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

The orientation of your planting array should be predicated primarily on that which will allow for maximum sunlight. The size of your yard and any shading structures will play a part in this. Also, do not plant in any low areas that may lay wet or soggy. Spacing for the trees should be determined by a number of factors the most obvious being the size of the tree. If you want to maintain 6-7' height in apples you want a dwarfing rootstock. You can squeeze them together nearly as tight as you wish, but trees generally do much better when given their own space because of nutrient and water competition as well as shading by adjacent trees. If you are wishing to fit a number of trees into a small planting area consider espalier planting or search "high density fruit tree planting", you might get some ideas there. Pollen sterile means exactly that; the pollen is sterile and therefore cannot pollinate other trees. You're probably referring to apple trees. As far as planting pollen sterile trees (triploids) I'd suggest planting them downwind from the direction of the prevailing wind. This isn't really a big deal so if any other factors conflict with this let those factors be dominant in determining layout.

Mine took off and spread nicely once I moved it to an area between 2 pine trees in my frontyard. They will spread better with 'some' sun, like that you'd get under tall trees. Make sure that you don't disturb them after they're planted because they send out runners and that is how they spread. I took a hand cultivator and 'roughed' up the soil a bit before transplanting them. Then used a spray bottle to water so I wouldn't disturb the new roots. They've settled in to the point that I don't have to water them with a spray bottle anymore. Btw, it has been my experience that they prefer shallow planting...don't 'bury' the main root mass too deeply but make sure all roots are covered in soil and use your fingers to tamp down the soil at the base of the plant well. Good luck.

Jessaka, I had ajuga in Texas and had it a few years here before the drought of 2003 killed it. I love ajuga and never had any problem with other ornamental plantings (or weeds!) coming up through it. My best guess on your missing ferns is that drought got them. Or maybe deer did. I cannot grow hostas here because they are deer chow. I did have a lovely mixed planting of hostas, ferns and ajuga for several years. The deer ate the hostas, the ferns and the ajuga died in the drought year of 2003 when we had less than 19" of rain for the whole year. I replaced them with four o'clocks because four o'clock's won't die and you can't kill them. At least that is true at our place. Dawn