Bark fines and....

[tam91]

Please don't hate me, but I just discovered... the place that gave me my extra garden is happy to sell me pine bark fines for thiry-something a cubic yard. Cool.

I break the rules, and use soil in my containers. They are 18-gallon rubbermaid type, not self watering.

In the past, I've used horse manure, topsoil, and peat with success. Last year (long story) I used topsoil, mushroom compost, peat, and sand. It did pack down more.

I was trying to get more horse manure, and refresh the containers, but the guy's wife got in an accident, so understandably he didn't make my delivery, and I'm not sure he's going to. It would loosen things up a bunch, as there's some half-decomposed straw etc. in there. But I may not be able to get it.

So what I'm wondering is if I could take my current mixture (soil, peat, mushroom compost, and sand) and dump it out and mix in a bunch of bark fines.

Would that help? What proportion should I use of the fines, if I do?

Thanks!