@Homesteader
The previous homeowners had a pool in this spot. When we bought the house I cleared all the blackberry bushes around it and laid newspaper and started filling it with yard debris from cleaning up, leaves, chicken coop shavings and hay, compostable items and dirt from where I dug out our drainage areas. My goal was to do a giant lasagna method type bed and eventually use it as my garden since it gets great sun in that spot.. through the winter I have part of it covered with black plastic to kill the blackberry bushes trying to regrow... And I threw several pallets on top to keep the plastic from blowing away. If you were me... What would you do next? Will it take a couple years to break down and turn to usable dirt? Do I have to cover it all with topsoil in order for it to turn to a plantable area? My neighbor said it won't do anything but rot unless I go out and stir it up... But the area is so large in its has so much wet leaves and chicken House shavings it would be a huge job without machinery... what is the quickest way to turn this into a usable Garden area?
How do you plan on starting your plants in the ground? By seeds or seedlings? If you are going to do seeds I would recommend putting a inch or two of topsoil or compost where you want to grow. Then plant in to that. If you are going the seedling route dig a small hole about twice the size of the seedlings roots. Put topsoil or compost in the hole with the seedling and you should be good to go. I have even planted potatoes straight in to material like you are describing in your post. Good luck.