I have a bed that had a 100-year fir tree in it where the tree fell over
and the stump was removed. It was basically glacial till, clay with some
gravel in it.
The first year I mixed in a few inches of peat moss all over it, sprinkled
dolomite lime and K-mag (sulphur-magnesium-potassium in a
slow-release, water soluble rock form) around on it and dug that in,
then dug 5-gallon bucket sized holes for each tomato plant and filled
them with a mixture of compost and horse manure. The next winter
I grew a cover crop of winter rye. I mowed it once it flowered with a
hedge trimmer, saved the top growth for mulch, and turned over
the stubble. That year I reduced the per-plant holes to 3 gallons and
filled them again with a mix of compost and horse manure. I spread
the mowed winter rye top growth back over it for mulch. The next winter
I grew a mix of bell beans and hairy vetch for a cover crop. I mowed that
the next spring when the vetch flowered, and just turned the top growth
back into the soil. I mulched with leaves and sprinkled "Compost maker"
(a 4-3-3 organic fertilizer, basically) around on it. The per plant holes
stayed at 3 gallons, but I was out of horse manure, so I just used compost
in them, and I top-dressed in a little circle around the plants with
Tomato-tone and cultivated it into the top few inches of soil.
The next year I had minimal winter cover crop (most of it died in cold
weather), so in spring I spread a bale of alfalfa around on it and turned
it under with a shovel. The per plant holes got down to 2-gallons
of compost, and I again used Tomato-tome or some equivalent
(Plant-tone, maybe) in a little circle around each plant. The next winter's
cover crop was so-so, so I spread a bale of straw over it in spring,
sprinkled rock phosphate and greensand around on it, and covered it
with an inch of compost with some sand in it. I did not bother to turn this
under, just let it rot on top of the soil. I stuck with the 2-gallon per-plant
holes, but this time I mixed vetch top growth from the winter into them
instead of compost (breaks down fast). I mulched with leaves, and I
watered each plant with some compost tea to help the vetch top growth
break down.
As the years passed, that is what I kept doing, growing winter cover crops
to put roots in the soil and adding a layer of organic matter in spring. If
the winter cover crop was good, the mowed part of it is enough, and I
do not need to add anything else to it. It has a couple of feet of fertile
topsoil on top, and the per-plant holes are down to 1-gallon. Now I add
a handful of fertilizer in the hole, organic stuff If I have it or some generic
5-10-10 if I do not, mix it up with the dirt, and either use mowed cover
crop top-growth or compost and mix it into the dirt that I fill the hole
back up with after transplanting. (The clover and alfalfa in the paths is
pretty much "as good as compost" to mix into the soil around a
transplant, and I only need to plant new winter cover crop each year
where tomato plants or ground cherries or whatever were actually
growing, instead of over the whole bed.)
Every year I spread some gypsum around on it to supply calcium, about
every third year I use dolomite lime instead, and about every 5 years I
sprinkle rock phosphate and greensand on it. (The rock phophate will not
wash into the soil, so it needs a layer of dirt or mulch or something on top,
so the roots and mycorrhizae will find it. It does not need to be very thick,
though.)
So it went from "fill dirt" to "topsoil fit for a garden, with plenty of organic
matter" in about 5 years. If I get a load of horse manure (or rabbit, or
llama or alpaca), I just spread that around on top now and cover it with
an inch of dirt or compost, and mix some into the compost pile.
If you have tree leaves around, that reduces what you need to buy to
build up organic matter in the soil. You can spread them in fall and turn
them under in spring at first, also mulching with them over the summer.
After a few years you can skip turning them under and just pile them up
on the soil every fall.
Deer Park in Texas uses leaves as the only annual input. Earthworms do
the rest.
Plant nutrients in municipal leaves (ask if they have been sprayed for
anything if they are not from your own trees):
http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/supp...pal_Leaves.htm
edit: Stay away from ash and walnut leaves. Those trees produce
juglone, a chemical with which tomatoes and other vegetables
do not get along:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglone