Tigerdawn, that sounds a bit heavy for containers to me. I began using Al's 5:1:1 mix last year, modified a bit to hold more moisture in our Oklahoma heat, and it worked great for my tomatos!

5 parts pine bark fines
1/2 part sphagnum peat
1/2 part Turface (I use untreated cheap kitty litter, which is the same thing - calcined clay)
1/2 part perlite
1/2 part chicken manure
handful of lime (I used Espoma dolomitic lime)
handful of Tomato Tone (Garden Tone for other things)

I don't know where you are, but I bought my pine bark fines, which can also be sold as "soil conditioner", at American Plant Products. I just called and said I couldn't find it in the retail garden centers, and they were more than happy to sell me a couple of 3 cf bags for around $8 total. Pretty cheap.

The Turface can also be purchased from them, but I used the kitty litter. You can also buy from Walmart or auto parts store, something called "oil absorbant", which is actually the calcined clay, for about $5 for a huge bag.

I found this recipe and other info on the Container Gardening forum - lots of info there on mixes.

Susan

That looks pretty similar to my houseplant soil mix. I'll go check out the Container Forum to learn about what all the unfamiliar ingredients do. Thanks!