I second Wayne's hands-on experience. I have rock-hard alkaline clay, pH 7.7, high in magnesium. The soil is so hard that it broke my large rototiller machine, and a shovel. My husband used a pick-ax to dig holes. 12 years ago I planted 6 rhodo. and azaleas. I brought down my pH by mixing 1/2 peatmoss. I never water those acid-loving plants, they are still alive. This year I used acid-fertilizer FOR THE FIRST TIME to increase the blooms and foliage - they have tons of buds now. I have a large rose garden with 42+ roses. Since roses are fussy, I move them around or dig them up to gargage them in my zone 5a winter. I made many holes: 1) pine mulch mixed with clay gave the fluffiest soil and best root-growth, thus most blooms. Pine bark is dry at first, but once decomposed, it retains water. A rosarian faxed me the ARS paper on field experiment on a large scale that documented dryness of pine bark at first, but once decomposed, it retains water. That's why the large Ball professional potting soil has 45% COMPOSTED fine pine mulch. Another hole with 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 pine park, 1/3 native clay .... Six months later I dug the rose up: the soil is fluffy, but rooth growth is less. Another hole with 1/3 coarse sand, 1/3 pine park, 1/3 clay, then topped with alfalfa meal. Six months later I dug up, and found tons of earthworms. Several holes with 1/2 peat moss and 1/2 clay. I dug the rose up: Root growth is restrained, soil is still compact. Another hole with 1/3 grass clipping, 1/4 peatmoss, 1/4 alfalfa meal, and native clay. This glued up badly, soil became more compact. The grass clipping is innocent, the culprit is the fine particles of peatmoss and alfalfa meal which binded with the high positive charge of magnesium in my clay soil. Alfalfa meal is high in calcium, and calcium precipitates in alkaline clay, making phosphorus unavailable for blooms. Why I do such experiments? I majored in chemistry for 2 years before getting my B.S. in Computer Science. It's fun to use my chemistry background to experiment in the garden. I second everything Wayne wrote. He's right, experience and ACTUAL TESTING over many months is the best teacher.

I guess it's all a matter of perspective. If the active harvesting of peat for horticultural purposes of the .02% of the total Canadian peat reserves causes greater environmental alarm and concern than than the 15% that has been lost to development through deforestation, urbanization, industrialization and agriculture, then something is radically wrong with the underlying logic. This will continue to be a debate that will have little resolution. Diehard environmentalists will continue to insist that horticultural peat is a non-renewable resource despite all evidence to the contrary. And while they consider this evidence faulty simply because it is produced by those involved in the peat industry - for scientific as well as commercial interests - does not negate the fact that those involved are the only ones bothered to complile and produce the statistics that represent this evidence -- all the rest is merely suppostion and innuendo repeated ad nauseum. One doesn't often hear from these same folks about their boycotting of Canadian lumber and agricultural products that have a much greater impact on the demise of peat bogs - they pick their arguments to suit their case, as do most of the vast uninformed and uneducated. It's still a matter of personal choice. If for whatever reason - based on ill-formed logic or otherwise - one chooses not to use peat, that's fine. But to lambaste those who do based on the faulty logic they advocate that the use of horticultural Canadian peat is somehow radically and irretrievably altering the environment is to ignore their own personal impact that has a far greater adverse affect.

what exactly should be in a good raised bed soil? I can only tell you what has worked for me for years...for what it's worth. Lots of stuff. ;) Ideally well balanced amounts of compost, leaf mold, dirt (soil), even some clay to retain moisture - raised beds dry out quickly and too much compost only makes it drain rapidly - sand, any kind of decomposing organic matter like straw, peat, pine straw, etc. to help balance ph. I dump my old container potting soil in when I refresh them and that adds perlite, vermiculite, shredded spag moss, etc. But in reality it all depends on what you have to work with as long as you shoot for a variety of components. The more the merrier! emyers - Will the compost disappear enough that if I'm planting an annual and/or vegetable bed that I'll have problems with the settling over say the Summer Very possible depending on the components in the compost and the weather. Fine texture compost as you describe is all ready well along in the decomposition process and in the heat of your zone 8 it will process rapidly. And just to be clear, it isn't "settling" it is evaporation down to the microscopic level. Compost isn't soil (dirt). I know it may look like it but it lacks the mineral components that make dirt and sand durable. Compost is primarily water, hydrogen, oxygen, bacteria, some fatty and amino acids, nitrogen, some phos & potassium, and other micronutrients. Granted the bigger chips or chunks will be around awhile but eventually even they will go ....poof! That's why we add compost to the garden every year. The dirt is still there from year to year but the compost is all gone to the great compost heaven in the sky. ;)

Oh boy, I can add fuel to the dead horse fire. "Mosser Lee -- brings your plants to life" purchased at either Lowes or Home Depot. "long fibered SPHAGNUM MOSS" tHIS PACKAGE CONTAINS 100% ORGANIC SPHAGNUM MOSS. uNLIKE PEAT MOSS OR SPHAGNUM PEAT WHICH ARE NON RENEWABLE, DEAD PRODUSTS DUG FROM THE EARTH, mOSSER lEE sPHAGNUM IS A RENEWABLE RESOURCE HARVESTED FROM PERENNIAL LIVE PLANTS THAT GROW IN THE RICH wISCONSIN MARSHLANDS." Ooops, forgot to take off my cap lock. Now that I read it, I guess it's not even 'peat,' which by their definition is dead? We placed this moss in an aquarium with some pearlite and gave it several gallons of distilled water. Various Venus Flytraps, Butterworts, Sundew, and Pitcher Plants were placed still in their own pots with holes, but snuggled down in the moss so they think they are in a bog with the constant wetness. We put on typical aquarium grow lights over a glass top that I forget to turn off most of the time. It took a few months and one day my son pointed out some moss strands that looked kinda green. It's been up over a year now and some of the little butterworts have been overgrown and now they are lumps under thick green moss. I know this isn't soil related, but the sundews are amazing and sooo beautiful, especially with a magnifying glass. They have hundreds of leave hairs, each with a tiny sparking drops of sticky nectar. Yeah, it's a bog garden inside. A couple of times I've left out a banana and apple to rot inside a big cup, and he slaps a top on it and shoo's the fruit flies inside the terrarium so that they land on the plants. The next day the leaf has curled up over them. It spoils the looks of it for a little while, but ya know, they gotta eat. The fruit then goes outside to the compost pile.