Bellegallica, I have two of them, one in a nice big pot on the front circle and one in the ground in the backyard. Both are doing really well. The potted one has added several canes, is full of buds and shaped quite symmetrically. Can't wait to see the flowers. It's pretty healthy but has more BS/yellow leaves than the other polyanthas & minis I planted at the same time. Don't know if that will continue. And by "more" I don't mean it's covered with BS - a really small percentage of effected leaves, maybe 5%. I'm not good at guesstimating that. But it seems to be a fast grower, sending out longer canes, but then it's not a mini so I guess it will be bigger than the others anyway. I have it in a decorative ceramic pot about 24+" tall by 15" across so it's going to be up higher than everything else. It will be interesting. When it blooms, I'll post pics. Sherry

I've decided to transform the leaf mould bin into a compost bin sooner rather than later. Instead of emptying out all of the leaves, I've started incorporating grass clippings and kitchen/garden scraps into the bin, making sure it gets a good green/brown ratio. Over time, by turning the existing brown materials in with the new green materials, it should make good compost. The negative about this is that I won't be able to use this stuff for about two years, when I could have actually collected leaf mould in one year. The positive is that compost is more nutrient rich but can also be used the same way, as a top dressing or mulch, for water retention and weed suppression, but giving those plants a boost that leaf mould may not do. I'll work green materials in for about a year (or unless we get it so full that it absolutely can't hold any more) then setup another swimming pool composter up. On appx April 2018, the plan is to collect compost from the first bin. On appx April 2019, I'll collect compost from the 2nd bin. Then, April 2020, from the first bin, and on and on. Meanwhile, I'm slowly building up a small farm, with rabbits, cows, chickens, and eventually, ducks, possibly turkeys, etc. Rabbit poop = instant garden fertilizer + worm food, for vermicomposting, to collect worm castings for the garden, and the worms themselves could feed some fish, for a future aquaponics setup. Cow, chicken, duck, and turkey poop will be composted. As of right now, it's all about slowly moving forward, to try to obtain a balance, where everything works together.

Thanks again everyone. It was a great success. Everyone seemed to have a good time. There were lots of kids which made it feel really special for me as mine are rapidly growing up. Way too much food as most of you predicted but my mom has a big crew of grandkids over at her cottage so I sent lots over there to be eaten today. The weather held. It was a bit cool but kids still swam and there were no bugs (very surprising for this neck of the woods). Burgers were good but I do wish I had taken advice to do pulled pork in a crockpot just because some guests came and went all afternoon and I felt like they would have eaten if food was out. There were about five families here for burgers and dogs and there were lots of snacks and appies for those who left early. My stove up and died this week (it was also celebrating its 52nd bday) but I didn't really need it. One friend brought a great appetizer. I think I may start another recipe thread and post it there Sadly, it gets dark so late here, no one was awake for fireworks. We agreed to have everyone back later in the summer when the sun sets earlier for a big show. All in all a success with such great suggestions from everyone here.

Worthy, Here is what I came up with - which I believe aligns with the ISO view you posted above. The only difference is that there isn't a drain. Is the soil level dipicted correct? Based on my experience with how water moves through soil either its needs to be as outlined or as you stated gravel all the way down. Fondation contractor called me back and plans to pound a PVC pipe down to the gravel at the footing and install a drain - said its the best solution at this point. I talked to him about the concept above and he agreed to review before putting the drain in. I told him I just didn't want him to put in the drian pipel then I go lowering the gravel 6". Not clear whose responsbiliy it is to replace the window well given it forces the gravel to be at the level of the window. The pic above isn't finish grade. That is before finish grade believe it or not! A different guy had to come in and knock that down almost 2 feet then put 6-8" of native topsoil down.