Falmouth has two coastlines pulling at it — Buzzards Bay on the west, Vineyard Sound on the south — and a subsoil that is sand as far down as you care to dig. A lot of what works in Newton does not stay put here. These five materials do.
Why does Falmouth soil drain so fast?
Glacial outwash: washed sand and gravel with almost no organic matter and very little water-holding capacity. A lawn here fades after four dry days where the same lawn inland coasts for ten. Check your parcel through the NRCS Web Soil Survey.
What are the five materials worth ordering?
| Material | Price per yard | What it does in a Falmouth yard |
|---|---|---|
| Loam (Screened) | $55 | Gives roots something to hold onto over sand. The base layer for any new lawn or bed. |
| Compost | $50 | Adds the organic matter outwash sand has none of. This is the water-holding ingredient. |
| Pine Bark Mulch | $55 | Nuggets, not shreds. Resists wind scatter and washout better than any shredded mulch, and it is undyed. |
| Brown Riverbed ¾" | $90 | Ground cover where mulch keeps blowing out — exposed corners, driveway edges, west-facing beds. |
| Dense Pack ¾" to minus | $76 | Compactable base under patios, walkways and pads. Sand alone will not hold a level surface. |
1. Screened loam, four inches minimum
Thinner than four inches over pure sand and you have built a shallow pot with a hole in the bottom. Work Loam (Screened) into the top of the existing sand rather than laying it on like carpet — the interface is where roots stop.
2. Compost, mixed in rather than laid on
Compost is what actually changes how the sand behaves. One to two inches tilled into the top six raises water retention in a way no amount of watering will. It sits with the bulk soil and loam range.
3. Pine bark mulch, because shape beats colour here
On an exposed lot the question is not what colour, it is what stays. Pine bark nuggets knit and shed water; shredded hardwood on a windy West Falmouth corner ends up on the lawn. See the bulk mulch range.
4. Rounded riverbed stone where mulch has already failed twice
Some beds — the salt-pond side, west-facing frontages, anywhere wind funnels between houses — make mulch an annual expense with nothing to show. Decorative stone ends that argument, but rounded stone rolls on a slope and holds heat against plant crowns.
5. Dense-graded base under anything you want to stay level
Sand is a poor foundation not because it drains badly but because it moves. Six inches of compacted Dense Pack ¾" to minus under a patio or shed pad is the difference between level in five years and not.
What does delivery to Falmouth cost?
Falmouth is about 68 driving miles from our Dispatch Office in Dorchester, so the fee is $235 in North Falmouth, $253 in Falmouth centre and $268 at Woods Hole — per load. Soil, sand and stone cap at six yards per trip; mulch at ten. Six yards of loam is $330 of material against $253 of freight, and six costs the same freight as four, so order to the cap. Loads count per line item, so loam plus compost is two trips. Addresses sit under Falmouth Landscape Supply; ordering over the Bourne Bridge works the cap maths in detail, and the Cape Cod Commission covers coastal-bank rules.
Frequently asked questions
How much compost do I need for 1,000 square feet?
About three yards at one inch — cubic yards = (square feet × depth in inches) ÷ 324. At two inches, six yards, which is one load.
Will mulch blow away in a Falmouth wind?
Shredded mulch on an exposed lot will move. Pine bark nuggets and hemlock hold much better, and any mulch holds better once watered in.
Can the material go in the back yard instead of the driveway?
Curbside is the default. On-property delivery is possible with a signed liability waiver, but on soft Falmouth sand the truck may not make the approach safely.
Put your Falmouth ZIP into the checker for an exact delivered price, or text (617) 286-2740 and we will price the load.
