Provides a fertile substrate with good soil fertility and water holding capacity for vegetable production. The process involves digging a trench, separating the topsoil and subsoil and then replacing the soil in layers intermixed with locally available organic materials (e.g. dry grass and leaves, cardboard, manure and green leafy materials). The lower layers include the dry organic materials to increase water holding capacity and the upper layers include green organic matter and manure for nutrition in the root zone of the plant.