Rich Soil is a farming block from the Farmer’s Delight mod, and you’ll get it when 
Organic Compost has finished breaking down. You’re able to plant on it the same as you would on 
Dirt, but anything growing on it will get a free 
Bone Meal boost every so often, and it will turn normal mushrooms into Mushroom Colonies as well.
If you use a Hoe on it, you’ll get 
Rich Soil Farmland, which is the version you’ll want for your crops. It will boost them the same way once it’s fully hydrated, so you’ll still need water nearby, the same as any other farm.
Obtaining
The main way to get Rich Soil is to place some Organic Compost and wait, as it will slowly break down over eight stages and then turn into Rich Soil. It’s a lot faster with sunlight, water and things like mushrooms around it, and you’ll find exactly what speeds it up on the Organic Compost page.
You might also find some that’s already been made in villages, as Plains, Desert, Savanna, Snowy and Taiga villages can all generate a Compost Heap next to one of their houses. These have piles of Organic Compost with some Rich Soil or Rich Soil Farmland underneath, which you’re able to dig up and take home with you, and they’re covered on the Villages and Loot page.
You’ll want to use a Shovel to dig up Rich Soil, and it will always drop itself, so you won’t need Silk Touch to move it around. If you break Rich Soil Farmland, you’ll get plain Rich Soil back, and picking up your first block will also get you the Plant Food advancement.
How to Use It
Each time a block of Rich Soil gets a random tick, it has a 20% chance to grow the plant on top of it, exactly as if you’d used Bone Meal on it. You’ll see the green Bone Meal particles when it happens, and at the default tick speed, it works out at roughly one boost every five or six minutes for each block.
It will work on anything that Bone Meal would normally grow, like Saplings, 
Bamboo and Sweet Berry Bushes, and it’ll even boost Cave 
Vines that are hanging underneath it. It won’t boost Grass, 
Ferns, Moss, flowers, Wild Crops or Mushroom Colonies though, so you won’t have to worry about the soil filling up with weeds.
The 20% chance can be changed in the mod’s config file, so it might be different if you’re playing a modpack. If it’s been set to 0, the soil won’t boost anything at all, but it will still turn mushrooms into colonies.
Mushrooms and Mushroom Colonies
If there’s a 
Brown Mushroom or a 
Red Mushroom on top of Rich Soil, the next random tick will turn it into a 
Brown Mushroom Colony or a 
Red Mushroom Colony instead of boosting it. Mushrooms can be planted on Rich Soil in any light level, so you won’t need a dark room to start a mushroom farm.
The colony will then keep growing as long as it’s sitting on Rich Soil, and you’re able to harvest it with a Knife without breaking it. You’ll find the rest of how they work on the Mushroom Colonies page.
Rich Soil Farmland
Using a Hoe on Rich Soil with nothing above it will turn it into Rich Soil Farmland, which you can plant any crop on, the same as normal 
Farmland. It only boosts the crop above it while it’s fully hydrated though, so you’ll still need water within four blocks of it, or rain, to get the boost.
| Feature | Farmland | Rich Soil Farmland |
|---|---|---|
| Free Bone Meal boosts | No | Yes, when fully hydrated |
| Trampled by jumping | Yes | No |
| Dries back into Dirt | Yes | No |
| Melons and Pumpkins on top | Turns to Dirt | Stays tilled |
| Farmer Villagers use it | Yes | Yes |
| Drops when broken | Dirt | Rich Soil |
Putting a solid block on top of it will turn it back into plain Rich Soil rather than Dirt, so you won’t lose anything by building over a field. You’re able to till it again later on with a Hoe, as long as the block above it is empty.
Uses
Most of your Rich Soil will end up as Rich Soil Farmland under your crops, and it works with everything that grows on Farmland, from 
Wheat and 
Carrots to 
Cabbage, 
Onions and 
Tomato Vines. Put a block of it under the water in a 
Rice paddy as well, as Rice counts it as Dirt and will get the same boosts.
It’s worth putting under a tree farm too, as a Sapling planted on Rich Soil will get pushed along every few minutes. The tree won’t turn the soil into Dirt when it grows either, and the big Spruce trees won’t cover it with 
Podzol, so you’ll be able to keep planting in the same spot.
Rich Soil helps Organic Compost break down faster when it’s placed next to it, so the more Rich Soil you have, the quicker you’ll be able to make more. It counts the same as a mushroom would, as long as it’s within one block of the compost, so it’s worth putting a ring of it around your compost pile.
If you’re playing with My Nether’s Delight, it adds 
Resurgent Soil, which is a Nether version of Rich Soil that you’ll get from 
Leteos Compost. It does the same job, but it’s able to boost the plants hanging down underneath it as well, which is something Rich Soil won’t do.
FAQ
Sugar Cane can be planted on Rich Soil as long as there’s water next to it, since it counts as Dirt, but it won’t get any boosts. Rich Soil only grows plants that Bone Meal is able to grow, and Sugar Cane and 
Cactus can’t be 
Bone Mealed, so they’ll grow at their normal speed either way.
Plain Rich Soil doesn’t need any water, so anything planted on it will get the boost wherever it is. Rich Soil Farmland is different though, as it only boosts your crops while it’s fully hydrated, which means you’ll need water within four blocks of it, or rain.
It depends on where the Organic Compost is, as a block on its own indoors can take around two hours, whereas one out in the open with water next to it takes around 40 minutes. Surrounding it with mushrooms, Rich Soil or more compost can bring that down to about a quarter of an hour.
Neither of them can use it, as 
Nether Wart has to be planted on 
Soul Sand, and 
Cocoa Beans will only grow on the side of a 
Jungle Log. Rich Soil is only able to help the plants that are sitting on top of it, or Cave Vines that are hanging from it, like Saplings, Bamboo, Sweet Berry Bushes and the crops on Rich Soil Farmland.
