Thanks again. You certainly have been a great help! The pot size for tomatoes is 14" diameter and 12" depth (approx 5 gallon) and the pot size for pepper is 10" diameter and 10 inches depth (approx 4 gallon). Does that give you an idea as to how much fertlizer may be required? While I was aware that the stem, leaves and roots should not come in direct contact with the fertilizer, however, I was also a bit concerned about the distance of the plant from the fertilizer. If I apply the fertilizer towards the edges of the 14" and 10" pots, wouldn't it delay the actual usage of the nutrients by the plant until the roots reach there? Especially when the manure compost acts slowly. Btw, someone on this forum told me to use compost tea for fertlization. Can that diluted compost be watered in a similar fashion as the watering is done, or that too has to be on the pot edges? As I understand, when watered with compost tea, there is no need for separate watering at least for that day. Sorry Ohiofem for asking too many questions. I hope you don't mind that :) Regards Saood

If drainage is a problem, you can use sand if you create mounds for the plants using a great deal of sand. A little sand can actually make things worse from research I've seen, but if you use something like a third sand by volume, mixed with a third peat and a third soil and create the mounds with this it should work fine. If you make such a mix without building mounds you may create bath tubs that fill with water and drown roots. You can also grow them in pots mixing 50/50- sand to peat and put them half way into existing soil- or make a mix with ground pine bark that is aged for the purpose (this is harder to find but more often used in blueberry production). If you set up a drip system or water them consistently, blueberries grow very well this way, if you put them in big enough pots. 5 gallon pots would support mature plants pretty well. Is your soil clay? Do you know the texture of your soil? This is something that is not at all obvious and people often are confused about the texture of their soil. This is also where your county cooperative extension can provide better advice than you can get on-line- although there are simple tests using dishwater detergent to get a general reading on your soils composition. Drainage is easier, because you can figure out how long it takes to drain after heavy rains or dig a hole and fill it with water several times. Not sure of the exact procedure but it is an easy search for details.

The reason you can't trust the volume of nursery pots, Jim, is that those black nursery containers are all "nominal" sizes. That means the volume of the pots is vaguely related to the stated gallon size. A "5 galllon" nursery can is 10.5 in. diameter and 12 in. tall. My online calculator says that is only 3.75 gallons if you pot 2 inches from the top of the pot. That isn't large enough for any rose past the first year or so if it puts on vigorous growth. The foot stomping is an old landscaper practice. It's just a cheap way of determining settlement without taking the time to water a plant in. I wouldn't do it. Water your plant in to settle the soil. I've seen people planting roses into dry potting soil. I wouldn't do it. Many potting soils have peat moss which sheds water once dry. Those of you in climates with steady rain year round may not have this problem, but in the desert West, once peat dries out, it takes a concerted effort to dampen it. I open the bag of soil, stick the hose in, fill it up and mix. Then I pot with dripping wet potting soil and also water it in. It's mud pies for grownups. It assures that the soil comes to the optimal height in the pot (about 2 inches down) and fills major air pockets. I unpot roses all the time and have never found an air pocket. I don't drop pots on purpose. Our summers are too hot to grow a lot of roses in pots well. We can't keep the roots cool enough through June and July. I overpot extensively. A 3 x 3 rose goes in an ornamental pot that is 22-24 inches high. I use various decorative pots from the big box store and always buy the biggest size. Why? They bring to rose up to height and look more in scale with a landscape. It's funny how a pot looks big in a store and miniature in the garden. Also, with those big pots I'm approaching the 15 gallon actual size I find any healthy rose needs. I do a seat of the pants volume-of-cone calculation to guesstimate the volume of the pot, taking into consideration the potting soil is probably 3 inches from the top of the container. Here's a nice online volumetric calculator. http://www.online-calculators.co.uk/volumetric/conevolume.php

Sheri, I wouldn't till in the pine needles. They are great on the surface of the soil, but they do not break down quickly in the soil so they will tie up your nitrogen for a long, long time. Till in the rabbit pellets. They are terrific. About the old tomato plants.....in general, it is best to avoid tilling them into the soil. Why? Because any bacterial, viral or systemic diseases they may have had can live in/on the old plants and infect the soil. That can cause major disease problems. However, research has shown that if you compost the plants in a hot pile (a hot pile is one that heats up enough to kill the pathogens in the compost ingredients) and then add them to the soil, the tomato plants grow exceptionally well in soil with the composted tomato plants. So, I always remove my garden debris in the fall, compost it and then add it back to the soil. I don't till it directly in though. If you have already tilled in the plants before you read this, don't panic. As long as you mulch the plants really well, you probably won't have a problem. Anything that may have been present in the plants will reside in the soil, but it generally would infect the plants (if at all) only through soil splash, and not through the roots. So, a heavy layer of mulch will reduce the chance of soil splash. And, how long have you had your plants from Keith? Did they have any sign of damping off or sickliness when they arrived? Have you been keeping them too damp, 'cause that will do it, you know. How big are they? I would have thought he would send plants large enough to be past the damping off stage? (sigh) If you happen to have any chamomile tea, you could mist the plants and soil with it to see if it helps. I think it is more of a preventive measure, though, than a cure. I hope you have a lovely day in the garden. I was out in my garden at 6:45 a.m. and it was 47 degrees, but this should have been our last really cold night, if you believe the 10-day forecast. If you have any more questions, post them and I'll check back every 2 or 3 hours during the day. (Whenever I come in for a short break.) Dawn