We don't have HD, only Lowes. There never seems to be help in the garden center, but everywhere else in the store there are plenty of people. Of course, when they ask me if I need help, I always think it is a new employee. One day one of the old employees told me that I was in there more than he was, and he worked there. LOL

The Lowes store in Grove started out very poorly but soon became a good store. I just wrote to their company this week to tell them what a poor website they had. None of the links work and you can't find anything you search for. I have learned that if you want to search for anything on their website, it is best to do a Google search and also put the word Lowes in the search. It finds it every time, but their search engine can't find it. Lowes thanked me and said they would work on it. Bet their webmaster loves me, not. LOL

We must have a really good Lowe's in Ardmore and a really good Home Depot in Gainesville because I have the opposite problem....the employees seem to be tripping over one another in their efforts to help you, and believe me, I am not complaining! It might be because we're in a more rural area with a smaller population so they aren't as busy. I don't find the service in the stores in the D-FW metro area to be quite as good as the service here in the more rural stores.

I don't think our stores sell broken bags of soil amendments as cheaply as they used to, but I don't buy a lot of soil amendments either, preferring to make as much as we can here at our house via composting. I did buy a lot the first few years we lived here though.

I have learned to basically ignore anything their garden center employees try to tell me about any given plant because 99% of them know next to nothing about plants and can't tell annuals from perennials and don't understand cold hardiness zones either. It does bother me that gardening newbies are led astray by store employees who don't know much about plants.

Dawn

Susan,

I feel really bad now that I didn't mention similar experience with HD (not discounting soils) during our discussion of blueberries on the other thread. In fact, I had typed a rant in my reply to you but deleted it because I didn't want to bash HD -- not every store is managed the same. Although, we've shopped several locations in the metro and HD consistently comes up lacking in my opinion. Years back we mainly shopped HD over Lowe's due to pricing but now I find very little difference in most items and have found much better customer service at Lowe's.

This summer we had a new Lowe's open within 2 miles from my house. There were several very nice teenage boys working the garden center who were always very helpful to load the truck if I had numerous heavy bags. This one young man always seemed to be on duty during my trips and after one particularly large purchase, I tipped him a couple of bucks for loading up the truck. Soon it became comical when he would see me walking in, he would grab a flat-bed type dolly and head to the soils and wait for me. He must not of mentioned my habit of tipping to his coworkers or I think there may have been more competition to carry out the crazy soil lady's purchases. lol

I'm sorry the big box spoiled some of your planting excitement. Just keep focusing on those luscious berries to come. I know I can't wait.

Lynn

I think it depends. We don't have a HD, just a Lowe's. Sometimes they're asking if I need help several times while I'm there, and if I say I do, they actually walk with me to where the item is I can't find. When I was in the garden center, a nice young woman actually walked around with me as I looked at all the stuff was marked down, and we had a nice little conversation. But I've gone there other times, when there's no one around, or everyone that is is busy with someone else and won't even look at me. When I ask for help, I wait and wait. Sometimes I just leave. It's not based on how I'm dressed because I wear jeans and tee shirts all the time. So I think it depends on who's on and how seriously they take their jobs. I think some work on commission, like the people in appliances.

Susan,

I do not recall all of the reasons, but I remember that multiple people told me to use Canadian sphagnum peat moss specifically for the blueberries. Look for that label, or research it and find out which types work and why. I always get mine in the bales at Lowes because up until a few weeks ago I could get the large bales (3.8??)for just under $10 at the BA Lowes. Now every local Lowes, HD, and Atwoods are all at $12-$13. Maybe the exchange rate is the culprit.

Well I do know the peat bogs are quickly declining and I was borderline feeling guilty about buying any at all, but my needs are very minimal (and that kind of thinking is why we are losing peat ground at a fast rate, duh).

What is a good substitute for peat BTW? I would love to compost some good oak leaves because they are reportedly excellent acid compost or so I've heard. I think they call it oak leaf mold. But I remember in my Begonia growing days that a lot of California growers used it in their potting mixes and it was like adding a porsche to the Ford lot.

Scott, I used a good peat-based potting mix and added a bit of the "probably wrong" kind of cheap peat (Michigan I think). have never used it but I liked the consistency of it - a lot like sandy topsoil, as it appeared that it would provide good drainage.

So, I have done the deed and will await the results.

Susan