Nola: If you will look at the link I gave, you will see photos and lots of discussion about what pine bark fines (pbf) are and where to find them. They go by different names in different stores and different parts of the country. They may be called soil conditioner or mulch, but somewhere on the bag the ingredients should be described as pine or fir bark and nothing else. You want the pieces to be smaller that 1/2 inch wide. You don't want shreds or nuggets. Sometimes big box stores or hardware stores will have something suitable. You are more likely to find them from landscapers or mulching companies. You will not find a soil mix that is the same as the 5-1-1 mix right out of the bag. Someone who is familiar with building wood containers would be better able to answer your questions about drainage holes. I put 1/2 inch wide holes 6 inches apart in every direction in the bottom of my wooden whiskey barrels. But I don't know if your container with hundreds of pounds of wet soil could handle that.

How it looks from my perspective: If the decision to reuse container soils is an economic one, who can disagree with the decision? If you aren't concerned about expense and are willing to go to some minimal extra effort to build a good soil, that is what I would elect to do. Here's why: Container gardeners need to direct primary focus to insuring that the soil they are using will remain able to provide adequate air to roots for the expected life of the planting. Along with the ability of the soil to hold ample air, comes good gas exchange and drainage for rootage. All the other major cultural variables affecting growth are easily manipulated. Water, nutrients, sunlight, and to some degree, temperature can all be controlled easily. Aeration cannot and its consideration is as important as water and light to plant vitality. The breakdown or collapse of soil structure occurs at an exponential rate. If we imagine the usable life of a peat based container soil from a bag, it deteriorates from a reasonably good soil when fresh to unusable after 2 years. It's not unreasonable to expect the soil to lose at least 20-25% of its air holding ability by the end of the first growing season. In the first half of the second growing season, it will lose about another 25% of its air holding ability and in the second half of the second year, near total collapse is likely as the remaining 50% is lost. Though this is an example of an imaginary soil, it is very close to what actually occurs. Another way of saying it is: Even though a soil might be performing acceptably at the end of the first growing season, you should expect a rapidly accelerating collapse in the subsequent year. So, if you use a soil for 1 year and mix it 50/50 with a fresh, similar soil, 50% of the soil will have totally collapsed by the end of the growing season, and the other 50% will have lost about 25% of its ability to hold air. If a soil is not holding enough air, it's holding too much water. Water and air retention vary inversely in soils and when one increases, the other decreases. When soils hold too much water, you have to hope that the plant will use enough water or that enough water evaporates to prevent root rot issues and even minor cases of over-potting can mean terminal misfortune. At risk, I speak out often against the use of compost in container soils. It supplies nearly nothing in nutrients and clogs the soil macro-pores container gardeners should covet. Containers are not gardens and much of what works in the garden can cause difficulties in containers. Additional possible considerations are carry-over of fungal spores, the possibility/probability of insects in various stages (eggs, larvae, etc) and carbonate precipitates from your watering water. A slow soil will also have accumulated fertilizer salts and possibly insecticides that you may have applied and forgotten about last season. I suggest that container soils be turned into the compost pile or garden and fresh soil used in its place unless monetary considerations prohibit. Al

Hi Lynn, love your adobe look walls in the front and your view in the back is wonderful. I'm glad you plan on preserving your view in the back and think it's great that you're thinking of water conservation. Since you're close to Santa Fe I hope you've been to High Country Gardens/Santa Fe greenhouse. I've been buying plants mail order from them for fifteen years and I understand they have some great waterwise landscaping at thier store in Santa Fe. In this month(Sept.) issue of Sunset magazine there is a Santa Fe landscape with adobe walls and a planter against the wall like what you are talking about. It does have a lot of plants in the ground also but it is a great backyard landscape by Wilder Landscaping. Your idea of all raised planters sounds very attractive and ambitious. I know you where conscerned about the heat situation with all that masonry. All your walls would act as a heat sink collecting the warmth during the day and then radiating it out at night. You would have cooler temperatures in the mornings from the walls and warmer temperatures at night. About the planters using less water I can't get around this idea. Planters because they are exposed to the hot summer air on the sides as well as from overhead actually heat up the soil more than in ground plantings. This makes them use more water not less. Of course you are talking about other issues too such as ease of planting and not having to deal with your rocky soil. Mulch is a great way to help keep soil cooler and use less water, rock mulch for more deserty type plants and organic mulch for others. And your shade trees will really cool things off for you too. If you use plants well adapted to your area you could really keep your water use down and not have to feel like you need all the planters.

Old post but you can use the bathtub effect to your advantage by wicking water upwards. Start with clay on the bottom, followed by thin alternating layers of peat moss and vermiculite then start alternating layers of peat, vermiculite, pinebark, cow/chicken/horse manure etc. What your shooting for is neutral PH, My have to lime and would check with a soil test every other year with the peat/pinebark but that peat will pull the water off of the clay and upwards. The vermiculite will hold the water but also some air and allow the roots of your plants to uptake, and don't burry your wood as it rots away quickly. Another idea would use plastic or steel landscape edging or go with cindar block and cement it in place before people get all crazy with not using cindar blocks being toxic they may have used to be and if you stucco and paint them the leaching would be nominal granted you may want to use pine straw/bark/lime near the edges to decrease the PH and potential leaching. I am growing some hydrangias and making them blue in cinder block so I know the leaching isn't bad covering it with concrete doing it that way "if it was the would be insanely pink". Also thinking about building my cindar block raised beds with white portland, sea shell mix "oyster shell etc" and some other stuff to lower the PH so the leaching would be more beneficial than not. I always say to myself "DON"T FIGHT NATURE"... and try to use nature to fight itself.