Just an update near the end of the season... My row of june-bearers (Quinalt, I think) only had 5 big-box crowns survive. I may have been able to save a few more, but this bed was part of our lawn in March, so I got behind on keeping up with the weeds in a 30" x 25' row for five measly plants. (They have since taken off with a little more attention and the daughters have almost filled in the entire area behind the espalier row, but just a few blooms and no berries that I've found.) As for the everbearers: the Loran and Tristan did very well in my raised beds as a border on the short sides of each bed and, despite a few small berries from dry spells, produced a few handfuls of berries a day in peak season. That is, if I could keep the birds and ground squirrels from sampling the ripe berries (The chickens were quick to scout the discarded berries behind the garden). The plants in-ground in our "lovely" clay soil didn't take off nearly as fast, but did end up producing a bit later. I ended up replacing all of the crowns in-ground with Loran and Tristan plants, and although the slugs snuck up on me last month after a week of torrential rains, we've had a handful of berries every day or so for the last few weeks. I should note that Tristan and Loran varieties are nearly runnerless and were well-behaved even in the raised beds. That may make renewal of the everbearing bed a little more challenging! I'll have to take a pic of the comparison between the everbearing row and the (5) June-bearing plants. I'm sure that letting the everbearers produce gave them a slower start, but the difference is comical! I have to say, I love the dark pink flowers on Tristan, but the berries are slender and pointed...I got much plumper and slightly tastier berries from Loran. Tristan also seemed to bear on longer stems and berries would often rot from touching the soil before ripening--I think they would be ideal for a hanging container, though. I do have some Captan for the fruit trees, but never did spray on a regular schedule this spring. They got some neem oil and then a couple spot applications of pesticide/fungicide when the japanese beetles started munching. The strawberries maybe got some overspray, but no direct application aside from a little Grass-B-Gon (Fusilade) on the most stubborn crabgrass. We also built a garden shed in the backyard in early summer and I'm still building decks and finishing the landscaping now that the garden has slowed down and the weather has cooled...I had a busy summer!

I planted out - 4 o'clocks - lost to frost :gaillardia, CA poppies, amaranth - lost some to frost, sweet peas - doing great, also cypress vine doing great. BTW-re CA poppies - one container I dug up small HOS and planted them. The other container, I cut the container, and slid the whole thing out and planted it intact. The latter is doing MUCH better. My poppies still look invisible, I have to get real close to see them. However, they are definitely alive, so I will leave them and see what happens. Interesting, I gave some to my friend, (from the same container), she planted them about 2 days later than I did, and hers are doing much better. I've sowed some more poppies, and will let them get larger before I plant out. I've also sowed more 4 o'clocks, more cypress (for friends) more gaillarda (for friends). Actually I just keep sowing things because I've got the seeds, and the containers are already prepared, and I am sure I will find some soul to take them off my hands. I'm using a different potting soil, I got tired of buying the stuff, and the cheap stuff I was buying dries out REALLY fast, so now I'm trying my own compost to see how that works. also sowed some morning glory. would love some hyacinth bean seed if anybody has some laying around that they don't know what to do with! I went to Rutgers plant sale yesterday in the cold windy driving rain just for a hyacinth plant, when they produced it for $5.50 I decided I didn't want to spend that much for ONE plant, and passed it up. Heck, I'm used to getting my plants for free! I've also thought about ordering some Lady in Red Salvia seeds, but don't feel like waiting, so will leave that for next year. If I see a Salvia plant in my nursery travels, I'll pick it up. oh, and sowed more amaranth. still have 11 containers germinating. So far have had very good germination over-all. ellen

Lucy, if clay was SOO awful, there would be no plants, either forbs, grasses or trees and shrubs, growing at all in over half the country. Where clay IS a problem is when you want to plant vegetables or make flower beds, and plant things that are not native to the area - then the heaviness, stickiness, and immediate hardness when drying out of clay IS a problem. The native soil here in western SC is red clay, and it has historically grown wonderful forests. It's not so easy to grow vegetables or flowers, as a home gardener, but farmers have been growing crops in the clay soil for several hundred years. Most of the trees I have planted have done fine; the ones with problems are mostly those which like better drainage (which clay is NOT good for), or those which I wasn't able to water at all this past summer, in a major drought/heat situation, since I thought my well was going dry. It turned out to be a burned out pump, now replaced, and since I had mulched pretty well, everything in that situation seems to be pulling through, if not growing as well as might be. Lou, I can't think of anything to add to the potting mix that will help once the tree is potted out, other than to ensure there is a good, healthy root system, so you need a degree of aeration, and a degree of drainage, that in-the-ground conditions neither need nor will allow. Mulching is probably the best thing you can do, that I can think of, once the trees are planted. I have red, sticky-when wet clay. If it dries out, it is then red, hard-as-concrete clay! I can tell you that planting in it in the fall/early winter seems to be successful, especially with supplemental watering, but that a good mulch seems to be quite successful, even without watering. I have planted a few smallish trees simply by using a long, narrow shovel to make a slit and placing the tree roots in the hole as spread as I could manage, then pulling the shovel out and stomping the slit shut. (A stainless steel shovel blade helps, as the sticky clay sticks to it less.) The trees were bare-root, freshly dug from where they had sprouted and I didn't want them, oaks and tulip trees, with a dogwood or two (the sweetgums and Virginia pines get composted). Most of them have so far (4-6 years) survived. If they don't, I will find more where I don't want them, mostly in flower beds, and can dig them out to move or toss. It sounds like you want to plant larger trees, and a bigger root system, which I can understand, as you have a better idea of what the tree will look like as it grows, and it will be big enough that animals will probably not kill it by grazing. If the soil where you want to plant is clay, then you need to plan such that the ground is at the correct stage of dryness - if too wet, you get solid clay lumps, that can dry into solid clay balls which can last for several years, and which will not fill in nicely, with no air spaces, around the root ball. If too dry, you need a pick-axe, and a very strong back, to dig a hole deeper than 3"! I have done it, and have also had help doing it - it is NOT easy! I will say that digging a hole for a one-gal. tree is easier than digging one for a 3-gal., and that is MUCH easier than digging one for a 15-gal. tree. The last I won't do again - but then I won't get the chance to buy 15-gal. Nelly Stevens hollies at $7.50 @ again, either! Anyway, good luck - it sounds as though you are having fun!

I wouldn't root them in pots at all. The best way to root your cuttings is by intermittent mist. Your chance of rooting success if planting cuttings is greatly diminished if you just stick your cuttings in a pot. If you don't have an intermittent mist system, you can build yourself a very simple propagation system. Here is a picture of mine. The bottom frame is made of 1x4s and has a firm screen on the underneath to allow for drainage. A good growing medium is 3 parts perlite, 1 part peat moss. Take your cuttings and dip them in rooting hormone (any full service garden center will have them). Make sure you follow the instruction on the bottle. The concentration of the rooting hormone will depend on if you're doing softwood or hardwood cuttings. Gently tamp down your cuttings and water well to remove any air pockets. The "cover" is a 10 gallon aquarium which is painted white. The white paint will reflect most of the sun's heat, while the stripes will allow just the right amount of sun. After watering your cuttings, place the cover over it. That's it! Moisture will form on the inside of the aquarium which tells you that you don't have to water. It may take 4-6 weeks in order for your cuttings to develop roots. Then carefully remove your RC's (rooted cuttings) and plant them in a bed with well drained soil. The problem with planting them in pots is that you will need to water them much more frequently than you would if you plant them in beds. Raised beds are best, especially if you live in an area with clay soil.