Soil and elevation

The nitty gritty.

The green plastic pot was pretty tall, so I thought I'd fill the bottom with styrofoam packing peanuts. 

But it turns out someone has figured out how to make these biodegradable -- "Dissolves in water!" it says proudly on the package.

Admirable -- but not what I needed. So I used crushed cell packs instead.

 And then this stuff.

 And then landscape cloth.

 Ta-dah.