"Down Under On The Bucket Farm" wrote in message
...
Hi there...
What should I use? The closest/easiest thing is
"potting mix" with peat and bark. (That is what I
am using for my bucket-bound plants.) I can go
downtown for some sheep manure if that would be
better, though. (I live in the 'burbs, so a
truckload of horse manure, etc, is out of the
question.)

Given your situation, I'd first lay out where I was going to put the bed.
Then I'd take the dirt in that area down to the plastic mat and put it in a
pile with an equal amount of sand and the compost that you're going to use.
Add equal amounts of blood meal, bone meal, and wood ash (not from a bbq,
from wood that has been burnt) to make up the rest of what you have. The
dirt from the patch will add the bacteria to the rest of the mix, you need
that for a healthy bed. Then put up your construct, but don't sink it down
below the level of the original yard, better if you leave a bit of the
original arround the edge so that it sits up. This way you've given a good
5-10 cm for water to drain from the bed. Then fill the bed with your mix.
I'd water it down about halfway through the filling, it helps with making
sure that the initial plantings have a good bed. Water the whole thing once
your done, but never, ever step in it.

Hope this helps,
Philip