Hello, a complete newbie here and would like to introduce myself. I've been reading everywhere and am looking forward to trying my first projects very soon. I've been patiently waiting for the temps to warm up and think I'll soon be in the clear.

Right now I'm gathering my supplies and am confused about a recipe that I found. I downloaded an "ebook" online. In it, the author has numerous recipes and one of them uses a premixed product of portland cement and sand. This is called Sand/Topping mix. I picked up a bag today but just want to make sure I'm on the right track. It is my understanding that this already contains equal amounts of cement and sand. According to the recipe, I just need to add 1 part meat moss and 1 part perlite or vermiculite.

Does anyone have any experience with the premixed product and these proportions? Since I'm brand new I'm certainly going to have to do my share of experimenting anyway, but would love to know what results others have had.

Thanks in advance for any advice!