Outside garden soil mix?

[RichR]

Wondering what kind of soil mix to put into a new raised bed this spring. I'm thinking of using decomposed granite and/or expanded shale with loam. No peat. I will be planting various hardy opuntias, cylindropuntias, agaves, yuccas, and some cold hardy plants such as Echinocereus coccineus, Echinocactus texensis, and some Escobarias. Basically Chihuahuan Desert species.

Would a blend of the above ingredients (which I use for potting mix) be appropriate for an outside garden?

[CoronaCactus]

For those species, you could just throw standard gravel in there

DG would be an excellent choice. Straight up, or mixed with your native soil.

[iann]

For those species, you could just throw standard gravel in there

DG would be an excellent choice. Straight up, or mixed with your native soil.

And lots of it! You can always add a little water to help plants establish, but you want it to drain when those crazy rains come.

[Tony]

Im with Darryl, DG's the way to go.

[RichR]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Glad to hear DG is a good way to go because I have easy access to it here in Central TX and it's cheap when you get it by the truckload.