On the edge of my deck, I had a "plant wall" installed in lieu of a railing. I bought railings on CraigÂs list from a woman who changed her mind after she had these iron railings made, and I got them for a good price. What I now have is a regular railing, with a second railing parallel to it. There is a foot of space between them. My friend will try to post photos. (I tried for a couple of hours to post them and it didnÂt work.) I will try to describe what IÂve done, and what I plan to do.

IÂve already started to line the cavity between the railings with landscape fabric. IÂve installed a drain on the bottom. I got 32 large bags of perlite. I was going to fill the cavity with perlite. I would open small holes all over the landscape fabric and insert plant plugs, (very small starter plants).

My question is can I do this with perlite only, should I add other ingredients? I will be installing a drip irrigation tube in the cavity. It will on a timer, so drying out should not be an issue. I read on this site that people sift perlite to get rid of the dust. Is that a good idea?

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