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Look in the Paint Departments "OOPS" section. This is the paint that was mixed wrong, and therefore really CHEAP!. What you want is any "earth" colored paint, usually tan to brown.
If you have one near by go to Michaels. They have good quality inexpensive paints. I went there have been returning constantly. They have a product called Americana and every color under the sun. They are acrylic so for your ground basecoat I used and mixed together Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Yellow Orchre together and got a great look for what I wanted. THese three paints cost me less than 3dollars and went a long ways.
The color really depends on where you are trying to model.....soil colors vary from light tan to almost black on the brown side, with some reddish (rust) ,mustard(yellow) and grey thrown into the mix to confuse things. Pick what looks closest to your soil.......just make sure the base isn't something that will eat your foam and use a flat paint, not gloss. My base is wood, and I've had good results (visually) using some of the textured spray paint out there....not the cheapest route, but looks better when it shows thru.
