Welcome back to the wonderful world of gardening! :) (I'm in a happy mood because all of my crocus are blooming!) Without going into too much detail, rotating is used mainly for two reasons: to help prevent the build-up of disease and to help avoid depletion of the soil of certain substances. Any basic gardening (vegetable) book will usually go into detail. But essentailly it boils down to moving plants so that you don't grow the same types of plant in a spot year after year. I started listing what shouldn't go where, but really it is easier if you look in a book. Or online. But corn next to lettuce isn't a problem, whereas peppers where your tomatoes were last year might be. Cheers!

Hi tnkrer: --- NO SOLDER OR GLUE IS USED The cans have drainage hole punched in the bottom of the first can. both the second and third cans have the top and bottoms removed. I use a furnace workers crimping tool to decrease the diameter of the lower rim so that it fits into the can under it. the cans have an edge seam on each end of the cans. when the cans are pressed together they snap into place and do not come apart. the 3 cans amount to about 2 and 2/3 gallons. This should suffice. As long as I keep the plant to a moderate size and keep it well watered it should do well. Watering in the morning allows the plants surface to dry out so mold doesn't set in. This is my first year of this and I am doing this with tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, squash, and watermelons. This will boost the plant's foliage above the soils splash distance and will control things like fusarium wilt from setting in. I will be able to garden with out sprays and poisons. Only the peppers and eggplants will have bottoms on there towers. The others will be bottomless so the roots can pass through into the main soil bed. The system will be improved and will be done to the specs called for from this experiment. Over view of the solderless assembly dimple caused by crimpers that allow the cans to snap together 4 of 5 figs visible on my hardy chicago fig tree Fig tree in 5 gallon bucket left to right nagami kumquat, meiwa kumquat tree grown from seed 300+ holes 1/10 inch to aerate the root base. Just run your hand lightly around the pot. This depresses the wall a small amount the replace stale air and hold down molds.

Barbara, I will try to read or at least skim over that book (have difficulty concentrating for too long now) and next time I'm at the hardware store will get a respirator then, oh with glasses, goggles and that, it is not going to be easy. They are a little more helpful and knowledgeable generally than big box stores. I stuffed a bandanna into the masks, know from reading about other things small particulate especially liquid still can get through, but I'm old and if one thing doesn't get me it's going to be another, none pretty. I feel I'm ok for now, feel sorry for people who do that for a living. I know for fact the young guy who I FINALLY got to come in years ago and spray for cockroaches and fleas got some pneumonia-like affliction, and we both agreed it was probably from his work with chemicals. He used no protection other than pants and long shirt IIRC and did it all day, every day, inside and out, much of the year. I've always hated any sprays in my house for anything, one reason I like to stay independent because you have no choice in almost all community living situations. They spray on a regular basis; it's mandatory, and I'm not real confident they have but minimal concern for the occupants or people who do it, just so things "look" nice. Sometimes there is no other way. But it seems they spray routinely as a preventive. In spite of taking so many precautions and doing my homework as best I could w/new equipment and things I've never attempted before, I ran into several little problems. The spray itself once you get it going is easy enough, but anything can go wrong at any time. It's just faith that the dial actually delivers the correct dilution. I'll only mention a couple of things but there were more, that is nasty stuff to work with and hard to clean. I need some longer rubber gloves as found one unused pair left of surgical gloves, and by the time I was done, my hands felt slimy, could be from sweat, but I think some got in, washed several times with soap and water. The other thing was maybe stupid on my part but the way they tell you to clean the dial container. I could work at the faucet with that because there's bare ground, but you have to unscrew it while the spray part is still on the hose, rinse out as well as you can, on the other side of the two-way diverter I have there, and it takes several rinsings to get it out. NEVER unscrew the dial part from the hose connection until you've got it as clean as you can, why later. Then you screw it back on and clear out the spray part and uptake tube, says two short bursts (and even rinsed those other parts under running water, don't think instructions said. I did five bursts and maybe shouldn't have. But either way, when you finally think you are done, turn off the water, start to unscrew at the hose connection, the pressure left in the hose squirts water. And I noticed in spite of my care, there was still slight evidence of milky liquid in the container, much diluted but still there. Being alone, few people or pets ever come into my yard. I let the cat out for the night, he's back, hope he didn't walk through that area, it can take awhile to dry and for things to develop. So it's a good thing I quit when I did and not attempt anything in the front. Maybe from now on I'll just do those several specific plants I did and probably not as often as necessary because I procrastinate anyway. No way could I have suited up and done that if it had been hotter, so that's a future consideration. I don't know how other people deal with this stuff. It was quite the learning experience. If somebody locally could convince me that organics really work and show evidence of clean roses like I see so much here (this was mostly to save my cherry trees and a few other congregating plants that aren't blooming), it won't seem like as much trouble because spraying is trouble, too. Kelp I don't worry about any of it, practiced with that in my pump sprayer. Well, since I've done another one of my diatribes, I was thinking about writing a blog in our local paper about my experience with iminicloprid. The Bayer product for spraying that has evidently flown off the shelves. Here we are with no honeybees, and we want to keep our pretty blooms and kill bumblebees and other pollinators? At least I thought of them and took off the blooms or targeted things that aren't blooming now. Madness. But I think I'll hold off on that because I don't feel comfortable writing on one of those things, few read them anyway. My neighbor across the street says he has no JB's.

Mr Gary, you are a good gardener, and probably a great neighbor as well. That is a gorgeous picture of a comfortable immaculate property. I like the jalousied windows and the chance to sit and view the peaceful gardens. What on earth did it look like before you discovered hosta? They are the jewelry of your garden. ............ Now, where do you keep the Emerald Stain? :)