Peat has its own set of associated problems so adding much of it to your garden could only complicate it more. I agree that the Soil, Compost & Mulch forum would be the best place to get info on your question. But personally I think that yes, you are over-thinking it just a bit. ;) Composting, just the process of it alone, results in a very beneficial, clean, and healthy soil amendment given that only organic materials go into it. While I wouldn't use "compost/loam that is very sandy and chunky with large particles of wood and rock" other bulk mixes from local landscapers may be great (not to mention cheaper). If nothing else inexpensive bagged composted manures and an inexpensive compressed bale of peat mixed together would give you the same products that you'd be paying much more for with the Sweet Peet" stuff. But do check out the Soil forum for even more suggestions. It is their focus. Dave

[another hijack] Jane and all, regarding salts and R/O, a couple things: a lot of those salts we remove from the water are a primary source of nutrition for the plant, calcium and magnesium especially. Quite coincidentally those are what make hard water...hard. Availability of those nutrients and how !!!soluble!!! they are depends on the pH of the soil and water, and to a much lesser extent, the temperature. For the salts we deal with, hard water=pH is alkaline/basic/greater than 7.0=salts are less soluble and more likely to build up. Temps, to a much lesser extent: high temps=more energy available to break bonds between ions in a salt. Reducing salts is one side effect of watering with lukewarm water. Far from the primary reason, but its a part of it. Try dissolving table salt in a cup of hot water, then try dissolving salt in ice cold water. You'll find that you can dissolve more salt in the hot water than the cold. Back to the point: We make a fuss about salts because often times theres simply too much of the insolubles (a result of alkalinity + quanitity in water) and it builds up and overloads the plant: salt damage. When watering only with R/O, what happens is that R/O water has absolutely no nutrient value in the slightest (being pure and all). Watering only with this nutrient-free R/O water without ever supplementing with fertilizer will eventually cause your plants to develop nutrient deficiencies. Since you supplement with rain water, jane, which does contain some salts-read, nutrients-I suspect you are buffered from the ill effects. A quick and very helpful note: the majority of salt damage you see can be traced back to keeping the plant too dry. As the water disappears from the soil, the salts in the soil begin to concentrate more and more in what little water is left. Its like 1 TBS salt : 1 gallon of water :: 1TBS salt : 1 cup of water...which is gonna be more salty tasting? The plant takes up this concentrated salt water as the soil dries, and salt damage is the result. If anyone has tried to grow Dracaena warneckii and had lots of issues with black margins, this is most likely the problem you had. As I write this, it actually makes me wonder if a lot of the salt damage issues people have with phrags aren't because they aren't keeping up with their high water demands. I've had a few phrags and while they never did well for me, I never had salt issues and I know I was watering with bad water. Hope this clarifies some stuff! It really was only a paragraph initially-the middle one, but quickly became this long post as i began to think/type aloud:) [/hijack]

yeah It's been cold on my end too. I'm waiting for a good warming to start off the seeds. I get my sweetpeas from a company that sells heirloom seeds. Their plants are so fragrant and so bright. I was wondering about experimenting on sweet peas. Since they do well only in cool weather and start looking old by summer, I was wondering what if I plant them again in late august so that by sept and early oct. I would have flowes again? I just wonder. it may work.What do you think?

Thanks @Nevermore44 - 6a I've been thinking about the fact that the "sweet peet mulch" had manure, which I can't seem to get easily around here. Bit of a drive for some, and not sure how to get it home without my car smelling. Maybe I'll give some yards a try for it....do you think the manure that might be in it can damage plants if it touches their crown or branches? Thanks for the tip on leaves, I actually spent all morning out there raking up some giant piles on my drive way to run over with my mower tomorrow.Going to spread those out with coffee grounds I've been collecting every morning. Probably should keep the shredded leaves away from crowns too now that I think of it.