Ezzirah, I don't grow raspberries because they don't like the heat here, but I would think that any high-quality potting mix would do. You want something that is light and fluffy and which drains well. Avoid the ones that are labeled as 'moisture-control' because they can hold too much moisture and kill plants. I grow blackberries which are very heat tolerant in the ground in clay soil that's been well amended with a lot of composted cow manure and they do great in that. However, if you're growing raspberries in containers, you can't use native soil because it packs down and strangles the roots. Containers need a well-drained soil-less mix. I usually mix up my own container mix from a few basic ingredients and I can 'make' it drain more quickly or more slowly depending on what I use and on which proportions I use. A soilless mix is generally composed of some combination of peat moss or compost, vermiculite or perlite or expanded shale and pine bark fines and often has other ingredients added to provide nutrition or enhanced ability to drain well. The next time you're in a store that sells bagged potting soil and garden soil, look at the bags. Usually the name-brand ones that are labeled container soil or potting soil will be a soil-less mix. The ones labeled Garden Soil or Vegetable Soil likely contain some topsoil or dirt and should be used only in raised beds or added to your native soil. The poor quality mixes often contain a lot of black clay and should be avoided at all costs. For seed-starting, it is best to use a sterile seed-starting mix which is very light and fluffy and has only tiny particles so there's no particles large enough to keep seeds from sprouting. When handling ALL potting soils or seed-starting mixes or soil-less mixes, ALWAYS wear gloves. People who handle these mixes with their bare hands can contract some very serious illnesses from them, including a fungal infection that can get into your body and become systemic and chronic. It is your garden. Plant what you want and plant as much of it as your want and just enjoy the whole process. If you burn out, that's OK, because everything you do still will be a great learning experience and will leave you better prepared for the next garden. If you have lost your marbles, you'll eventually find them again....and most likely you'll find them in the garden under a large and vigorously growing squash plant. Here's my feeling about 'planting too much' 'going overboard' and 'losing your marbles': if those three things are the worst thing you ever do, you'll likely survive and have a wonderful life. Look at the other obsessions some people have.....spending tons of money to attend athletic events or take trips to exotic locales or go on guided hunting or fishing trips or maintaining their own deer lease or bass boat....or buying a new pair of shoes every couple of weeks so you have shoes that match every outfit or whatever..... If you enjoy gardening, then throw yourself into it wholeheartedly and love every minute of it. For me (and y'all probably can tell this already), gardening is not my hobby--it is my lifestyle. It is great exercise, it beautifies your property, it gives you FRESH garden produce, fruit, herbs and cut flowers and it feeds your soul. I can't see a downside to gardening. I find that I hit the 'burn out' stage several times during the gardening year and when that happens, I force myself to 'take a day off' and not step foot in the garden for a day or two. It is surprising how quickly I miss playing in the dirt when I take that day off. Dawn

Thanks everyone for the nice comments! It has been a very fun endeavor thus far. I did it to have more family time with my wife and 7 year old daughter and it has been good so far. My wife is as interested in it as I am and going out a number of times per day as do I. The chairs are mostly so they can sit and watch me work! Carrie, I am going to use granite gravel for my pathways because I like the look. I don't figure using mulch would help much with the soil since I am using raised beds. If I am missing something, please let me know! I have that dreaded SVB moth flying around now and messing with my zucchini. I am trying to take precautions but I imagine he will get me eventually! Before they ever showed up, I soaked the base of the plant and soil with spinosad. I also injected spinosad into the stems heavily. I am shooting them with a rubber band every chance I get as well as picking off any eggs they lay. I also have a SVB trap set up to catch them. Wish me luck!

Cukes and squash are always useless to me. I gave up on them. Too many whiteflies and I can't use pesticides. The only squash not destroyed was "forgotten" underneath a holly with layers of holly leaf mulch.. wonder if that somehow helped it. Creeping cucumber vine might be worth trying but it's a native "weed" and you can only eat the fruit when it is light green/striped but it really does taste like cucumbers, just smaller (and it is very good for bees, easily one of the best plants I've seen for them). I've never seen them affected by pests and they are perennial and naturally small little vines. I mostly just stick to peppers and okra though. They're from humid hot places so they can take Florida. I've found peppers pretty adaptable and I grow both mild and hot ones, even on the North side of the house in dappled shade at best. I like to save seed and tuck them everywhere they can fit. If you grow some sweet ones too it might help them be more "useful". Oh and I like to get store bought scallions (have tiny bits of roots on the bottom usually) and just straight up plant them. They work well for me and have a nice blueish color. Also I like the way the flowers taste. Edit: you might want to experiment with edible flowers(&leaves) like nasturtiums, native to India and they actually LIKE sandy soil. Borage is a perennial herb with blue cucumber-tasting flowers that's very easy to grow as well.

I'm not judging them all. Just the morons who brought over the invasives lol. :) But I still think that they should be more concerned for their natives, but same can be said for the people here too. I am of European decent. We have only been out of the last dark age for like 50 years. About the time we realized we were killing ourselves with all the pollution and eviromental repercussions. Their are native plant lovers in all those countries who are fighting their own battles. So it's pretty much the same everywhere. We have a member who lives in Sumatra and grows plants. It upsets her to see all the jungles plowed and drained for oil palms, but what can 1 person do by themselves. It comes down to teaching the children for the next generation!