Absolutely I am no expert grower of things- as evidenced by my results. But, I wanted to pass along something that my grandfather used to do to plain, old dirt for growing vegetables and roses.
He won multiple awards for his roses in the late 19th and early 20th century, so something about this mixture must be valid. Maybe it'll be something someone here would like to use to experiment:
He dug any reasonable dirt that he could find around the base of the mountain where he lived in Germany. If it was too "heavy" or "clayey", he'd get sand from his father who dug sand out of rivers for a summer living (winter was ice harvesting). The dirt & sand got mixed together.
Then, he would add chopped up brown (never green) vegetation. Also mixed in would be yeast. He said that the yeast was critical for plant success.
The mix would get stirred weekly in winter. During winter, more vegetation & yeast were periodically added. The pile never froze because of the digestive action.
The fancy dirt was used for spring planting. If it was available, he said left over wort was diluted and used to water the dirt while the plants were growing.
I know the science for not using green vegetation. How nutritious the mix was, I don't know.
I do know the sand-clay works very well. Despite people saying it makes a brick, my dirt is all clay. I mix in sand and end up with a nice, loamy dirt that never compacts. Slag sand also works. (No, slag doesn't kill plants. They grow like crazy right in the slag pile.)
Paul
