If you have access to some well rotted--like 3 years old--manure that would work, but know that manure often comes with weed seeds. If you add much peat be sure to add agriculture lime, because peat is acidic. Water the lime in well because left alone it can burn the roots of your plants. If you have any leaves laying around they are good. Just run the lawn mower over them a few times to shred them and mix into the soil. Grass clippings are good too, or you can recycle your old sod in the bottom of the plot. Dig out some soil and lay the sod grass side down--roots side up-- and cover with soil. It will rot and make compost.

It takes years to build up soil. I agree with oilpainter to find a farmer that sells aged manure, also ask farmer Joe if he sells bales of straw (not hay) to mulch after your veggies come up, this will keep the weeds down and keep moisture in. In the years to come, keep adding, leaves, coffee grinds, any organic matter.

Also check out Lasagna gardening, there is no need to dig ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: Lasagna Gardening

I'll repeat again: Never add lime to Calgary soil.

If you're going to add peat moss, there is a special local peat moss called hypnum peat. You can get it at Ornamental.

I don't use any sort peat moss at all anymore (except for containers). Peat moss has zero nutritive value, and when it dries out it forms a crust that water has trouble going through.

Considering for budget, I'd add sheep manure. If you have a bit more to spend, add zeolite.

And make sure you compost that ripped up grass somehow.

shazam:
I live in zone 3 in northern Ontario and we do need to add lime to our soil and especially after adding peat moss which I also use mixed with manure. Yes it is hard to wet but I don't use it for that and I don't put on enough that it clumps together. What I do use peat and manure for is to break up our clay soil and it has worked for me for over 30 years.

Calgary has alkaline soil. The whole of southern Alberta is basically a giant slab of limestone (western sedimentary basin - that's why there's so much oil here). Even our rainwater is alkaline, which is amazing considering that rain is normally acidic (CO2 -> carbonic acid).

I realize that most of North America has acidic soil. Calgary is not one of those places.

In regards to using peat moss as conditioner for heavy soil, I simply started to substitute more composted matter instead. Having said that, the locally produced hypnum peat is far superior than any other peat moss in, well, the rest of the world.

I use compost too, but getting enough to top dress all my flower beds and the garden is hard to do. Peat mixed with manure is equivalent to compost. Though compost is the best, this is good too. The manure keeps the peat particles separated and the peat keeps the manure from burning the plants. What it boils down to is what's available and what works for you.

There are parts of Ontario that are like Calgary. Where my son lives near Ottawa they are on top of limestone too. I guess you just have to know your soil conditions in the part of the country you live in.

You and I do.

You may find the following website interesting and helpful:

www.douggreensgarden.com

Happy Planting !

Do you live in a city which has free compost available? That might be one of the best inexpensive options to mix with your soil.

Free coffee grounds are good amendments but not much on volume.

Make as much compost as you can. Sometimes one can get veggie trimmings and bruised fruit at grocery stores and that can help make a lot of compost. Have a look at the soil forum here on GW if you need info.

I live on Ontario too and use peat moss & manure to maximize my heavy clay soil.. I would recommend that you leave out the vermiculite as this is too expensive and if it's there simply to create porosity, I'd simply use builder's sand...

I had taken out my grass sod before to create new beds but instead of trashing them, I mounded them inverted which killed off the grass. The grass would decompose and eventually I am left with a mix of clay and organic matter. I further improved this pile by adding more topsoil.

If you have a chance to get people's yard clippings, there's a great source for compost. Grass clippings are way to go. Collect fallen leaves from a nearby woodlot because you will likely find good leaf moulds there. Ashes from wood stoves are a great additive to the soil...

if you have a chance to create your own wormery - worm poop makes great fertilizers.

Mother Earth news is a great website to check out especially for the money conscious person.

Ianna