hi Slashy with old established citrus, I would agree that digging around would not be good. I have about 100 citrus trees and all I ever do (once they are established) is add mulch or compost every year. This does so many good things for the soil including helping lighten it up a bit so that water can work in a bit better. I simply add a thick layer on top the soil, about a hands width will do. Put it all around the tree, reaching out about a 1/2 meter past the reach of the limbs. Sprinkle a bit of water over it to let the nutrients wash down into the soil. In time the mulch will work its own way into the soil (amazing how that happens). Just water enough that some water does make it into the soil. Be careful not to over water as citrus does not do well with wet roots. If the trees are green, how are they getting water now? Keep it up. RE the fruit on the lemon, just start a good mulch and modest water. I believe you will see flowers soon enough. Lemon can flower 2 or 3 times a year, it may surprise you yet.

I'm sorry about your Otto. I loved your tales of his exploits...reminded me of one of the episodes of All Creatures Great and Small with the cat who showed up at any and all functions where people gathered - a true social butterfly who just wouldn't stay at home. In our rural area, the biggest danger to cats are the coyotes. After losing 4 cats in a row, my late DH went out and adopted an entire litter - 4 female kittens. His theory was we might end up with one or two lasting a while. Well, here I am 14 years later with all 4, and a bunch of more scaredy cats you'd never find. They're terrified of everything and always have been. My 5th cat is a free spirit much like your Otto. I adopted him from a co-worker who told tales of this cat sleeping out on the warm pavement of the road despite cars driving over the top of him (tires straddling him, luckily!) We thought a quieter setting might help him survive and so it has - he's just turned 9. He is aggravating as all get out sometimes, but his antics are never boring. I guess what I'm saying is give me the Bon Vivant any day over one afraid of its own shadow. Otto used up all his lives in a fast and furious fashion, but he sounded like he surely had a passion for life. I know how you must miss him. I second the suggestion of telling "the kiddies" to get out and get their own patch of earth to design and plant. I don't believe gardening by committee can be successful; I'd have no trouble telling them where to get off, LOL. I hope the new garden turns out to be something you love.

NickJoseph I definitely am finding that this is a slow late spring, and that rose growth is several weeks behind where it normally would be at this point. As long as your roses have some new growth on them they're fine and they'll catch up to the point you almost wouldn't notice the difference by mid-summer. With the bitter cold, even winter protection like you describe didn't stop the canes from needing to be trimmed almost to the ground, but as long as there's growth they'll rebound. As for when to decide a rose isn't going to come back, in Milwaukee it's waaaay too soon to put a death knell on roses. I'm a full zone warmer than you and I am still finding daily more roses that are JUST starting to sprout from the bases that looked totally dead. Even if all you see is bare woody cane, watch for new growth to sprout up around the base. Just watch that it's not the rootstock sprouting from under the grafted knob, if they're grafted roses. I don't give up on roses in my zone until around the 4th of July - seriously, I have some chronically late risers in my yard that don't put out new growth till other roses are almost ready to bloom. If they're not taking up valuable space in the yard, sit on your shovel for a while and concentrate on something else in the yard for at least a while. Of all the things we cultivate in our yards, patience is the most necessary and among the hardest to grow (smile). Cynthia

Looking on Texas A&M, it says it is "Physiological Leaf Roll", caused by drought or other environmental stress. I will have to really watch my watering practices and calculate how much water I am really giving them. Maybe I thought I was doing a good job and really wasn't. -the seedlings were at about 65ish degrees. -I forgot to mention the small fan that was blowing on them... -the peat pots were small, 2-3 inches. The roots were not coming out of the bottoms. They were so tiny! I will not use these again. They dry out to quickly. I had to water them a lot to keep them evenly watered. I will use clean plastic pots next time. -I just realized I did a silly thing. I thought I had bought a bag of Fox Farm's soil less mix, but I just looked at the bag, and it is their Ocean Forest POTTING soil. It has sphagnum moss, perlite/vermiculite (there's a difference?), humus, and a little sand, plus the ridiculous proprietary things (guano, earthworm castings, blurb-blurb-blurb) that I paid too much for. pH of 6.5. -the planter boxes are massive. Made of 4x4s four high, rebar pinning them to the earth, lined with food safe plastic, weed mat underneath (which was stupid in hindsight, what weed in their right mind is getting through 2 1/2 feet of soil?) They are 4ft by 6 ft, and one is 4 ft by 12 ft. They are probably going to be there until I'm 86 years old. My husband does things very thoroughly. :) Our yard's soil is mostly rock and granite. I'm fairly certain there is a concrete and landscape rock cemetery back there; I'm constantly hitting something. -The Pioneer mix was delivered in a big truck. It grows grass wonderfully. - The seeds I got from Jung sprouted, but never really took off. They lost their first set of leaves, got 4-5 branches with nice leaves, but they were just not as robust as I've seen them. I was afraid to set them out too early, so I think I remember setting them out the 2nd week of May sometime to harden. I let them harden till the last week of May, letting them stay out for a few hours and then setting them inside at night. I was getting married the first week in June, so they had to be out one way or another by then. The store bought plants I planted when we got back, around the 3rd week in June. Too late? - The rooting hormone I used was a liquid mix that you dilute. Now that I think about it, I don't think it was a hormone per say, "Root Stimulator" was what it was called. I used it on my transplanted annual beds, just a quick water, or with my new dormant strawberry plants, soaked in a mixture and planted. I think it was just a 4-10-3 fertilizer to give a little boost. Does it work? I honestly couldn't say yay or nay. Maybe I was so stressed out with the upcoming wedding and planning that I didn't pay enough attention to the little things. I never saw any wilting, but that doesn't mean that the seedlings weren't stressed at some point and I didn't notice. This year I will be like a mama hawk! (I feel like I'm in a Sherlock Holmes chapter with all these questions! This is awesome!)