You might look around for some soaker hose, the kind that weep, and lay it around the tree in a spiral, starting outside the drip-line and moving in, or vice versa, whichever works for you. They are easy enough to shorten if the one you can find is too long; buy a new hose end of the correct type (male or female, and for the correct hose diameter), cut the soaker hose where you want and put on the new end, with the cap from the old one. New caps may be bought also, and an end can be put on the piece cut off, so you have 2 lengths. How much hose to use depends on your soil - put the coils closer together on sandy soil, and space them wider with clay. You just connect the garden hose to the end, set the flow rate so the soaker hose is just dripping, and leave it on - overnight, all day, or just several hours, until you have watered the entire root area - it will depend on the area and soil type to know how long - dig down and see after you set it up and see what the soil looks like. You can buy a replacement tree - there's no reason not to. I was thinking of saving some money - if you can grow a tree out to a 15 gallon nursery pot, you are looking at a cost, as of now, of about $80-250 dollars, depending on the location you live in and the variety of tree. BUT, you do have to want to grow it on, and be willing and able to re-pot it as it needs, so buying one may well be the best move for you. Since this is hypothetically going to be needed to replace the sweetgum, I figured you might have a spot to plant it elsewhere on your property if it wasn't needed. But, it was a suggestion, not anything more, that you grow your own. I wholly agree about the 'gumballs'. I can't stand them, pull every seedling that sprouts in my flower beds, and wish the trees edging my yard would die, or at least, go away in the late summer when the 'gumballs' fall! I think one of the yard vacuums MIGHT collect them, but am not sure, and you would have to be quick to collect them, before they got tangled in the grass.

I think it is safe to say a good time was had by all. Thanks Marie for the wonderful GW collection of poems. If anyone missed it, I can send you a copy via snail mail if you send me your address. Thanks all for the great eats. And thanks everyone for stepping in and making the food thing happen. I was neglectful of that duty, and I am sure glad I have GW friends I can count on. As many of you know, for me it's all about the plants. The wide aray of plant materials brought is a testament to the varied tastes we have. Always an interesting and learning environment for all. And maybe most of all, thanks everyone for the clean up. Not a one orphan plant was left behind ant the end of the day for me to deal with, and the house is tidy. Al in all, a very satisfying day. And as the sun warmed at the end of the day (when everyone had left), my cactuses blossumed. Rick

Ok guys you have to help this rookie out I have never attended a function like this before...I am really hoping to make it seeing how I am due to have my baby June 15th should I be bringing a door prize or something for the chinese auction? Also I am going to have.. grape tomato plants black eyed susan splits different kinds of daylillies whatever else I have that has not been planted or found a place in my yard what I am looking for is of course sum and substance as listed above or any kind of hosta because I would like to start a hosta garden in my yard I know that I do not have much to offer but the belly has kind of made it hard to bend over :-)

slowly dissolve over time - like weeks ^^ This is where my question stems. There isn't any standing water which the plants are in. I water my plants using a garden hose not normally a source of water which the dunks can just float in and slowly dissolve. To water my plants by another mean I use a watering can. So in this case I added the dunks to the water can but as you say if they dissolve slowly I didn't feel I could use the water right away. I felt I should wait and give the dunks a chance to dissolve some but I wasn't sure how long to wait. So I added the dunk to the can, waited for it to dissolve and watered but left the dunk in some water to add more in for another watering. I didn't know what to expect for the rate it should dissolve. But the water they are in begins to kill within an hour or so. ^^ Which I think you answered here my question here.