So, one of the "problems" that I've recently been focused on "solving" is soil amendments and, in a larger sense, sustainable self-made fertilization.
Lately, my process (specifically for my indoor live-soil farm environment) has been as follows:
I get whatever soild/dirt is cheapest at the time. Ace hardware brand topsoil or potting soil is what I usually end up getting.
I put all that into a pile or bin and add anywhere from 1/10 to 1/5 the dirt pile's volume of coco coir, whatever is cheapest (I prefer it to peat for sustainability reasons).
From there, take either a solid mineral fertilizer (again, whatever is cheapest. My bag was $3 from walmart) or JLF (liquid compost fertilizer inoculated with local microbial ecology) and soak the soil to give it a roughly even distribution of the fertilizer and/or microbial life.
The most recent step I have added to this process is to finely chop hay harvested from my yard and mix it in to loosen the soil and add things for the microbes to eat and fertilize the soil over time.
Combining this with hugelkultur techniques, I can fill a huge amount of containers for less than $20 on average and I can't honestly remember the last time I had to buy fertilizer
#plant #plants #gardening #farming #cultivation #jadam #jlf #soilscience #mycology
Jangofatt
Thunderstick Studio
Toby Walsh
Santosh
Brad Ganley 
Ponytail