make sure your soil has plenty of perlite or clay pebbles in it to help with drainage and aeration, and dont pack the soil down at all, nice n light n fluffy, this also help your plants grow faster as the roots dont have to fight there way through so hard

and like cl said in his first reply and like latewood said,
you never get more from soil than hydro mate.
but soil is the easyest and a good place to start.
good luck mate cya around