Rather than math not being in my favor, I'd say time isn't...I have a very complicated relationship w/ time.. :-/ As for the watermelons, it'd simply take forever and a half. My problem has always been startin those things indoors rather than direct sowing, which I prefer & love to do. Anyway, I cut down all but three watermelon vines, 2 Crimson Sweet & 1 Sugar Baby. I knocked down the rows that once stood around em (bases of the vines), cultivated the soil in that entire area/patch, added a bag of Miracle-Gro Garden Soil, chopped & mixed that in, laid the watermelon & pumpkin vines freely on that spot, then watered like crazy. This morning, I'll go pop open the 2nd bag on top of the base of the pumpkin mound. Think I could/should mix a little Jobe's Vegetable & Tomato Organic Fert. into there? It's 2-5-3 (I kno I need Phosphorus like a mofo at this point too), but it's granular too.

It looks like Oriental bittersweet , Celastrus orbiculatus. It's a noxious weed.

Thank you everyone! After taking it all in I'm thinkin' that firstly, I have to/will treat the PM then the best course of action (and easiest) is to dismantle part of my current garden and get this baby planted. Kate, IÂve heard that planting the pot is a good solution but ya know it will take me about the same amount and effort to dig a hole big enough (and i mean big!) to put the pot in the ground and transplanting in the spring seems kinda iffy. Soo i'm just going to plant her in her permanent home...with all the bells and whistles (compost and planting soil and all the amendments and good stuff in heavy bags that I thought I was done with for the season). IÂll prep her for the winter, unbound her undoubtedly pot bound roots, prune her in late winter and treat her PM all the while. Sooo that's the plan:) Any more thoughts are always appreciated! Thanks so much again and Take Care! Dale

Hi Dash, in 2007 and 2008, I bought 1-2 year old seedlings of a bunch of native shrubs and small trees. This included a couple Viburnum species (V. dentatum and V. lentago) and Sorbus americana. The mountain ash did not thrive, and the Viburnums are doing so-so. They have just started flowering, and have not fruited heavily yet. There was one particularly nice V. lentago seedling. It has been an exercise in trying to see what does okay on my dry, upland lot, with part shade and root competition from large trees (especially water hogs like Silver maples). Honestly, not much thrives in such conditions! Many natives prefer more sun and water. Elderberry tends to lose leaves and go dormant in dry conditions, but it survives. Gray dogwood will die back when it's super dry, but again it survives fine. Also, with natives, you might get a bit more insect munching on some plants, but I don't mind, as long as the plants aren't defoliated relentlessly (the Hazelnuts tend to get munched), and the birds are attracted to a healthy insect population. And if you think the average American doesn't understand invasives, they understand insects even less! If one is concerned about growing the most attractive specimens, then nursery cultivars would probably be the best choice.