Wow, thank you so much Al! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer all these questions. Ok, I won't break out the mortar and pestle. I've done some more searching for pine bark fines on the net and have located some wholesale suppliers of them in my area that say "contact us for retail locations". I will contact them and see if they can direct me to where to get the pine bark fines retail. So far, I've noticed that many of the suppliers of pine bark fines on the East coast seem to be located down in North and South Carolina. This must have something to do with geography, and the forest products industry. I'm thinking I may go with the "Gritty Mix" now instead of the regular mix, even though I'm growing annuals in these baskets, because I have a crazy dream of being able to overwinter these plants in hanging baskets in an unheated room attached to our house that has south-facing windows. I usually overwinter my geraniums in this room and they've been fine for years. So I'm going to try to overwinter the lobelia and calibrachoa. The winter temp in this room is usually about 55 degrees F. The lobelia and calibrachoa will die outside in the winter anyway in Zone 6, so what have I got to lose? Will stick with the 19-6-12 Osmocote, great. I usually use MG in an off-and-on type of regimen when I water the geraniums, but will continue to look for the Micro-nutrient powder anyway...you never know. Thank you again!

Strange Angel, wandering jew are said to need bright light to retain their variegation, but I have mine hanging on my balcony in a north-eastern exposure. It get a bit of filtered morning sun then the sun moves behind my building. The plant has been growing vigorously for three seasons now and hasn't lost any of it's variegation so I'm sure that spot will work for you as well!

I have not hung any baskets yet in my HFGH, but in a recent thread Funnylady mentioned these black plastic clips, 20 for $9.95, from ACF Greenhouses. They are designed to hold up bubble wrap as well as hanging baskets, and they apparently just clip in the wall and roof stud tracks. Black plastic bubble wrap clips She uses them to hang lots of orchids in her HFGH (she put two 10x12s together.) There's a good picture of her hanging orchids about 2/3 of the way down this thread: Two 10x12 HFGHs Joined Together I grow cacti and succulents and those hanging plants can get huge and weigh a ton (heavy sandy soil too) and I'm still debating about how much weight I should hang from my HFGH roof. I may try to build some kind of separate rack out of pipe, and attach it to my benches instead, for bigger plants. I intend to order some of the clips to play around with though, they look like they would be handy, and seem to work well for hanging baskets.

Hi there, I am looking for seeds that will survive full sun in hanging baskets. I would like: Petunias - deep colors Dwarf Morning glory picotee Verbena - any color but orange Vinca - Stardust Orchid or any color but orange Gazania - any color but orange Mina Lobata - any color but orange Gaillardia - sundance bi-color or any color but orange Nolana - any color but orange OR what have you as long as they will survive the heat! I have tons of dwarf orange marigold that I will be using hence the no orange colors ;) SEEDS ON MY TRADE LIST Spaghetti squash Zucchini - yellow Watermelon - Sugar Baby Brussel sprouts Spanish onion Super Shepherd peppers Bush pickle cukes Parsley - Moss curled Dill Fine curled cress Red Peony Poppy Wildflower mix Canna - Tall red Hibiscus - Burgundy Hardy Lavatera - Rose color Marigold small dwarf type - oranges Datura - White Datura - Lavender Datura - Tatula Rose of Sharon - White w/burg Rose of Sharon - Lavender Red Martagon Lily - small trade Datura - La Fleur lilac Dietes Vegeta - Fortnight Lily Liatris Spicata Thanks