Don't you have a WalMart nearby? I was just at a local one here and they had PEAT HUMUS in bags. And Cow Manure too, like in Earl's recipe. You can probably substitute something like compost for the peat humus.
Actually, municipal compost here is cheap. It's pH is over 7, which would really help your problem.
In my container tomatoes, I use about 1/3rd to 1/2 compost, the majority of the remainder is peat, or ProMix BX, which is mostly peat plus vermiculite & perlite (plus dolomitic lime.)
See if your town or county has a compost facility. I travel 10-15 miles for compost and it's about $13 per pickup truck load, or about $1.50 for a rubbermaid 18 gallon toteful. Every year I add about 3-4" of compost to my raised beds, in the past, it was a fortune in gas using a Blazer and filling 6 totes at a time.... but now I got a 10-year loan from a friend who owed me a favor and got a ZR2 pickup.
How big are your plants and how long have they been planted?