Wow, Tanya, you always get the best deals!!! must be that cute little cherub face of yours, no one can resist you!!! I think I'm gonna copy your pic from our GJ album and paste it to my face next time I go garage saleing, maybe I can catch some of those bargains like you do!!! :) Your red and blue fountain is sooo pretty and that sweet young man is a cutey-pie! Adorable GS!! Your new fountain is beautiful. Cant wait to see it in all its fab glory! You will have it going in no time, I bet! blessings-sherri

that's a good point about trees-- there are two GIANT trees right near the garage, one in front and one to the side. i don't think that stump in the back is a problem, it's quite dead and has been since we moved in. it's likely they didn't do the foundation properly. water shouldn't be a problem, i wouldn't think. i would LOVE to have it torn down and build a garage we can actually use, we just don't have the money especially since we're likely going to be selling in a few years. grrr...

Perhaps the potting mix dried out. If so, the growing media has pulled away from the pot and any water you add will immediately run out. And if that's so, submerge the pot in a bucket of water until bubbles stop rising, or for 20 minutes, whichever comes first, remove, let drain and set outdoors in a sheltered site until the plant shows you what's alive and what's not.

For growers with plants in small pots who are concerned their plants' soil might be overly water-retentive, there's a VERY simple way to rid your pots of excess water. Putting Newton's First Law of Motion to work (an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force) is as simple as moving the pot up and down over the sink after you've watered to beyond the saturation point. Make sure the soil has been fully saturated and an extra measure of water has been added after the saturation point - so you're flushing the soil when you water. Immediately, or after the pot has stopped draining on its own, hold the pot securely and move it up and down over the sink or a container. You'll immediately note that on the reversal from downward to upward, some of the water keeps moving downward and out of the drain hole. That's because water in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. You'll also note the sharper the reversal from downward movement to upward, the more water exits the put until all excess water has been expelled. The ideal state of moisture retention is a damp or moist medium - about what a wrung out sponge would be like. You can fix ALL of your excess water woes by way of that simple act. It won't fix soil compaction or lack of aeration, but it will be VERY helpful if you're using a soil that holds too much water. More about using a 'tell': Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al