Hello there !
Well for regarding your question about your soil not having enough compost, well then if you have plenty of time over the winter months, then you can add leaves, scraps, grass clipping and make your own soil rich...It will break down in time comes spring..Just keep mixing in leaves and what not..If you can chop up the leaves with the lawnmower before adding will help them break down faster..(Or a chipper shredder works well)
Or you can add some manure to it as well and comes spring it will be a perfect mixture as well.. \
Thansk Lyle.

Don't worry just start putting organic matter, the cheapest you can get, on top and plant, keep putting organic matter on top and don't worry.
You can not I repeat CAN NOT buy top soil.
You can not get a soil going in less than 3 years regardless of what you do, unless you start screwing around with it. Like digging and putting a lot of fertilizer, etc in the soil which interferes with the organic life that makes soil work.

Or, you can double dig and wear yourself out then you will come and ask "is there a better way"?

But the issue is that she paid for what sounds like "planting mix" and got "topsoil" (translation: crap) and wants to make it right.

Tell the contractor nevermind the bagged compost, you want him to take away the bad dirt and bring you what you ordered. He will not want to do this, so negotiate and get him to bring you a smaller truckload of compost and dump it on top of the stuff he already delivered.

Then, sadly, you will have to figure out a way to get it spread out where you want it. Oh well, you were going to have to do that anyway I guess. I'm getting sympathy pains in my lower back just thinking about it.

And the answer is there is nothing wrong with what she has and it will do fine when she uses organic matter as mulch.
You can not keep soil alive while you move it around.
If he will bring a load of compost it would be good.

I am going to order a load of forect mulch and manure mix and have them spread that. I will then add the vermiculite I bought. I'm not as worried as I was. Basically its a misunderstanding and they are trying to fix it so i'm not going to make a huge fuss. if everything you say is true then this will turn out right if I just keep putting in OM from now on. I'm just a little sad as I'd hoped not to ahve any native soil as its so high in salt but then who am I kidding the water here is salty so it will end up salty anyway.

FYI here in the Desert (zone 9b) it is our spring so I don't have the winter to add leaves (plus we don't have leaves trees here everything is desert adapted = no leaves or everygreen) and wait. I have been waiting all summer for a back yard and now is prime planting time. if I have any hope of getting anything established before the summer heat it has to go in now so the roots have chance to grow and the plant has a fighting chance!

Thanks for making me feel that its not such the disaster I thought it was earlier!!

Save the vermiculite for house plants.
Consider a water softener for your water to take out the hardness.
E-mail me privately and I'll get you a deal on water softeners.
Magggiemae.1940@yahoo.com

Doesn't sound all that bad. You need 30 inches of dirt-stuff in your bed. You have 6 inches of sandy dirt. Now get 24 inches of compost, manure, leaves, old pumpkins, etc. Actually you'll need more like 48 inches of that stuff because it will compact. Mix. Wait till spring. Take a soil sample and send it to your local agricultural extension. See what you're lacking, nutrient-wise and amend as necessary for the season.

I doubt the productivity will be very high, but it's a start. No matter what, from my point of view you'd need some mineral content stuff in those beds anyway and one-fifth mineral stuff is fine. (I know you can raise great plants with no "soil" at all, raised in a compost/vermiculite mix, but I think the minerals help somehow. It just seems more natural.)

What tudorose has is all mineral, the sand, silt, and clay are all bits of rock that has been eroded over time. What she now needs is organic matter. Maggiemay is right on that it will take time for that soil to become good. Moving soil around destroys what ever life may be there and it takes them time, provided the right conditions exist for that to happen, rebuild, like around 3 years.

I ended up getting 3 tons of forest mulch manure mix and have mixed that in.

whats wrong with "forest mulch manure mix" on top with chopped leaves on top of that? it has been said that the deeper organic materials are buried the less useful they are (& possibly not good). The worms will have their mixing work to do.

The aerobic bacteria, the really beneficial bacteria, work in the top 6 inches of your soil. Incorporating organic material much deeper does little.

Good to know I had no idea that this manure mix is best in the top 6 inches. I will not mix it below that level!

What happens though when plant roots get below that level and arrive in straight dirt that has no organic matter? Won't they recoil in horrow after the luxury of the top 6 inches?

"What happens though when plant roots get below that level and arrive in straight dirt that has no organic matter?"

The organic matter will slowly work its way deeper into the soil through the actions of worms, freeze/thaw cycles, etc, so by the time the roots are 6 inches deep, the OM should be deeper than that.

"What happens though when plant roots get below that level and arrive in straight dirt that has no organic matter?"

Plants produce different types of roots - those that are relatively deep growing and are used for anchorage into the soil and a widespreading network of feeder roots that are typically very close to the soil surface. As the upper layer of the soil surface - generally the first 6-9" - is where the bulk of the population of soil organisms reside as well as the naturally occurring OM, that's where the feeder roots will proliferate. The deeper one explores into the soil, the less organic matter you will find, as it will have decomposed into its natural elements.