PM2, I have a hand truck, sort of.....or at least a collapsible grocery cart :-) I use that for schlepping all manner of heavy items. The issue is getting those weighty bags of potting soil out of the back of my car, on to the cart, up a couple of risers and then through the house to the back deck where I can off load them. It's an effort but doable. I can't leave anything out front at any time.....HOA rules are very strict about that.

ps. the cart can only handle so much. The stock tanks I am using for a couple of planters were far too big to be transported that way so I had to roll them through the house. Films of that routine would be vastly entertaining to watch!! 😁

GGal - we are at the age that we try to use the hand truck for as much as possible. We buy bagged mulch every year instead of leaving a pile of it in the driveway. We do have a van, so I don’t know if that makes it easier to get the bags out of the car, lower to the ground? My husband has gotten good at rolling the bags out onto the truck without breaking them. [g] We try to keep up with lifting things, you know, use it or lose it, but, we know our limits and we’ve had enough back problems in the family to be very careful. We would also have 3 steps to get up and instead of using the hand truck, we’d just opt for carrying something together if it were going in or out of the house.

Another way to do it is to put the bag on something like a large towel and drag it. Once you get it up the stairs.

Sometimes I’ll just buy in smaller bags.

I would think that video would be pretty funny. [g] Stock tanks? Are we talking about the aluminum round ones that are used for watering cattle?

Yep, one round and one larger rectangle. The round was small enough to lift up and move quite easily.....the rectangle was another matter altogether!

I need too much potting soil to be dealing with small bags. These are 1.5 to 2 cubic feet and it is as much their bulk as their weight that is the problem. I need at least 3 to fill the rectangle and at least one more for the round. Plus all the other containers I need to fill. I have 3. I'm off tomorrow to get a few more.

I might be coming to the realization that container gardening is not going to be the easy process I thought for a brand new but tiny garden. At least initially.

I watch BBC's Gardeners' world religiously.

@lat62: maybe it’s because I’m not in the US.

I really enjoy watching Northlawn Flower Farm on Youtube. Here’s a link to her April garden tour, it is just dreamy: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qwiB7c_b6DU&pp=ygUVbm9ydGhsYXduIGZsb3dlciBmYXJt

I'm not particularly interested in the show but I tried the link. It's not available here and says so. So I think you're right mazerolm.

Thank you getgoing100_7b_nj for sharing your growing experience with us.

I have also had my share of Gardenia growing blooob over the years. “I have lost count!” :-{

The common information from reading articles during the search are based on the writers experience. I believe the location of the writer also comes into play. Experience in culturing and location often varies.

As we are aware, due to each individual environment, there are no fixed culturing methods that work for everyone.

Looking forward to seeing updates.

Mixed report so far. I had 8 of the fat buds drop over the last 5 weeks but also have 4 blooms from buds, so not a complete disaster. I water when the leaves start to go limp for fear of root rot given that I left the root ball in the peaty media and simply potted it up in 5:1:1. The buds seem to drop when it gets dehydrated but I would rather have the plant live long than have all the blooms now and a dead plant thereafter. Still plenty of smaller buds left. Keeping fingers crossed.

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I would NEVER order plants from a Chinese company. Or seeds. At best you'll get the plant you paid for but at worst you'll get something that not only isn't what you ordered but is invasive. Like on purpose invasive.

I'm not talking about reputable US or UK seed sellers who sell seed that is sourced from China (some stuff if...), I'm talking about Chinese retailers.

Sounds like you made a wise decision. I’m sure there are other worthy retailers out there. Ironically, the same company started to show up on my feed and I can see how folks might be tempted if they don’t check them out thoroughly.

Getgoing, I would not touch that site either….when I clicked on your link, my Norton security immediately labeled it as an unsecured site!

debra