What surprised me the most about this story is that apparently nobody tried this obvious experiment in the last 50 years. It seems basic to supporting a settlement on the Moon.
> a Viceroy Tulip was worth upwards of five times the cost of an average house at the time.
So plants in moon soil had to adapt a lot more then expected. Also difference between actual moon soil and Earth's moon soil replacement for labs is clearly visible.
The matrix isn’t important to most plants. Just the nutrients it gets.
Any hydroponic pot grower knows this.
Mycorrhiza for example is very important for the growth of certain types of herbs and vegetables (and really just a large number of plants in general).
Likewise bacteria are one of the major legs of one of the major ecological processes that's essential for sustaining life on Earth (the nitrogen cycle). The bacteria in soil convert nitrogen gas from the air (which breathes into the soil) into various nitrate compounds which are then absorbed by plants' roots (this is why fertilizer often contains ammonium nitrate). Bacteria are also involved in the phosphorus cycle as well however to a lesser degree. Really micro-organisms in the soil are involved in varying degrees for each of the biogeochemical cycles that life on earth depend on.
It looks like the answer is no, and you can use it as an effective substrate for what is essentially a hydroponic type setup where the nutrients are all added.