Long story short - I moved from a country where there’s an abundance of black soil to a country with a dry climate and not much black soil. Not only that, I moved from an apartment to a house with plenty of land. I believe strongly that growing my own produce is the way to go, but sadly I lack a lot of skill.
What I want to do is to plant a few plants, bushes and trees to get started with gardening, but I’m not sure whether the types that I want to plant will take well to the soil.
So the first logical step in my mind is to figure out what kind of a soil I’ve got and what it’s well suited for and can I make it work for some things that it might not be ideal for.
That’s why I was super hyped when I found this community, but it looks like people here are mostly posting articles and the discussions are more on the specialist/scientific side, so I hope my question doesn’t stick out as unwanted.
You’ll have to make or buy soil, the latter is very expensive, the former will take a couple years minimum and decent effort.
Start looking into composting and biochar. But don’t fall into the trap thinking that you need special compost recipes, just put a variety of (non-toxic, biodegradable) materials in there. If you’re able, make biochar.
No worries about the compost, haha. I haven’t started making it here, but I’ve lived with compost piles my whole life (that I haven’t spent in an apartment). That’s one of the rare things that I know about. Just chug a leftover veggie/fruit in a pile and let it steam. Got that. 🫡
I’m afraid I might need to buy some if it turns out that the one in the backyard isn’t good enough. The specifics of the location don’t really allow for permanent planning.
Buying works, I bought stuff to build my soil for sure. My soil is desert silt, I made decent soil for my raised bed by mixing it with lots of compost as well as biochar, perlite, and vermiculite which I bought.