The MOIST soil should first be heated to 120F for 30 minutes first (to sterilize the soil) allow the soil to cool then use.....there shoild be some organic matter in the soil.

You can get some things to root in plain soil, depends on which plant you are trying to work with. Even using plain sand some times can work. But really a lot use just peat moss and perlite. You can get a lot of cuttings with using 3.8 cu ft of peat and perlite mix which would probably cost no more than $25 or so.

Your huge pile of dirt in your driveway I guess is a yard or two of "topsoil" you ordered delivered. You can propagate lots of plants in it. Divisions work really well. Cuttings from many plants will also do well. If you plan on growing from seed, the weed seeds in the topsoil are usually much faster than the seeds you plant, which will be overwhelmed if the soil is not sterilized first as george has suggested. Al

I think it depends on what you are trying to grow, how easily it roots, and the conditions it is put in.

Outdoor soil is very biologically active, containing insects, fungi, bacteria and weed seeds. If you want to root a plant that is very strong and hardy, roots well and is well-adapted to your climate, you can do it. Plants that are more difficult to root will probably not fair well.

If you want to use outdoor dirt try layering instead of making cuttings. Layering is like a cutting but the portion of the plant you are trying to root is still attached to the plant. You can feed a stem/shoot through the drain holes in the bottom of a pot, make a few knicks/wounds in the stem with a knife, filling the pot with dirt, waiting a few weeks and then severing the stem below the pot.

The reason why this is easier than cutting is that the portion of the plant being rooted is still being fed by the parent plant, so it can hold its own in the thriving ecosystem of garden soil.