There's certainly a lot to be said about potting mixes, but I'm of the opinion that people who are just starting can do the simple thing. Get a container, get a bag of potting mix, and start growing! There's a lot to learn just in that first year of doing this, and that will help with subsequent years of gardening, including doing more intermediate or advanced steps.

You already have mentioned Promix so it looks like you'll be leaving the custom soil mixes for another time, which is fine. You don't want to be overwhelmed too much and lose interest,

The mix you choose should be one that wicks well, since that is the functional basis of your current raised bed. You can check Earthbox's list of soils to see which ones are recommended for the Earthbox, which is a smaller version of what you are doing.

And there's no reason you can't use your bed that you made, plus get other regular containers for more plants. You could even use it as a compare and contrast for your learning experience.

Thank you, I have no problem trying a custom soil mix for the bed. I'm hoping someone can guide me which one to fill it with.

Pro-Mix is not easy to come by it seems and might be a little pricey (~$50/3.8 compressed bale). My wife would appreciate me stretching the dollars more considering what I've already spent on lumber/pond liner/drains..etc.

I like the idea of trying a couple of other containers also to do some comparisons.

Would the 5:1:1 be a good way to start out in the large bed then try some other ones in some containers?

I've decided on the 3:2:1 or the 3:2:2 mix. After reading more about it it seemed that any peat based potting mix would work OK. I have a friend who works at a nursery so got a deal on the mix they carry. Even though its called potting soil, I was assured its a soil-less mix. But now I'm second guessing myself again.

There were two I was looking at, both from Gardner and Bloome:

http://kellogggarden.com/products/gborganics/soils/

I need 12 cuft, so in effort to save money chose the less expensive one which had this list of ingredients:

INGREDIENTS: Recycled forest products, rice hulls, perlite, peat moss, composted chicken manure, bark fines, hydrolyzed feather meal, dehydrated chicken manure, worm castings, bat guano, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, oyster shell & dolomite limes (as pH adjusters)

They had another from the same company that was their premium mix that was going to be about 1.5x as much money with these ingrediants:

INGREDIENTS: Peat moss, recycled forest products, coir, pumice, rice hulls, composted chicken manure, bark fines, hydrolyzed feather meal, dried poultry manure, bat guano, kelp meal, worm castings, alfalfa meal, dolomite & oyster shell limes (as pH adjusters)

I'd prefer to no thave to spend as much as I still need perlite and fine barks. Should I be OK with the first one? Should I be buying the more expensive premium mix? Or should I just go return it all and do either the Sta-Green or MG that Raybo recommends? Appreciate any thoughts