Fill is meant to fill in low spots when landscaping so you can then put topsoil on top of it. The fact that it is "clean" just means there's no construction debris, it will still contain rocks and clay and such. If you need quantity for a garden (or lawn), a load(s) of topsoil would be what you want.

tj

alright thanks my dad just told me what dirt fill was lol i was a bit confused yeah i need topsoil :S our ground is just so hard in our yard the roots need better soil

any websites i can check out to find a cheap top soil in alaska? we want to buy it by the truck load to get a better deal

kahurin - before you spend a bunch of money on a load of so-called topsoil, which may or may not be worth a hill of beans, type "lasagna gardening" in the search feature in this forum. might save you a little money and a lot of hard work...
good gardening to you!

I agree with melonhedd I think. I firmly believe that there are few soils that cannot be reclaimed with proper moisture and nutrients in the presence of beneficial microbes. If you have had a recent chemical spill on your property, they you might not have the right microbes. Otherwise you're probably ready to start. Good microbe food comes from any ground up grain, nut, or seed. Alfalfa is good as is corn, wheat, soy, and even used coffee grounds (from Starbucks or any coffee house) is good. I know in AK these sorts of things can be miles away, but at least you have the idea. Maybe blood would be easier to find. A good starting rate for the grains is 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. I'm not sure what a good starting rate is for blood but I would start at 5 pounds per 1,000.

Once you have the food on the ground, what I do for moisture is to turn on a black soaker hose for 7 days, day and night, but at a very slow trickle. After a week I move it only 15 inches and continue. I repeat the process three times over the entire area I want to soften. What this does is provide the right moisture for the beneficial fungi to grow. By the end of the third pass you should have very soft, but not mushy, soil when wet and very firm when dry.

you're welcome to visit our web page and see how we do our raised beds, might be some ideas there for you?

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

As a general rule your "clean fill" and "topsoil" will tend to be the same thing maybe without large stones and rocks. "Topsoil" is simply the top 4 inches of soil, from someplace. It may be fairly good or it may be something you would not give to your worst enemy. Specify what you want, a soil with 45 percent sand, 25 percent silt, 25 percent clay, and 5 percent organic matter, or loam.