Dewaine, It has taken this long to except the reality that you posted that photo of me. At first I thought it was some old homeless guy however my wife was looking over my shoulder this A.M as I was wondering who this was and commented how old and ugly I was getting. Now that the image is clarified I must say I do look good for what ever age I am cause I don't remember. Although when someone looks the way I do your credibility is immediately and always in question and, that is no joke. All seriousness aside thanks for the new years wishes, it will be another tough year due to my rather complicated health issues that just reared their ugly head ( uglier than mine). Tell Carol she is a angel for staying by you for so long under such adverse circumstance to numerous to mention. It is good to see you are finally keeping the doomsday clock away from those innocent plumeria you growing. They are as patient as Job. I hope all this revealing of your questionable ways doesn't prevent me from being invited to your next swaray (eh hem rather)soiree. Till then please keep those trees alive till spring. Jack

Plant care is a rather holistic adventure. There are more things to affect the plant than soil choice, but it makes absolutely no sense to put a plant in a medium we know is going to limit the plant and then expect optimal results. Why fight the soil for control of the plants vitality for as long as the plant is in that soil? Soils that hold little or no water between soil particles are almost always (99%+) going to offer you and the plant more opportunity to realize the potential the plant is genetically encoded with. If you do your part, anything you might want to grow will do very well in the gritty mix. I've only found one plant that likes the 5:1:1 mix better than the gritty mix, but I don't have a clue as to why that is. It's known by a number of names - Ledebouria socialis, Scilla violacea, South African squill, leopard lily, leopard squill, or silver squill. Al

Douglas Fir appears to last longest in raised beds and liners do little to slow the wee critters that munch on the wood. How thick the boards should be depends on how high the beds will be. One garden around here has 1 x 6 boards, one high, and is more to define the bed than to raise if. Another garden, 10 blocks away, used 2 x 8 boards with 6 x 6's upright for the corners. Those beds are about 4 feet tall to accommodate seniors. Soil is composed of the mineral (the sand, silt, and clay), organic matter, air, and water. A good all around soil for a garden is loam, a mix of about 45 percent sand, 25 percent silt, 25 percent clay and 5 percent organic matter. Perhaps this link will be of some help. https://hort.purdue.edu/ext/loam.html Some may suggest buying something called "topsoil". "topsoil" is just the soil on top and it might be something worthwhile (see the loam) or something disastrous and not worth the cost. Perhaps this link will be of some help. http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/the_shocking_truth_about_topsoil If the soil put into the raised bed is close to that outlined above drainage will not be a problem, unless the beds are built on top of non draining soil. Perhaps this link may be of some help. http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/lawn-garden/how-to/g92/build-raised-garden-beds/ kimmq is kimmsr

Any high quality bark-based potting soil. Not garden soil or topsoil but a constructed mix formulated specifically for container usage. But these types of soils are seldom available from bulk soil providers........you may need to mix your own. I'd suggest you visit the Container Gardening forum for details on soil mixes but I'd lean heavily to the 5-1-1 mix.