I agree that eight inches for the raised beds will be fine. That grass where you want to put them ~ if it's not bermuda, nut grass or something terribly invasive like that, you'd be just fine building them right on top. I'm cheap, too, so I just mix in loads of compost and composted manure to whatever soil I have and use that. Though building an "Insta-Bed" sure is nice ~ not having to dig and mix anything. ;) I'm not a big fan of peat moss because it's such a pita to get damp again once it dries out ~ it tends to crust up for me. In my very humble opinion, it's not even much for changing the pH of soil ~ in my experience, trying to change the pH with anything never lasts (atleast trying to go from alkaline to acidic ~ don't have any experience with going the other way). So you might as well just learn what grows well in the soil you have and just do that. Most veggies will grow well in just about any soil. That's a generalization of course ~ I'm sure there are a few places around the world with soil so horrible that they won't (almost as acidic as vinegar, pure sand, etc.). But I'd bet your soil, when ammended with just good old compost, will produce wonderfully. But if you really want those Insta-Beds (and I can surely see why :), I'd get whatever the garden center has that is a mix of good topsoil and compost. Go see it before you buy of course, and grab a handful of it when it's damp (just damp, not wet), squeeze it tight into a ball and if it holds together in a tight ball even when you poke it, there's probably too much clay (needs more compost); if it falls apart right after you open your hand, there's probably too much sand (needs more compost); if it holds together pretty well with only a little bit falling off the ball and the whole thing falls apart pretty easily when you poke it, that's perfect. Lastly, I just posted on the "Newbie needs encouragement" thread about soil temps. You may want to go read that. I linked to a chart that gives, among other things, optimum soil temps for lots of veggies and how hardy they are. That info may come in handy for you as you learn what will grow when.

Welcome back to the wonderful world of gardening! :) (I'm in a happy mood because all of my crocus are blooming!) Without going into too much detail, rotating is used mainly for two reasons: to help prevent the build-up of disease and to help avoid depletion of the soil of certain substances. Any basic gardening (vegetable) book will usually go into detail. But essentailly it boils down to moving plants so that you don't grow the same types of plant in a spot year after year. I started listing what shouldn't go where, but really it is easier if you look in a book. Or online. But corn next to lettuce isn't a problem, whereas peppers where your tomatoes were last year might be. Cheers!

Congrats on the blue ribbons! The Eria sounds pretty & with a name like hyacinth...makes me think it's nicely fragrant. Wow, 36 plants!!! I can't begin to imagine unpacking, examining them...wish I could be there just to watch! You did end up with an incredible bargain though and $3 sh/plant! My shipping was $9.50/plant, but I did get them for opening bids, 9.99 & 13.99. These were plants that I just HAD to have and the only two I bid on. I'll have to wait till Spring/Summer to see blooms. BTW, I have some very good recipes for delicious dog foods. Vet determined getting him off of commercial foods with all the junk they add just might solve his health problems. Seems a 'turn-around', they used to preach no table foods for the dog!

I have planted several of them in various parts of my garden, and they have experienced benign neglect most of the time--no special winter treatment, fertilizer, etc. The soil here is a limestone soil and heavy clay for the most part. My plants are several years old now, and the largest is only about two feet tall. They were bare root when first obtained. All are in partial shade, two at the edges of informal planting areas under full-sized maple trees. One maple casts quite heavy shade, and that tree peony has remained quite small. The other maple tree casts dappled shade and is next to a neighbor's lawn which gets full sun all day; that one is probably the largest tree peony I have, and one of the youngest. That bed is slightly raised and mainly consists of organic matter. Another tree peony is in the center of an area of deep soil that used to be lawn. It did well initially and was larger than the others, but has suffered from the spring competition presented by a bleeding heart plant I established quite close to it. I have two on the berm of a small bank on the North side of my house; the one receiving the greater amount of sun is easily twice as large as the other one, even though they were planted at the same time. I have one in a shady place level with the ground that I had forgotten about--it is struggling a bit but still returns. Finally, one I planted in very poor soil with little preparation is still alive, but so far has not even flowered, and it certainly is not thriving. Therefore, I would say that they like a bit of a raised bed, or at least the organic matter you can put into one of those, and probably don't like wet feet or oxygen deprivation. I haven't done any special watering, but this is PA; we may get more rain than you. I have seen full grown tree peonies in the Hershey gardens. They were probably ten or so feet tall and looked a bit like broad, dwarfed trees with dark trunks. They were still sort of interesting after their spring bloom. I have also seen a few planted by gardeners in the area. They looked more like densely-leaved shrubs, from about five feet to eight feet in diameter. I think their leaf density could be partly because they were all in full sun, and also due to pruning. They all had a round shape. I have found a bit of judicious pruning can save problems. Apparently the little stalk that bears the previous season's flower dies, and can then be a source of fungus or other infection; that should be clipped off in early spring for that reason. Apparently Hershey had some fungus problems a few years ago with some of their old peony trees and they had to be removed. It can get quite humid here during the summer; possibly that was a factor. For that reason, though, you might want to see that your plants are not too crowded. All of my plants are protected from prevailing winter winds by my house, but there are a few not too far from where I live that do not have that sort of protection--although the owner might cover them in the winter; I haven't noticed for certain. A couple of my plants now usually have at least three large blossoms each spring. They are easily ruined by rain and don't last that long, but they are spectacularly beautiful, and I therefore am glad I have them; I look forward to them each spring.