Hines fine soils (www.hinesfinesoil.com) and Natural Resources Recovery (www.naturalresourcesrecovery.com) are the two biggies. Many nurseries and garden centers carry their products.

Compare mulch prices; I found that there were major differences.
We get pickuploads of mulch from Shamrock Organics, near the intersection of Alcoa Hwy and I-40.
We've gotten smaller amts of soil from Hines. Are they still using cotton gin debris as organic additives?

Hines/Hines dealers can have great deals, but always shop around enough to make sure you're getting one.

OK, I'll bite, what's wrong with cotton gin debris? I can only find good things about it, as a soil additive, online.

When we have dry seasons, the gin debris doesn't break down at all- for three or four years, and it can look and work like you buried rotten old clothes in the garden. Long, lumpy fiber masses.
Otherwise, good soils, but our bottomland is better, just has to be shoveled up into the truck.

Hmmm, I have used quite a bit of their premix and although it does have a small amount of cottony fibers in it, they are small and just barely noticeable. I have never had a problem with it. Maybe they have changed it or maybe it's different in different mixes. I have also used another of their soil mixes and it didn't have any cotton-like fibers at all. Their mixes seem so much more consistant in my experience than other companies I have tried. If I'm ever offered another blend, I'm going to look for this because old clothes thrown in the soil doesn't sound appealing to me either!

hi, i am in north knoxville at the base of sharps ridge ,,,a city boys first try at a above ground garden !lol so if i ask goofy stuff bare with me PLEASE ,,,shamerock place for soil sounds good.trailier load full,.,I have started a large tray of DESERT KING WATERMELON SEEDS they are about two inchs tall now / from what I have read i will need sandly lumous type soil .and the right spaceing of plants , any input on this plant or tips on above ground garden base ,and how to built it ??? for thumping good melons kingjohn

kingjohn,
You need to know that there's sand and then there's sand.
Once upon a time, this area was home to a major industry based on the lead-zinc mines (underground) to the northeast of Knoxville. A waste product of these mines was limestone (and dolomite). A lot of this waste product is ground up and sold now as sand- based on the size of the particles. A lot of this sand is used as a soil additive for growing soybeans, and a lot of the rest is used in making the cement (the sand fraction of the cement) that holds together cinderblocks, etc.
There are also local sources of river sand, which is mostly quartz and which only contributes to the tilthe of the soil, and doesn't affect the pH, especially along forks of the river industrial park.
This is important to your melons, because you need to know if lime sand would be good or not good for them.
You can get both kinds of sand delivered by the dumptruck load- but you need to be sure of what kind of sand you want.
Ann

dear ann thanks for the information,PH. needs to be 6 to 6.8 magnisium is a plus for melons ,i have fished the forks of the river and french broad for years ,your place on the hoslton must be nice.i may go to RINKER on John sevier highway for sand and gravel ,and use black plastic to hold heat in the soil for a better growth time thanks again john

I've gotten topsoil and compost several times from Hines Soil. The first time I bought it directly from Hines. The second and third time I bought it from places that were supplied from Hines. To be perfectly honest, none of it has been very good. Cotton gin debris all over in it. If I hadn't needed anything that was better than the clay in my yard, I wouldn't have bought it. I've had an awful time trying to find decent soil/compost here in Knoxville. I've got some compost cooking but there's only so much I can make and my entire yard is in need of a lot of soil improvement.

Go to Thress on Clinton Highway if you need soil/compost mix. I believe it's a mushroom compost mix with soil, pretty rich. They sell by the scoop, $40, which fills the back of our small pickup. You can grow veggies right in it, but they don't test it so not sure of the Ph or nitrogen, etc. But my flowers flourished. Price has risen a lot, used to be $25 not that long ago. In past years, we tried to amend Hines soil with bagged compost and and it never really produced well. It was so fine that it must have been ground up and the cotton was an annoying nuisance.