Hi Tina! I have 2 very close friends in Round Rock! They are the Godparents of my daughter, we visit them often. I love that town, what a great place to live! We have actually been looking for work out there, we'd love to make a move! Anywho, since I'm already here, I take a crack at your questions. 1) You've won half the battle if you have already locally sourced the ingredients for the gritty. The plants you mentioned will be quite happy in it, go for it! 2) Sure! Please understand that the 1:1:1 ratio is not set in stone. You can adjust the proportions of turface and granite to suit your needs. For example: A 1.25(T):1(B):.75(G) with retain more moisture than a .75(T):1(B):1.25(G)....got it? If you want your full sun plantings to retain more moisture, just adjust your mix...it's all up to you! 2a) I would be doing you a disservice if I told you anything on this. There are so many factor involved, you really will have to figure this out on your own. However, these are very porous, well aerated mixes...you will need to water them frequently, I'll just say that. 3) For the most part, most folks around here only suppliment there container fertilizer regime with CRF's, if they use them at all. It is highly suggested that you use a soluble fertilizer with these mixes, such as Miracle Gro 24-8-16 w/ micros or Foliage Pro 9-3-6. 4) The gritty will work for anything! However, for short term plantings many folks opt for the 5-1-1, due to it's lower cost and ease of construction. The 5-1-1 is also great for very vigorus growers that will need to be repotted often. The 5-1-1 can also be modified to suit your needs, for example, replacing the peat with turface will yield a more durable product, or doubling the peat fraction will work well in a raised bed, stuff like that. Those are all very brief answers, tip of the iceberg. Keep reading, you will find that many of your questions have been asked and answered, you just gotta find them. Post back with anything that your stumped on. Happy Friday Y'all! PJ

I use polyurethane (low density) cubes for lettuce. I score the top of each sheet in a grid pattern using a circular sewing pattern knife (looks like a pizza cutter). I put the foam in a flat storage tote containing an inch water that has been sitting out overnight to de-gas the chlorine. I squeeze the air out the foam to get it thoroughly wet, sprinkle the seeds on top, then cover the tote with it's white translucent lid to keep the seeds moist. Every 24 hrs I open the lid, mist the seeds, close the lid again. For lettuce,I also leave a daylight CFL lamp shining on the lid to help it germinate. After 3 days I open the lid and remove the excess standing water. By now the foam retains about 50% of it's maximum capacity, plenty for the lettuce seedling once the roots penetrate that far down (by this point all the seeds have germinated) I continue misting once a day for 4 more days. By then the roots have reached the bottom of the cube, the cotyledons are fully open, and I move the seedling to the half strength recirculating hydo solution tray, which has about 1/2" of solution continuously flowing through it. A week later and the roots are hanging an inch or more out the foam, the first real leaves have opened, and it's ready for transplanting. Different plants will require longer to sprout, and/or may prefer less moisture while germinating. Some need heat, some may need to be kept dark. Lettuce likes it cool, moist, light and airy. The fun is figuring each one out!

the damper should not have any opperation. Most of the time the plate is removed. If you suceed in closing it you will be dealing with co and co/2 gasses in your living space, that is if you are lucky enough to figure that out. Because code requires a damper or means to prevent drafts, openings in your insulation envelope glass doors are required to fullfill that need. In short they are required. No wonder that room is cold in winter. I agree with the other poster that gas log sets provide little heat but a fire look. If your town did it job correctly, and the home being only 7 years old, then the gas logs and there manufacturer should be listed along with lots of other info that went into your home. Once you know the manufacturer and model you should be able to down load the instructions manual and find the answers to your questions

Sheila - thank you! I love it, though the squirrels keep munching on it the very early growth so lose a lot of the blooms. But what time of year do you prune after blooming (eg July) or late winter? I’ve seen both recs - hence my confusion. And you don’t cut back the laterals at all? Also - does yours always make clusters? My randomly cluster flowerers, or not...