1.) Soil, compost, Mulch. What is the difference for these three? I gathered how to create compost and what can be used for mulch (Have plenty of the stuff around) Soil is just the dirt on the ground? (For me, it's practically sand and possible clay)

2.) I read that wood ash is okay but ashes from a BBQ is frowned upon. What about cigarette ash? I've gotten mixed messages with this one. (I'm asking on this cause I have a ceramic pot that I swear the first layer is nothing but ash)

3.) Any apartment renters: Do you do a compost pile? If so how?

Compost is the stuff you make by throwing together vegetables, grass clippings, leaves, coffee grains, wood chips, etc., in order to make a nutrient rich material that you can use for feeding your plants. Just search 'compost' in the dictionary or wikipedia and you can find out more about it easily.

Mulch is the material that you put on top of the bedding your plants are planted in. Common mulches are wood chips and leaves, but you could also use compost material (typically prior to it being completely composted, so that it continues to compost and then leach into the soil). Mulching serves a few purposes... it just looks better than bare soil/dirt to most people... it also helps to keep weeds from coming up. And it can also help feed your plants over time (as in the case of using compost as a mulch, or wood chips that will take a long time to break down).

Soil I'm not as sure about, but I see soil as what your plants roots are planted in... what supports it physically and what is currently feeding the plants.

Hope that helps a little.

For soil, and someone might correct me here... yes, just desert sand is soil. Clay could be soil I suppose, if that's the top layer in some areas... or dirt, or any combination of those plus the organics and silt and such mixed in. 'Soil' doesn't really tell you anything about what can be grown in it, that's why you generally hear the question, 'what KIND of soil do you have?' As I've been asked when I said I have a yard full of dirt... well what the dirt is made up of is the important thing to know.

You'll probably want to 'fertilize' that desert sand with some finished compost, or store bought fertilizer or whatever. Find out what your plants need first, then enrich the sand with what they need. Then put mulch on top, as mulch will also help retain water from evaporating out as quickly (which I would guess could suck in the desert).

Anyhow, hope that helps.

Dirt is the stuff you track into the house and get yelled at for doing. Soil is what your plants grow in.

Those ashes from you BBQ will contain fats which are, usually, not something good to add to your soil and if you use commercial charcoal briquets they will contain "stuff" you would not want in your soil. Whether to use the ash from wood depends on your soil. What is your soils pH? What nutrient is missing from your soil? Do you need Calcium or Magnesium?
Plants need both Ca and Mg and if they are out of balance those plants cannot properly utilize either one.
To the best of my knowledge no one has done a study of what cigarette ashes do, or don't do, to soils. Knowledgable people do not smoke cigarettes so what the ashes might do is of little concern to them. People that still smpke should be more concerned about what the tobacco is doing to their bodies then what the ash might do to the soil.

As for the cig ash, I guess I'll be doing an experiment.

Tobacco itself does have insecticidal properties, so the butts, maybe not.

feij@ I don't see very many if any butts in the container. I think it's just the ash sitting on top of the soil. I have plastic grocery bags to help the cartons? Otherwise to help them along I have little glass jars for a little extra room but not much. I think I need a few more plastic containers that I can safely put holes in... and what's a bokashi method?

I actually reread the instructions on my seeds' packet and learned I need to keep them indoors until they start sprouting leaves. =/