Yes, our dirt looks more like what you'd find at the beach. So sandy it dries rapidly and we barely have any grass, although the trees are fine. Additionally, the area of the backyard we have chosen based on light exposure is low lying ground relative to neighbors property, so during the daily summer rains we get flooding back there. That's why we realized we would have to build up, by making the beds, in order to protect the plants.

Florida can be challenging to grow in sometimes! Why, before reading the forums here, in all my years of living here and following garden charts and recommendations, I had never even heard that fall is the best season for us for tomatoes! I can't believe we wasted so much effort on our former patio garden!

Soil is a combination of the mineral component (sand, clay, etc) and organic matter. Horse manure and straw aged any number of years does not become dirt it stays as organic matter. What you need in your Florida sand is organic matter, lots. What might be available? Many people, with no thought of what they have, throw out a loot of organic matter every day.

You definitely need the raised beds. Very few Florida gardeners have soil that can be planted in directly. I use a potting soil sold by Fafard, it's expensive, but makes a huge difference. I get 2 - 3X the vegetables and fruit than I did with a big box store potting mix. I wouldn't put top soil in the beds, as that seems too heavy. The compost with some potting mix and possibly perlite I think would be good. You have to be careful with peat - too much and the soil will hold water like a sponge. Where/what zone in Florida are you gardening?

I can't speak directly to gardening in Florida but with any raised bed garden just about anywhere you do need a mineral soil base. Unless they have a solid bottom, these are NOT containers and a container potting soil - even combined with compost - is not going to provide an adequate soil base. Some basic soil - like topsoil - is exactly what you want to add, whether you have some available in your own garden or purchase it.

Most landscape supply yards (and probably a few better, larger nurseries) will have bulk soil products available. And these will almost always include something called a landscape or garden planting mix (or sometimes by region, a 3- or 5-way garden mix). This is what you should be looking for.

And bulk soil products will be vastly less expensive than bagged soil products. Here, a bag of "raised bed planting mix" goes for about $8.99/2 cubic feet bag. A cubic yard of a very similar bulk product sells for around $25, more if delivered. If you do the math, that means the bagged equivalent to bulk product is right around $120!! Or almost 5 times the cost of the bulk product.

^^ What GG said. A blend of mineral soil ('topsoil') and compost is good. Sand is probably not what you want unless you get a soil that's very heavy but that's doubtful where you are.

Forget the peat, it's imported from a LONG ways away from FL, it has virtually no nutrients, and compost does the job just as well.

Shredded leaves are good. Some gardeners use grass clippings.

Sour Roses, I don't know what area of Florida you're in, but our rule of thumb is 50/50 compost and native soil right before you plant. If you put it in now, it's going to decompose and be gone by fall, unless you put in a cover crop, such as southern peas to fix nitrogen and give you something to dig into the soil in the fall. Dig your bed out at least 6 inches below the soil surface, so the roots have some place to go down. I'd build the beds up to about 12 inches above the ground if it seems like the area will flood.

Check out the Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide. It gives you specific planting dates for each area of FL; North, Central and South. If I were you, I'd stick with the Florida Gardening forum. Our gardening is different than anywhere else in the U.S., and you can sometimes get bad advice on general forums. We're a friendly bunch, and love to help people.