Begin with a soil test, contact your cooperative extension or Brooklyn
Botannical for guidance there.
If the soil that exists on the site is pretty much devoid of organic
material then 6" of finished compost tilled in to a depth of 1 foot
will bring it up to speed. You then adjust for nutrients and pH.
How close is the hearest coffee joint? Coffee grounds make a good soil
ammendment for depleted soils and you can get them for free.
jeffrey lohn wrote:
We are about to grade a small vacant lot which we own (it's adjacent to a
small commercial building which we're renovating-- location is urban
America... New York City!). The lot get's fantastic sunlight... nearly
all day long..... so we want to plant trees, shrubs, gardens(tomatoes,
etc.), grass.....
We need to order a lot of topsoil to fill in the lot....
Question is: ... is topsoil good enough for planting? somewhere i've
heard that topsoil is not good for planting(has no nutrients??).... but i
have no idea about that.
Should we mix in with the topsoil bags of so called , "tree and shrub
planting dirt" and "flower and vegetable planting dirt"?

All suggestions greatly appreciated