To Blaze of glory: I use redwood micro bark as a mulch, now that I dumped my lawn. Redwood microbark is cheap when I buy a big amount. Kelloggs amend looks like tiny bark pieces. I emailed Al to ask about substitutes in the mix, but I did not hear back. I was able to get the gravel at price I am happy with but as for the tur face and the fir bark, I have not worked out a price I am happy with yet. I want to do some tests with containers for plants to see if the gritty mix will work. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg0519004127574.html?19 Google words like gritty mix failure if you can't see the thread, and it should come up on top I think the problem here, (I hope you can see the photo) the gritty was too big, not screened enough. The pigeon grit could have lime in it. I bought a bonsai mix granite. I was going to use chicken grit but it was made of limestone not granite. Bonsais cost a huge amount of money so if the eBay seller was selling limestone and not granite the negative feed back from angry bonsai growers would put him out of business. The reptile bark was the wrong kind of bark, it was not fir or it was not really bark. He or she did not skimp on the tur face by using oil dri, so that can't be the problem. I think if one cheats on the ingredients you can end up with a disaster. It may be possible to cheat, but I am doing a lot of thinking it over before I start. It would be bad to buy cheaper ingredients and have a failure then go out and buy the right ingredients. That would cost more than doing it right the first time. Someone should create a cheater's guild to the mixes. I have not spend enough time working with containers to be an expert.

Hi greenthumbnick, I'm in the situation of gardening on sand as well. I decided not to bother too much with digging and batteling the sand/nematodes so I have been gathering as much organic matter as I can find. This includes cardboard boxes, newspapers, lawn clippings, leaves, any wood chips that the tree services want to dump at my place. I have paid a little money to have mushroom compost delivered (like $20 for a huge trailer load.) I get the free compost from our county whenever they have it available. My first season I didn't have much time to get a "garden" ready so I simply took cardboard produce boxes, plunked them down on a bed of wood chips, filled em with compost from the county, and planted in them. It worked in a pinch. That was this past spring. This fall's garden has several different types of beds going but I think my favorite was simply laying down some cardboard, piling fresh mushroom compost on it (mushroom compost here is horse manure mixed with straw that has been used to grow mushrooms but now they are done with it, it is usually still quite hot), covering the compost with wood chips and planting. The cucurbits planted that way are doing very well so far. Now I'm starting to think about prepping beds for the cooler weather crops and realizing I'm running out of compost so I may have to do lasagna beds with a variety of materials for layers, I'm hoping it isn't a problem that they won't get to sit long before I plant in them. I definitely think gardening with materials you can find rater than paying for dirt is the way to go. Does your local have yard waste pick up? If so you can just go around the evening before they collect the bags of grass clippings ad leaves and get lots of great stuff. Also, if they do collect such things, they probably compost them. Check with your county to see if they offer free compost to residents. Check to see if there are any mushroom farms in the area, they might give away or sell for cheep their compost. We get sawdust pretty cheep from a sawmill in the area. I also tell any tree services I see working in our neighborhood that they can dump the chips in front of my house if the need. They are usually happy to leave the chips unless the person paying for the work wants them. I've gotten three big piles this way. This last time there were lots of palm fronds in one of the loads and that stuff is making great cover material for the compost bin. More, more, I need more organic material!!!! : ) One thing I did learn about making raised beds. Extend the weed barrier (cardboard or newspaper layers) beyond the actual planting area and cover with mulch. This gives nice walkways that help keep the weeds further from the planting beds. I've found it is difficult to mow right up to the beds and can wind up just flinging the weed seeds right into the planting area!

Soil-less mediums work best for containers because they maintain viable structure and porosity. Soils and soil based mediums work in the ground because they become part of a much larger system. Once you take real soil out of that system....it no longer functions. Soil-less mediums (potting soils) provide anchorage, plenty of good air spaces (a requirement for germination, rooting, and normal plant development), and available water. Sand, silt, and clay are all of the soil components that work great FOR us in the garden, but AGAINST us in containers. Poking holes with a solid object compacts the soil around the holes. True aeration would remove columns of soil (like a core aerator for lawns). Best to incorporate something that provides nice pore spaces throughout the entire volume within the container. Seeds, also, need oxygen in order to progress properly, as well as moisture. That's why a soil-less medium IS ideal, if you are germinating seeds in containers. Most (so called) germination mixes are made of very finely milled peat moss, along with vermiculite and perlite. Those ingredients work to provide a steady supply of available moisture and oxygen. When I'm germinating seeds, I fill most of the seed flats with a very coarse textured potting medium, followed by a layer of the germination mix. After sowing the seed, I'll cover the seeds (if required) with more of the germination mix and use my misting nozzle to saturate the entire medium. The germinating mix insures that the seeds will have contact with the moisture providing peat. By the time the seedlings have begin to grow a little, their roots enter the highly porous medium.....then LOOK OUT! ;-) My potting mix is made of composted bark fines, peat moss, perlite, coarse granite grit (like for poultry), and Turface.

I have grown cactus and some succulents in-ground for over 20yrs. Have found the beds only need to be slightly raised and just made from the natural soil plus added compost. Forget the stuff you read from english texts. Here in oz you have more problems with the hot sun and dryness in summer-autumn than from winter. I don't have any plants rot in the winter time, have only lost plants from not getting enough moisture when they needed it. What I grow are species of Trichocereus, Oreocereus, Soehrensias, some Cereus and Ferocactus. Succulents such as Yuccas, Agaves, Tylecodon and Cotyledons and Dyckias. It's not a good idea to put a plant that is too small into the ground and expect it to do well. At least 3" in diameter for a globular plant and 6" tall for columnar. Trichocereus pachanoi isn't a good choice if your area is very cold and I would forget about trying to grow Cereus too. Cereus have suffered here with the dry autumns we have had the past years. They flower in autumn and need the moisture then, so do Ferocactus. It is a trial and error thing. Have at least two plants of everything and keep one potted in case you lose the one you have put in the ground. Good luck with it. Joylene. South Western Vic.