Bought 6 bags of compost from Serrano Creek last year and had my best garden ever. I grow a high density vegetable and flower garden 100% from seed. Couldn't be happier with the compost and will be returning again this year. read more

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Be very cautious if you're buying compost for growing vegetables. I used this compost to grow tomatoes, peas, and peppers, and all of them showed signs of herbicide damage before eventually dying. The compost contains herbicide residue--likely persistent types that are harmful to sensitive crops. When I brought this up to the owner, he blamed my growing techniques and even suggested testing my native soil. I declined, and instead asked him to test the compost I bought--which he refused. It quickly turned into a blame game, and I chose to end the discussion. I'm posting this review so others can make informed decisions before using this compost. For reference, here are some research articles discussing herbicide residue and its impact: https://www.montana.edu/extension/pesticides/reference/contamination.html https://psdocs.spes.vt.edu/AOFT/Plant_Injury_Herbicide_Residue.pdf The owner mentioned a common herbicide with a half-life of 6.2 days, but research shows some types can be up to 433 days. He also said he had sent his compost samples for testing and received good results--but how can we be sure the compost sold to customers is the same as what was tested? In the end, it's up to each buyer to judge for themselves. read more

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As Evan said, the compost contains herbicides. For some reason the two tomato plants I bought from home depot never seemed to grow. Non-sensitive crops like kale seem to do ok but definitely do not use this compost if you don't want any issues.. read more

Still one of my favorite for compost applied on the surface of plants/yard/raised beds. For growing soil, go to Laguna Hills Nursery instead. read more

Compost appears to be very good quality - screened, baked (from what they told me) no twigs or debris. Staff who took the order and the driver were great, called ahead , right on time and took the time to dump it exactly where we wanted in on a tarp to protect our new paver driverway. Great value too! Much better than the Home Depot route unless you just need a few bags. read more

So this is an update to my previous post. I bought 7 cubic yards of 50/50 soil (50% soil, 50% compost) that was supposedly good for raised beds. I had a really good experience at pickup and everything. We went through all the trouble of getting all the soil and loading it into our raised beds. The service was great and the price was great. But... All my vegetables were stunted in the raised beds and I couldn't figure out why until I did a soil test. The soil had enough phosphorous and potassium but was depleted of nitrogen. I found this very odd, I would have hoped that a place that sells soil in bulk would test to make sure it's balanced. I've had a lot of heartache from this and will likely not get a good crop this growing season. Nitrogen is necessary for the plants to make leaves and grow at all. I would highly suggest if you're buying from here to test the soil before you plant in it and amend as needed. I'm not sure I'll buy from here again. I'll probably stick to bagged soil that comes with balanced soil. read more

Serrano Creek Soil Amendments - They load it into your vehicle with a tractor - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Lake Forest, California

Stopped in for some compost for my veggie garden. Great prices and a great compost. Heading back in two weeks to get more. Keep the bags, you get 50 cents back! read more

Great soil amendments 100% organic I've been using their soil amendments for years with nothing but great results all my plants grow so big when using their mulch thank you so much keep up the good work! read more

Service and delivery were 5 stars. Had ordered co compost from them previously and was very happy with it, ordered the 50-50 dirt+compost this time to fill put my planter boxes and had the same experience as others where the plants did not grow. Feel like the dirt has a lot of concrete powder and tends to choke out the plants. Would definitely buy the compost again, but not the 50-50. read more

This place is a horse stable. The owner ran into some money trouble with the recession, so decided to diversify, adding a compost component, made in part from horse manure. He is well-schooled on how to produce some amazing compost. I bought two yards, and planted vegetables and fruit trees in pots and raised gardens, using their 70/30 mix. The results are, so far, the best I've had. It's way cheaper than buying bags at home depot, and you get a superior product. They also sell pure compost, vs. the 70% compost and 30% dirt. Call first if you want the mix, as they won't always have that. If you want the compost, just pull up in your full-sized truck and they will dump it in for you with a tractor. If the owner is there, he will be all too happy to tell you everything about the process you ever wanted to know, and then some. read more

I am not a fan of this soil (70/30 blend). I bought it for my brand new raised vegetable garden beds in August 2017. It takes a LONG time for anything to grow in this soil. Early in August, I planted corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, herbs, peas, strawberries, etc almost all of which did not survive. The tomatoes are the only things that kind of grew, but they only started to actually grow in October! The beets, I wasn't able to harvest until after Christmas. I planted red cabbage in the fall and I have yet to harvest it because it grows at turtle pace. As an experiment I started to play with different soils. I bought onions and garlic and planted some in the serrano creek soil and some in a regular soil/amendment. The ones in a regular soil are growing so well and are turning quite large, while the ones in the serrano soil are almost on the brink of death (see photos). I don't know if that's because of the ph, or because it's compost soil with horse manure, or because it's too thick and retains a lot of water down below and none on the surface. I also tried this with other veggies like cucumbers, potatoes (see pic), and various herbs. I thought it was my fault that nothing was growing, but after seeing I am able to grow things in regular soil, I'm having serious doubts, which is why I've waited this long to post a review. I planted two rows of cucumber seeds and seedlings, nothing sprouted or grew. I planted dill, it all died. The beets that I did harvest were small. In any case, the next moment I get, I'm taking this soil out and replacing it with regular soil and amendment. I should also add that when I called them to first inquire about this soil, I was told it would be perfect for raised beds. I feel like I wasted my money. However, the people on the phone were nice and the delivery was easy. They made a clean delivery, on time, and were able to get it all on the tarp we laid out on our driveway. read more

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Matt at Serrano Creek Soil Amendments was so easy to work with for a recent shipment of garden soil. The soil was used to fill garden boxes; the quality was excellent and the staff was very easy to work with. read more

We're redoing our backyard and needed soil to even out the grade. Thought I needed topsoil but Matt took the time to explain why compost would be better (and cheaper) in the long run. He answered all of my questions and then some, and went above and beyond to be extremely helpful. He delivered a dump truck full of compost to my front door the very next day. I'm sure this won't be the last time that we'll need dirt and we'll definitely be giving them a call again. read more

Serrano Creek Soil Amendments - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Lake Forest, California

Used to board my horse here and needed to get dirt for my raised garden bed. Came here and they have a full process set up! $18 if you pay cash and it's a truck load! My garden is growing so well! I thought it would be too acidic by having the horse manure but I have tested the soil and it's perfect. The only thing I added was veggie food! Veggies happy. We are happy! read more

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I have had excellent luck with their compost over multiple growing season. I love the price and I love supporting the sort of business. Thank you! read more

Got some compost today from Serrano and was more than impressed. The quality of the product was excellent and the staff was friendly and extremely trusting. I was asked if I needed help loading the bags and when I said I could do it myself, I was directed to the bags and was trusted to load the amount I purchased. Lupe was nice and trusted me to only take as many as I purchased. So naturally I only took what I paid for. And since the bags were bigger than I had imagined, I almost took less because they almost didn't fit in my Tahoe. Bottom line, the staff was nice, the compost is awesome and the price was exceptional! Thanks! read more

Wonderful place! Love the bagged horse compost mulch. Inexpensive and they will even send a cowboy to help you lift bags into your car. Pay in the office first. Couldn't be easier! Love it--addicted to the mulch now! read more

Friendly place to purchase great organic compost in Southern California. I top all of my raised beds off every 6 months, this is by far the best most effective, organic matter that I have ever used. Worms are so abundant it's unbelievable, and the soil below the surface compost looks like pure castings. Simply stated, this is a quality amendment at an affordable price. read more

Had a mid size project to fill and amend a large raised bed for vegetables. Mathew was very helpful with helping me choose the mix. I chose their 50/50 mix and veges are doing great. Prices reasonable, delivery fast, product excellent. Thank You! read more

We recently removed our lawn and are replacing it with succulents and drought-tolerant plants. We purchased both compost and cactus planting mix soil from Serrano Creek. The soil is beautiful, rock and weed-free, and was delivered on time as requested. I would definitely recommend this place. The price was GREAT in comparison to other places we checked. read more

Purchased several yards of amendments from Serrano Creek Soil Amendments after reading some positive reviews. However, I have to say it was a huge mistake and cost us money via extra labor and replacement plants. Their "amendments" appeared to consist of sand and ground up clay. Did not see what appeared to be any composted materials nor did it have any organic/compost aroma. Despite this, because we had several yards dumped, we worked it into our yard. The result upon watering was a soggy mess of what, again, seemed to to sand and ground up clay. After it was apparent we were losing plants in the raised beds wherein we used this amendment, we had the beds completely emptied and replanted with a different quality planting medium. Around all other plants, we dug the Serrano Creek soil away and reapplied a different planting medium. A very disappointing and costly mistake we made. I do know that they were "out of" their amendments when we first ordered from them and maybe, in an effort to meet demand, they took shortcuts or used alternative means to create their "amendment" but, whatever the scenario, I will not risk using Serrano's product again. Further, a relative who coincidentally purchased several bags of their amendments during the same time frame we used their product experienced the same issues and also ended up replacing the Serrano product with a different planting medium when she started losing plants. read more