I would never trust a home test. Having said that, I do use them. What a hypocrite, huh. You should always get a test done by the local extension office. I get one about every three years and use the home test just to check each year. I don't usually have to adjust much, since I grow cover crops and use lots and lost of compost. Don't ever buy a cheap one.

May I suggest that you start a garden journal? Can't be beat for getting a handle on YOUR soil in YOUR yard and in YOUR micro-climate. BTW -- Congrats on your new home and garden. The following link is to a really useful publication. It provides more info than you'll ever need about root development of various veg's. Best of all, it has pictures and charts. Re: your planter depth of 6" being enough ... most plants will adapt to whatever conditions they face. Water, soil, sunlight, etc. ... most of us can't fill the optimum needs of our plants for these ... but somehow or other manage to get tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, etc. :) Here is a link that might be useful: Root Development of Vegetable Crops

It was a good try though, Daisy, and Ingrid... :¬) Sam. If you're finding a particular forum member's line of enquiries or personality tiresome, may I suggest you simply don't bother reading and answering them? After all, life's too short ...unless of course you're a slightly obsessed stalker/ troller - I hope that's not the case here. As has already been pointed out, this forum is intended to be for the (generally pretty amiable) discussion of roses and rose-growing; not for the persistent pursuit of personal vendettas/ interrogations. Or, as we say in Australia, 'Give it a rest, Mate...!' Comtesse :¬)

Misty, pretty much the only things where you can cover up the crown would be things that root all along the stems, and as far as I know, all the things you're talking about won't do that, so they'd all need to be dug and replanted higher up. Covering the crown of most plants will kill them. If they were tomatoes you could just add soil and let them root along the stem--but that's not what you have! I have, with a few things, been able to stick a shovel under them on a few sides and manage to "elevate" them, and then "pack" soil into the void I've created under them, but I doubt that that would work with big plants. It may sound like a big project, but if you do parts of it at a time it might not seem like so much work! MIGHT not! Having said all that, with my hardy hibiscus--'Disco Belle'--when I pulled all the nasty rock mulch out from the crowns of the plants I DID fill in the "depressed" area with soil, so, technically, you could say that I buried the "crown" (a couple inches) deeper, but with hibiscus there's not really a crown like with most other plants--it's more like "buds" like peonies. When I've done it, a couple times, it was over winter or in VERY early spring, before there was any growth visible at all, so, basically, what I was doing was just burying the "root" a little deeper where the new buds would form for the next year's growth, so when they started growing in spring the new "shoots" just grew up thru the soil to form the above-ground stems when they got to the surface. No guarantees! But it worked for me! If you try it do it when they're TOTALLY dormant. With hibiscus the depth of the "buds/eyes" doesn't seem to make any difference as to whether or not they'll bloom! I repeat! No guarantees! Good luck with your project! Maybe some day we'll get to come back at a swap to see "all your new improvements!" Skybird