Hi, Christine! I'm glad you recognized the utility in the concept most of us so enjoy sharing. First - I don't think you're in over your head at all. You recognize a common problem that occurs with water-retentive soils and are setting about trying to fix it. There are a couple of thinks you can do. One, of course, is to amend the MG soil with lots of pine bark and some perlite. I can tell you that perlite is going to me more valuable than pine bark unless you make pine bark the primary fraction of the soil. The reason is, neither pine bark or perlite have a significant impact on the flow-through rate (drainage) of the soil or the ht of the perched water table (PWT) unless and until, combined, they become the most significant fraction of the soil. Perlite though, is not internally porous like pine bark, so it works better at reducing water retention. So, if you're going to go all the way and add a LOT of pine bark and some perlite, you'll be reducing water retention via the route of increased aeration. If you only intend to add 'some' pine bark and perlite, skip the pine bark and go with the perlite because that route doesn't reduce water-retention via increased aeration, it reduces water retention because the perlite, which doesn't hold water internally, will be 'taking up space' that would normally be occupied by water. Obviously, it's to every one's (yours and your plants')advantage to go the route of reduced water retention due to increased aeration, but I'll leave you to your own decision. ;o) If the gaps between the slats are covered by insect screen, you should be fine. Some fine particles will filter through, but that's actually to your advantage. If you stick with the MG soil, I might even suggest that you make some nice even loops of screen that hang down below the slats in a few places. I say this because it will help you a LOT with any PWT woes you might encounter. Water will always 'look' for the deepest part of the container, If you have a couple of loops hanging below the slats, the water from the upper part of the soil will move into the loop. Illustration: Lets say the MG soil supports 4" of perched water (about right). If you engineer a loop or two that hangs 2" below the bottom of the slats, you have that 2" of soil plus the thickness of the slats, so lets say you have an extra, thin line of soil in that loop that is 2 + 3/4" deep, or 2-3/4" deep. That will LOWER the PWT in the soil above the slats that would normally have been 2" deep to 1-1/4" deep. Something MUCH easier to deal with. Now, you're 'outwitting' the soil by using the soil itself as a wick. Do you follow me here? I'm only asking because you said you were new. ;-) I can help you to do the same thing with a flange and a tailpiece, too. I was just helping a guy ovr on the organic forum - you might find reading the thread helpful. See below, and let me know what else I can help with. ;o) Al Here is a link that might be useful: Click me and I'll take you right to what he was talking about.

Not enough sun, too much water, probably poor drainage. Nasturtium absolutely HATES being transplanted - however, if you've got new growth, that's good. It will recover, but most or all of the old growth will probably die. All these herbs prefer poor soil, so the fertiliser isn't helping, either. And all are probably suffering from Transplant Shock. After transplanting, leave your plants to recover for at least a couple of weeks before harvesting from them. How would you like to have a part amputated after your transplant surgery, huh? Since the basil and mint are doing well, it would seem to be predominantly an excess-water problem - too much, too soon after transplanting. Both these can do with plenty of water. But the basil will be wanting a lot more sun than it's getting now. Before watering, do the Finger Test. Poke your finger into the soil. If the tip of your finger feels damp, don't water. If dry, water. Do not allow the soil to dry out between waterings, and if the soil is waterlogged, lift the pots up onto feet to assist with drainage and add some dry potting mix to help absorb the excess moisture. Sage and rosemary cannot tolerate constantly wet feet.

Larry, my favorite part of gardening is the eating, so perhaps we shall trade those tasks, hmmm? Just kidding - actually, I am not sure which is my favorite part, but I am certain it is not soil prep. I do like the planning, the day-dreaming, the planting and the harvesting. The only thing missing from my like-list is the weeding and watering and prepping. Lisa, the purple is onion as mulberryknob (Dorothy?) says - I'm sorry, I'm not good with forum REAL names but that just popped into my head. I have several bits where the onions seemed to shrivel and die last year before doing anything, so were not harvested. This winter they have popped back out, as little bunches of three or four sprigs where I had planted only one. Am letting them do their thing to see what happens. They should set seed, but I don't know yet if that seed will self-sow and I might get onions next year. Onions confuse me very much for some reason. Bulbs, sets, plants, seeds. Ugh. Just give me onions already! And Mulberry - the green stuff in the lower right is rosemary and it's weathered just fine. I have some I had in huge pots with cannas and hibiscus that I dragged into the garage in the fall, am hoping it will bounce back as well. There are a few plugs of garlic there, too. Dawn, it is very tedious (but strangely satisfying!) and I knew once I ignored it I was consigning myself to this task before I could do anything with it. I neglected to mulch anything except the paths last year, too, I was a busy/lazy gardener for sure. This year I will do better. Have plans to lay a path of bricks around the exterior of my plot, to create a "kill zone" for the bermuda. I am trying to keep from applying herbicides to the garden, but might do some judicious bermuda-cide in the two foot perimeter if needs must. We also had to cut down a wild sprawl just to the left of the photo that used to have blackberries, elephant garlic and some kind of onion or chives all over, as it was overrun with tall grasses, scrub trees and honeysuckle. We weed-eated it to the ground (except the elephant garlic, I found the leaves still green so we could work around it. Am hoping the blackberries will come back and I can start them on the right foot, and train them a bit, otherwise/in addition I plan to put in some new fruit trees/shrubs to create a more perma-scape than the usual veggie plot. Our peach tree is in sorry shape and DH cut it back severely so I don't know if it will do anything this year.

Do they grow very slowly? I planted a small one in the spring and it's not much bigger now than it was when I planted but it still looks OK. It is very small, so today I cut the bottom out of a milk jug and put down over the plant (yes, I through the lid away). I put a small cage around it then packed chopped leaves around the jug with a few around the plant as well. Dorothy, I need some asparagus info. This is my first winter to have an asparagus bed since moving here. In southern Oklahoma I didn't do much to it, so I need instruction. It is still green but has fallen over. Do you cut yours back then mulch heavily or do you leave the ferns there. It seems like they would help to add winter protection even if you just cut them and laid them back on the bed and mulched heavily. I have plenty of leaves to cover them but haven't done it yet. It looks like we are going to 31 tonight then much lower tomorrow night so I need to do something Monday morning. Thanks.