Hi Tina! I have 2 very close friends in Round Rock! They are the Godparents of my daughter, we visit them often. I love that town, what a great place to live! We have actually been looking for work out there, we'd love to make a move! Anywho, since I'm already here, I take a crack at your questions. 1) You've won half the battle if you have already locally sourced the ingredients for the gritty. The plants you mentioned will be quite happy in it, go for it! 2) Sure! Please understand that the 1:1:1 ratio is not set in stone. You can adjust the proportions of turface and granite to suit your needs. For example: A 1.25(T):1(B):.75(G) with retain more moisture than a .75(T):1(B):1.25(G)....got it? If you want your full sun plantings to retain more moisture, just adjust your mix...it's all up to you! 2a) I would be doing you a disservice if I told you anything on this. There are so many factor involved, you really will have to figure this out on your own. However, these are very porous, well aerated mixes...you will need to water them frequently, I'll just say that. 3) For the most part, most folks around here only suppliment there container fertilizer regime with CRF's, if they use them at all. It is highly suggested that you use a soluble fertilizer with these mixes, such as Miracle Gro 24-8-16 w/ micros or Foliage Pro 9-3-6. 4) The gritty will work for anything! However, for short term plantings many folks opt for the 5-1-1, due to it's lower cost and ease of construction. The 5-1-1 is also great for very vigorus growers that will need to be repotted often. The 5-1-1 can also be modified to suit your needs, for example, replacing the peat with turface will yield a more durable product, or doubling the peat fraction will work well in a raised bed, stuff like that. Those are all very brief answers, tip of the iceberg. Keep reading, you will find that many of your questions have been asked and answered, you just gotta find them. Post back with anything that your stumped on. Happy Friday Y'all! PJ

I'll lift them when they have that second set of leaves or later, and usually pot them individually in my 4 x 5" deep pots. By late summer or early Fall, they are ready to go back into the ground (either mine or a friends), or they can easily stay in the pots another year. The only thing I do differently with them in the pots is fertilize occasionally with a diluted fertilizer solution; I mulch with compost instead of fertilizing any in the ground (waiting to mulch until I'm sure no more seedlings are going to appear, my self sown seedlings are still showing up here).

As for ventilation, there is none getting in from the sides or bottom. The lid, which is cracked along the sides so it is impossible to seal also has five 3/4 inch holes drilled in it as well as a 2x3 inch hole from the cracks. So, effectively no lid at all. Is this enough? As for carbon, I have damp paper towels that were used to either dry my hands or clean up coffee spills. Any paper towels that were used with some type of cleaner are discarded. Every pot's worth of of coffee grounds includes a paper coffee filter. I also tore up several bills and an entire checkbook to throw in there. Since there is no such thing as too much bedding, I'll tear up more paper tonight and toss it in and see if I have any "clean" cardboard to toss in. Also keep in mind that I did not order a 1000 worms over the Internet. I purchased a Styrofoam bowl, the size of a small KFC gravy, from a local bait shop for $4.00. It couldn't have contained more than 30 worms at best. The goal is to see if I can keep them alive and maybe grow them into a decent sized community before getting a "real" setup. Like I said, my primary goal is to not kill them. Then again, I guess that's the primary goal in raising anything. SteamyB, Heather's site is down. A Google search turned up that she is in Dallas. A bit far to drive so I'll try to see if I can locate an email address or something. And I lied. I have been going through older posts, but I have not been able to find anyone who has successfully raised or slaughtered worms in the Texas heat. I've found many posts from people who have compost piles full of worms but nothing that would help me understand why mine is not one of them. Yes, I run a hot pile from time to time, but for the most part, it's relatively cool. My finished pile hasn't cooked in six months. It has grubs and a slew of other bugs, I've even found a couple of snakes, but no worms at all. I can only guess that the only worms in my area are earthworms that do better in red clay soil than in a nice, soft compost pile. There are tons in my garden where I've tilled in compost and even more where buried horse manure, but none in the actual compost pile that is, well, made of compost with horse manure worked into it. Thanx again everyone for reading and replying.

Since there seems to be some renewed interest by those who’ve yet to try sous vide, thought I’d add a few comments/observations… For me, the most wonderful thing about sous vide is the ability to take a cheap cut of meat and make it tender and tasty – and cook it to perfect mid-rare (our preference). Whether it’s Select steaks on sale for DH and I to enjoy and feel as if we’re dining on quality steak on a weeknight, or finding some cut at the grocery which I’ve no idea what it is and SV’ing, then slicing for a fantastic lunch meat or a quick dinner sandwich… it’s amazing what the SV can do with cheap cuts… Second most wonderful thing for me: Bulk SV’ing (thanks to Sleevendog). I SV and freeze several pork chops to thaw, reheat in the SV, sear and serve; chicken to make salads and sandwiches. And DH’s favorite weeknight meal: Several cheap steaks in bags of 2, mass SV’d to desired doneness. Drop in ice bath, label, then freeze. I only need to remove a couple from the freezer, pop in the SV at one degree under the temp initially cooked, it thaws and reheats in about 45 minutes, and meanwhile I whip up a quick sauce, some veggies, and finish by searing off which also helps to heat the steaks. Makes for an easy weeknight meal. Below is a Select New York Strip, little to no marbling (uber-cheap cut), with a (too thick) peppercorn sauce. It was quite good! And my embarrassing confession: I can prepare fish and seafood… but for some reason I can’t consistently make it come out perfectly cooked. Sometimes my shrimp or scallops are a wee bit on the too done side. Same with salmon (as mentioned above). Sure, should be easy for many, but for me? Eh. So SV to the rescue. I made this scallop dish last summer and while the scallops were in the SV for their 30 minutes I fried up baby kale, baked my maple glazed bacon, sliced the tomatoes and avocados, and made a sauce for BLT Scallops. Seared off the scallops for 15 seconds, sliced in half, assembled, and they were perfection. To those who scoff and say they can sear a scallop in moments, I say great for you, but I can’t and know beyond any doubt they won’t be under cooked or overcooked. With SV I can : ) fillmoe, and anyone else interested, have fun and enjoy!