Thanks for the reply. I was careful when I planted the tree to fill the hole with water before setting the tree as per the instructions. When I "drilled down" with the hose there was two spots that seemed "hollow" once I got through the surface. I moved the hose with the water running down in there to get the soil to move around. The weird thing is that when I tamped down the soil to make sure it was packed well with no air pockets, the water seemed to pool at the surface. After a few minutes it would no longer pool when I stepped on it. Is it possible that there is something constricting water drainage a foot or two below the surface? If so, what might it be? I will sit tight for a couple weeks and may check for air pockets again and see what happens. Thanks again for your help. Tammy

I maybe trash for this but I don't wait. Us being a hobbyist want beauty and to taste your first fruit as soon as possible. That's me but if you are a commercial grower and want your tree grow very fast, grow it vegetatively for 5 years straight. What is more satisfying to grow your citrus and on the first year you saw it flowers and bloomed and grew the fruit to maturity. Your happiness counts the most. Having said that I am now removing most of the fruits in all of my plants so they will grow vegetatively this time. This is my 4rth year growing citrus. I satisfied my curiousity tasting their fruits for 3 years now. Now I know how they taste like (superb) but I want quality fruit and not quantity. So I pinch the smaller fruits and just leave the biggest of the bunch.

Mike, the disk. works good with 2 cement blocks after you plow. As far as just trying to disc virgin soil with grass it wont do it. You have to plow to loosen the soil. My best tool is my spring tooth drag harrow. I can run that through a few times and then till each path for planting seed with my 2 Earthways. without having to plow every year.( because my soil has been worked up every year.) But my first year was a Bugger. I have 6 growing areas this season for around 29,000 sq. ft. of tilled soil. I do not use beds but add a lot of organic matter and manures. I plant my greens tight spaced rows of 3, my beans tight rows of 2. The rest I plant convential with 18-30 inch spacing ,depending on the crop. The equipment that I have does a good job for 1-3 acres ,any more and I would go with a 8n ford or similar with a 3point. My chipper/shredder is great for making compost and also grinds soybeans and corn for chicken feed fast I can grind a 50 lb. bag of any grain or seed fast and have perfect texture, also grinds cornstalks and any other dead plant residue even chicken-manure /straw mix. Mark

Sexual abuse, wife beating, inequality of women were always with us and no doubt always will be. Things were different back then, but "better" is open to debate. Nostalgic reminiscing is fun, though. It can depend a bit on your age - where in the old millenium you spent your childhood and formative years. After WWII when the vets came home, married, built or bought a house, started families just about anyone who wanted a job had one. (Not like today!) The future looked promising. Budgeting, saving, paying one's bills and meeting obligations was what people did even if it was difficult... and it often was. We kids played with toys that didn't do all the playing for us; spent a great deal of time outdoors both in the summer and winter. We used our imaginations and learned to amuse ourselves; learned to transport ourselves by opening a book. Hard to believe now that getting the old piece of furniture black & white TV was life changing! Kids today are a lot more cosmopolitan and worldly wise than we ever were, but many are going to be struggling to find a decent job - or a continuous string of decent jobs - and the money to move out of the folk's basement. Even with all the electronic toys, they're not going to have it easy by any stretch of the imagination. Although I had a very pleasant childhood and life, in general, was good, I have no desire to go back.