Arnold wrote, >I have amended the soil here with alfalfa pellets which has worked very >well. I buy horse or any animal feed and just take a couple of handfuls >in the planting hole. It takes a couple of months for the green manure >to breakdown and what's left is great stuff. I think Alberto referred >to vegetal fertilizers which I assume is what I have been doing. Why >waste time and money and have some one compost it for you when you can >do it right in the planting hole. That would work in Arnold's area, which as I recall is on the Atlantic coast. However, I'm going to be planting in an area that gets about 12-14 inches of rain per year, almost all of it in early winter. Alfalfa pellets would stay in that hole for many years before breaking down, I suspect. Jane McGary