This is my tip, I picked it up from from Leslie one day at her house, when she still lived in Orlando.
. Get your beds and especially your pots ready a few months ahead if you can, and water water water to pack the dirt down. This keeps the plants from pulling themselves down so much. Pulling down is about one of my biggest issues. I get so tired of having to redo every single plant every year. Works well for me. Pine fines are sometimes hard to get settled in.