Justin, the soil I added on top of the peat was old potting soil, which was about 50% peat when it was new.
It's old now and mixed with added
compost but I'm hoping it still has wicking umpf left in it.
I generally leave my wicking soil in place and add rabbit poop/litter as a top dressing.
That and being used as a dump for
yard sweepings did change the original soil.
The sifting removed a lot of rock's and
wood chunks.
I just came home from work in the middle of writing this, and stopped to squeeze a handful of said soil-its very fluffy, hard to get it to stick together even though it's moist.
I wish coconut coir wasn't so expensive as compared to peat.
I did try wood pellets once, instead of peat , but that was a bust.
Now that I'm making a fair bit of charcoal, maybe I'll try
biochar as my wicking material.
If it works, it should last forever in that role.
Back to plant choices, I have grapevine that is in another barrel right now.
That barrel is really heavy but it needs to be moved and I'm not as strong (or foolish) as I once was.
I think this grape vine could take being transplanted just fine, and if it falters, well it's easily replaced from cuttings.
When I looked into companions for it, most of the ones mentioned are herbs that prefer things dry, or nitrogen fixers, which I don't really need, I already get too many grape leaves as things stand.
If I do choose the grape vine, maybe a big leafed pot green would be a good neighbor