Continue turning the soil over until the whole plot is upside-down, cleaned up, and broken into little pieces. Now comes the fun part: add a healthy layer (two to four inches) of rich, dark compost or well-rotted animal waste. If your soil is clay and tends to be dense, "sticky" and easily compacted, an additional inch or two of coarse organic material like shredded leaves or straw will help loosen it up. It's not a good idea to add sand to clay soil...you may end up with something like concrete. Peatmoss will help to loosen clay soil, but may strain your early spring budget. (A common misconception, widely encouraged by the peatmoss marketing industry, pronounces that this very old organic material adds health and vitality to just about any soil. Not so: peatmoss, as it comes out of the bag, is as close to nutritionally and biologically dead as it can possibly be. Don't rely on peatmoss to add life and plant food to your garden. . .it can't do that.)
Now turn and mix it all loosely into your topsoil. Once again, cut in as deeply as you can with a good spade. Avoid walking on it after that—if you've done your job well, you'll sink past your ankles and compact your soil. I keep a couple of old 12-inch-wide boards handy to walk on while planting or doing any raking or furrowing.
One final important "key" completes the story: we use a lot of bonemeal in our fields and gardens. Bonemeal is high in phosphorus (usually 12 or 16). Bonemeal encourages and promotes flowers and fruit, strong stems and roots, foliage that can handle most summer abuse and, most importantly, is a wholly natural form of fertilizer. It is a little expensive, but once applied (then thoroughly mixed in, not left on the surface) it provides a constant source of phosphorus for about three years.
source : hydroponic
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