Do you have an easy recipe of making your own mix for a gardening-beginner? Yes. I would recommend using what is known around here as 'Al's 5-1-1 mix' for annuals and perennials grown for just a year or two before being repotted. For plants that will stay in the same container/mix for more than 2 years I would recommend what is known around here as 'Al's Gritty mix'. The 5:1:1 mix is 5 parts pine bark (very small pieces), 1 part perlite and 1 part peat. The gritty mix is 1 part pine bark fines, 1 part Turface MVP and 1 part grower grit (#2 sized). For more information on this I will refer you to this thread. Don't get too hung up on specific ingredients and percentages. The principle is using ingredients that will be of a large enough size (above 1/16th inch) for as long as the plant will be in the mix. This provides superior aeration. The higher the percentage of organic matter such as peat or bark, the faster the mix breaks down and aeration suffers. The bark breaks down much slower than peat though. Anyway, read the thread and you will learn a lot. If you can't find suitable ingredients to make your own mix in time to get the season started then just get the regular MG potting mix and take until next year to learn more and locate sources for ingredients you want.

Hi javamilk, Ive been using ZeoPro for a year. I use it in my potting mix for my orchids in my greenhouse. Orchids seem to love it and I noticed there has been no fungus gnats. I planted herbs in sandy soil this past summer,10 herbs with ZeoPro and the same variety of 10 more plants without ZeoPro. I just watered all of them in and noticed that the plants with ZeoPro showed no transplant shock. Also, as the summer continued, the herbs with ZeoPro were about 3 times taller and 3 time wider than the plants without ZeoPro. I used no fertilizer. I am not a scientist, but just wanted to see if this stuff really worked. I have been buying several bags since then. Using it on my roses, hostas and my indoor plants. Also, the company says you can reduce fertilizing by 50%-75%. Just my opinion, but I really like this stuff called ZeoPro. I went on the NASA web site and they have developed a lot of consumer products that came out of their space science programs. All I know and care about is that it is all natural and it really works.

At a recent convention I attended Dr Andrew Weil said to avoid the grill that produces the black marking on food. He didnt get alot into name brand things/corporations or establishments, however, the processed sugars like HFCS is much more concentrated and hits our body systems much differently...sugar over load in a highly processed form is difficult for the body to process. Its like fat/obese people are actually starving because their really not getting the neccessary nutrients met and instead the high caloric and transfatty oils are really causing havic in the USA. Just one bag of french fries from a fast food place has more than the maximum allowance of trans fatty fat which we should be avoiding anyways.

Becca: I'm not familiar with the houseplant "Orange Star" so I googled it. Came up with a couple of possibilities. Maybe you could do the same and look at the images that come up to help in the ID of your plant. Meanwhile, if the instructions say "bright light" then full sun, and definitely southwest sun, is too much. Move it out of direct sun. Also, since it's "drooping", you may have overwatered to try to perk it up. We humans need water but we drown if we don't get air. The same goes for your plant. "Moist" soil doesn't mean soppy. You may need to let it dry out a bit. When you repotted, I'm hoping you chose containers with drainage holes that allow excess water to escape. You're a good mom to help at the preschool. I think you're trying to be too good to the plant and providing too much sun and H2O. June