regaldozer, The situation may not be all that bad. What you propose might well work. But the things that will determine the stability you have not related to us. The wall details linked to by Dave are some good general construction ideas. If you have marginal soils that may sometimes become saturated and you are doing a 3 to 5 ft wall you better get close to what those details show. Keep in mind that engineers that do generic plans count on a worst case scenerio. Then they throw in a 50% safety factor. For a 1 ft high wall the details are way overblown. There is a world of difference in the force behind a 2 ft wall compared to a 1 ft wall. Taken all by itself a 1ft wood wall can stand with rebar through the wood and 18 to 20 inches in hard undesturbed subsoil where the rebar is used on 16" centers. But in your case you are doing multiple beds up the slope. So you must take into consideration the overall stability of the slope itself. Since your plan calls for 1 ft high then 3 ft horizonal, I assume you have a basic 3 to 1 slope. A compacted 3 to 1 slope of most soils is stable. But it is close to the point where there can be an instability. As the length of the slope increases so does the chance of a slide. Saturation of the soil in a slope robs the ground of its strength. If the total weight of the saturated soil exceeds the soil friction, then the whole slope breaks loose and slides. The slip point will be at the depth of the soil saturation. And dead men or rebar anchors won't help unless they extend into the slope to a depth well past where the soil will become saturated. For this reason it is important to know the geology of the slope. Take a posthole digger out there and see what you have. Does the slope level off just above your top bed or does it continue on upward?

Approx. 10.7 cubic feet of fill total. Using Mel's recipe that would be about 3.6 cubic feet each of vermiculite, peat moss and compost. You already have all the peat and vermiculite you need. Now you just need to figure out a weight to volume conversion for the compost you already have. That's the tricky part - I would just suggest eyeballing or measuring the bag dimensions.

I'm sorry, crunchpa, but your answer wasn't helpful to me - didn't answer the question. Anyone else?

DeckMasters installs around 90 decks a year 3/4 x6'' Ipe is used as decking on 80% of my projects fastened to joists 16'' on center with construstion adhesive and two 1 5/8''stainless steel square drive trim head screws per joist using more fasteners is not going to help secure the decking. This being said I am at a slight loss understanding why 3/4 ipe is too thin for decking. Could you enlighten me please Trouble?? John