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I use sand from the yard with varying grain sizes and then paint it brown with grayish-tan drybrushing. After its all done I just glue patches of flock for detail.

Yes, sand mixed with fine gravel. You can get a few grams in a unique storage pot for about £5 from GW, or a tonne from a builder's merchant for not much more, or a bag in between from a garden centre or pet shop. I didn't overpaint this on my gladiators because they're supposed to be fighting on sand. Otherwise I soak it in enamel, slightly thinned, and wait for it to dry thoroughly to seal it all in. Then basecoat, wash and highlight as you wish. I wouldn't use flock at all (if you're talking about the dyed stuff railway enthusiasts cover their boards with); I don't know what it's made of but in my experience it fades in time. Static grass is ok but sometimes looks a bit unreal, so I prefer "scatter foliage" i.e. green bits of foam, which again are sold for railways. Some may find this a bit longwinded, but it makes the model more interesting.

Sand, gravel, R.R. ballast, turf, folliage or whatever it takes to 'get the job done'.

Neither. I use GW's textured paint. Satisfied with the results thus far.

Fine white beach sand (sterilised and washed).
Apply glue, apply sand allow to dry and shake off excess.
Reapply sand where appropriate and allow to dry.
Apply seal coat of glue, water and surfactant. Allow to dry. Paint and varnish. Surfactant allows the glue mix to lock each grain to each other, not just locking the surface down).

Flock I bought about 10 years ago and still haven't finished the bag (it was about 500g).

Snow flock for snow, sand from the pet store, dirt from the yard, gravel from the back alley if I need it

And I can probably mess with pine needles enough that I could use it as some type of flock as well, in small amounts.

Started using wooden flock. good stuff but gets expensive fast. recently started to use pumice. sold by vallejo as black lava. great stuff im a total fan. one step application with a hobby knife, 60 minutes later it can be airbrushed. it might be a bit fine for some.

for warhammer a green paint usualy maybe a underlayer of a red or blue

I get my basing material off a friend who has a house near him with a gravel driveway, when it rains the water collects the small fragments and tiny bits and settles them against the drain for him to collect. And once dried out it gives me an amazing mix of totally random sized pieces (but I filter it usually)

I used to use railway ballast, for about 10 years, but this new textured paint from GW is just too good for my purposes. I have tons of models and large armies, so this stuff works out best for me.