I didn't post on your other thread because I'm still upset about being verbally abused by a United agent in Chicago (after being shown extraordinary customer service by 100% of the Lufthansa employees we encountered on our journey). I was actually reduced to tears by the horrific and unreasonable "service" United gave me. Incompetence + bitter sarcasm = not a winning combination. However, I have received some very memorable customer service in the past several months: A few months ago, I managed to destroy the glazing on my Calphalon 8-qt oval enameled Dutch oven (chive green, in case you were curious). I braised something tomato-ey in it and filled the base with soapy water to soak, and inverted the lid in the base and filled it with soapy water. Problem is, the enamel is sprayed on (as opposed to "dipped") so the underside of the handle is uncoated, so by soaking it, water got underneath the handle and all the enamel chipped off the handle, rendering my beautiful pot significantly less so. I called Calphalon. Without hesitating, and at no cost to me, they sent me a postage paid label to ship the damaged pot to them, and sent me a beautiful new replacement at no cost to me and with a truly gracious attitude. I love Calphalon. Also, we had a knife set we bought from Cabela's a couple years ago (a little more than a year at the time I called them) and I managed to throw away or somehow lose the paring knife. I called Cabela's (from whom we buy a LOT of stuff throughout the course of the year), and they were able to establish when we bought the set by looking up a credit card transaction in one of their stores from the prior year. I had hoped to be able to buy a replacement knife from one of their returned sets. Instead, they mailed me a new paring knife at no cost, and thanked us for our business. Doing business with companies like these is an absolute pleasure.

After dumping in the soil it needs to settle, and to build structure. Neither happens over night! your plants will not appreciate the process either. Dig in lots of organic matter like compost and manure. Then get a large sheet of wood and lay it on the surface of the soil and walk around on it to tamp the soil down and get it to settle. Water well. The tamping will settle the soil down, and the organic matter will give it something to build structure, which comes from soil particles binding together. Organic matter decomposition products are the glue that bind soil particles and build structure. Worm poop too. Don't use potting soil in garden soil. You'll cause drainage problems if you do. A hole filled with potting soil becomes a pot without a drain hole. Clumps that don't crumble is hardly the end of the world, so long as they're reasonably small clumps. For many soils that is their normal structure. Is this clay soil? if it is, don't dig in it or walk on it when it's wet or you'll pack everything down into a chunk of concrete. One of the benefits of raised gardens is the nice loose structure you get from not walking on it. If it's so big that you have to walk on it to reach things, lay out wood planks and walk on those, or put in stepping stones once the soil has settled.

tenchains, Call your local county extension office, ask them if you can send a sample and how much will it cost? Go outside and get a small container of that "dirt" you paid for. Send it to the address that the extension office gave you, ask for one. If you don't like the results, I have a feeling you won't, you can take the report to the place you ordered the "dirt" from, and demand your money back. Also, let the county extension office know the place you purchased the dirt from, town and address. That is very important.

Agree. Lots of high quality compost solves most soil problems and if you can find manure compost (compost that also contains aged manures) so much the better. Potting mixes are great for containers, not so much for in-ground plots As Dan said a professional soil test is the only factual way to determine soil fertility but failing that you can also mix in (per label directions) any 10-10-10 or similar granular fertilizer for this first year and then plan to incorporate additional organic supplements throughout the season as needed per plant symptoms. Dave PS: You might also want to do some reading of all the FAQs and discussions over on the Soil & Compost forum here.