You don't say what you plan to grow. Perhaps vegetables in rasied beds? Generally, I would ease myself into the new environment by having a reasonably sized garden at first with some soil ammendment. This would allow you to do some gardening while getting to know the local gardening community and the local methods. I am a frugal gardener and the thought of spending hundreds or perhaps thousands of dollars on raised beds and soil ammendments does not fit with my idea of gardening. I have some raised beds but those were made from salvaged lumber. Doing a little at a time is not a bad idea. It seems that in our "make over age" everything has to be done at once to look picture perfect. I do all my gardening with hand tools which includes a garden fork, a shovel and a crow bar. A little at a time gets the job done and saves my back.

It's always fun to see others' experiments. I can make the following comments, though. Peat or coir is often suggested as one of the ingredients to a custom mix, so I think you're fine without the peat since you did not mention problems with coir. I also remember reading about someone who did grow primarily in compost. He was able to make lots of it, and his compost consistency was such that he didn't need to mix in peat, but it also had good water retention. So in the end, his primarily composted material was his medium for growing his plants, without having to add other components. His plants did fine also. It's not to say everything called compost can be used to do this, but he had done something for a number of years and ended up with his results of whatever he composted regularly and used as a final planting medium.

What you have is less a raised bed than a large container, of a type often built for handicapped people. Some places that have these planters use potting soil as you would with any other container or they have used a good soil which would be something like 45 percent sand, 25 percent silt, 25 percent clay, and 5 percent organic matter. If you use a good quality soil as described the only amendment that may be needed would be some compost to bring the amount of organic matter up to about 6 to 8 percent. Drainage is very important and the holes you will need to drill in the bottom can be covered with a find mesh window screen that will help hold the soil in place. kimmq is kimmsr

bossyvossy... The only chemical I use is this:It works and is the only thing Ive found to deter pests here in Florida. First couple of seasons I have gardened here, aphids and mites were problems for me. Tried many things and this hit a home run. Sure its not ideal at all but it works. Outside of this Im organic... Try it, it really works.