purple Cow Compost, 25% fine sand
Best for in-ground gardens and as a lawn topdressing

Premium Raised Bed Mix: 50% topsoil, 25% Purple Cow Compost, 25% coarse sand
Best for garden beds raised above the ground

Geneva (IL) Soil Mix Supply: Contact Us Today

A flourishing garden and yard in Geneva provides tasty, organic food; healthier plants and shrubs; and lush, green grass. It’s also beautiful to look at.

Tim Wallace was one of the nation’s first landscape suppliers to offer specialty soil mixes. Our soil-mix offerings have increased through the years as we always continue seeking new ways to meet the demands of today’s inspired gardener. If you’re in Geneva and wish to find out more about the right “garden soil near me,” contact us at (630) 759-1080!