Brady, I was looking at some soil today made by Dr. Earth that may fit the bill for what you are looking for. Maybe this mix could be top dressed on your plants or you could make a compost tea and use it as fertilizer periodically on your plants. Notice this soil "guarantees" that Mycorrhizae are present and that its Infused with eight select strains of ecto & endo mycorrhizae. Here is the link and the ingredients. http://organicgreenroots.com/Dr-Earth-BAGTAINER.html �100% Organic & Natural Hand Crafted Blend. �Infused with seven champion strains of beneficial soil microbes. �ProMoisture Hydrate� protects the Pro-biotics with an infusion of organic aloe vera. �Infused with eight select strains of ecto & endo mycorrhizae. �MycoApply Certified: Guarantees Mycorrhizae is in the soil. �Can be used as a compost tea. �Aloe Vera and Yucca extracts. �Provides abundant nutrients and ideal drainage. �Ideal mix to use at time of transplanting. �Grow plants right in the bag. �Patented bag design reflects heat away from roots. �An abundance of Bat Guano & earth worm castings. �Natural growth regulators. �Bio-active and Bio-available. �Won't burn seedlings.

The last one we have has a daphne in it - we got that daphne 23 years ago when we got married - all of the sources I looked at said that daphnes were very short lived - Ha! (tricked by paying attention to generic sources AGAIN!) The daphne has gotten big, and is going strong. This winter the barrel finally collapsed on one side, the plant sank over sideways a bit, but is still going strong months later - I think it must have rooted into the ground a long time ago. It is sort of hidden behind a Duchesse de Brabant, and so I just avert my eyes when I go by it, although I do look at the foliage to make sure it is still doing OK. Sometimes I just like to wait and see what happens - I am not a neat & tidy gardener at all. That's why I like old roses! Jackie

EEEK! *sorry, but when someone mentions raspberry canes, I tend to jump out of the way...those guys are SCARY!* I grow HoneyQueens and Black Raspberry (not blackberries: our zone is too cold), and I gotta tell you: these guys could escape from Alcatraz, never mind my attempts to control them. I've fought to keep them out of the rest of my garden, and it's going to be a fight to the death (mine or theirs...probably mine). They have tunnelled under 40 feet of driveway to pop up on the flowerbed on the other end; they have gone down into a concrete barrier set up by the town (something to do with the sewer system) and travelled along it until they could come up in the house across the street. THAT one blew me away! I'm the only one in this area with HoneyQueens (small town), so they're obviously mine. Not that I'm not happy to share, but I'm starting to wonder what the town's policy is on small nuclear weopons. Then again, they'd probably just yawn and keep growing. So, short answer: based on my experience, I DON'T think Strawbs and Rasps are a good combination. The Straws need to be de-runnered and tended (easy to do with the barrel); add the Rasps to the mix, and I can just imagine the battles. But there IS a way. I finally made a sort of peace with my own raspberry patches, thanks to a lovely elderly gentleman who lives a few streets down. He's been tending his patch for about 20 years, and they're orderly, well-behaved, and very fruitful. He taught me about pruning and training (in terms of raspberries, that is), and it's amazing how much neater and more controlled the plants are. The method uses a combination of posts and wire or nylon string, and the plants stay in a neat row that takes up little room but gives a nice harvest. This is the 2nd year I've tried it (first fruiting for some) and I can already see it's a great technique. Try a Google search for Raspberry training, or head to your local library and take out PRUNING AND TRAINING, by Christopher Brickell and David Joyce. They have a few books out; the one I bought is ISBN 1553630173. On page 232 there are diagrams and instructions on how to do the type of training I was taught. This was the book he recommended I get (it's really an amazing resource), and I'm glad I did. I'll use it for years. Hope this helps! Cheers, - Merri

Following up on an old post, but ... I bought a 20' section of 8" PVC hollowcore (it's lighter) and had it cut into 3 sections of 8,8 and 4 feet. I used a hole saw and cut either 1 1/2 or 2" holes (cant' remember which) all around after creating a template and skewing the holes on each layer. The 8" is much better than the 4 or 6 inch per the web reports people have posted - better root development and internal area for the roots. The 8' posts were buried 2+' down and filled with the 1-1-1 mix from the container gardening forum. I have drip tubing leading to the top of each off a splitter and a fertilizer injector. A timer waters the plants twice per day. Until my timer broke last week, the plants were beautiful and the berries were starting to turn red. Hopefully the plants will survive, but the berries are likely goners. In a square foot of space I have 80 or so berries. Each tower basically replicates one of my 14 x 4 conventional strawberry beds. Andrew