If you are planning to add more organic matter, you should certainly make sure whatever you are adding is neutral pH or even slightly acidic to help your pH problem. But since you have a lot of organic matter already, I would concentrate on fixing the pH problem as a top priority. Just yesterday I used some soluble aluminum sulfate on some acid loving plants. It said you can dissolve it in water to use for container plants as well. Since we are having drought I did that for some shrubs. 1 Tbsp per gallon. You might want to find a small bag of this and use it for watering to see if it helps your plant growth. You can also use cheap distilled vinegar, diluted in a bucket. Only takes 1/4 cup per bucket to bring the pH down. It's probably the most temporary but since you're in the growing season, fast results are important. Sulfur is a good idea too, but it works more slowly since it is not soluble AND has to be metabolized into acid before it does any good. Sulfur is a good thing to dig into the entire bed before planting, or in the fall after your garden is done so it can cook during the winter and hopefully adjust the pH a bit. If anyone here has comments on the above, please chime in.

Vicky, Boy, we are much alike. Funny you should ask about sleeping schedule! I wrote my post right before going to bed a couple of nights ago. Went to bed -- then got up 2.5 hours later! I did get some more sleep later yesterday, and did some more catching up last night, so I think I'm back on schedule. I had a bout of insomnia for most of this year that was fairly resolved when we went on vacation. Anymore, I don't even consider one bad night of sleep per week as insomnia, compared to those long bouts. I've really been taken with alternative containers, especially since I can get them free while trash picking or keeping up with our local Freecycle Network. (People ask for or offer items that would otherwise simply be trashed, but still have some life in them. To find your area's site check out this link -- http://www.freecycle.org ) Granted, some times I do pay for the containers, but, if you know where to go (we just hit our local Goodwill Stores for the first time last week, looking for containers and found two -- a beatiful ceramic one for our small bay leaf and a cheapo plastic wagon that will only last a year or two), you can get the 5-6 gallon containers, for free or for $.50-$4 each. Below is the link to one page of one of my websites that gives a long list of unusual containers, and where you can find those 5-6 gallon containers, although I forgot to mention that my Dad gets his by buying kits to make wine, and gives many of them to me, afterwards. (I may not have kids, but I still enjoy playing and thinking young. LOL) Of course, once you get into containers, soil can get expensive. I've been buying much of my soil in the fall, when the leftover potting soil is on sale. I also supplement it with last year's dead annuals and the stuff that just blows into the yard -- leaves, buttonwood fuzz, and soil that leaches out of the bottom of containers, each time I water. (Last one is only doable if you have concrete for a yard, so you can tell the soil from the ground. LOL) My compost is left in five gallon containers with a multitude of holes on the bottom and lower sides, so the pill bugs can find it and enjoy making it into true compost during the winter. Add to that, I buy sandbox sand, which is more sterilized then builder's sand, a big bag of peat moss, and a couple of bags of perilite, to stretch out the bought potting soil more and mix it in with used soil and new compost. "Don't plant more then you can do," is my biggest problem! Eight years later, and I still can't figure out how much I can do. LOL Fortunately, I must be one of the world's worse seed sower, since only about a quarter of the seeds I start actually sprout AND grow to maturity. LOL (Yes, I use seed starte soil and containers, so it's not a problem with Damp Off.) This year, I'm even having trouble growing lettuce from seed! Last year, it grew quickly and easily. Well, good thing I read some good advice given to an advice columnist, when she brought home a whole pick-up truck full of annuals, and then realized how much time would be required to plant them all. She just sat in the midst of them, feeling overwhelmed, when her next door neighbor found her. The neighbor picked up a single container, handed it to her, and simply said, "plant one at a time!" Duh, now! LOL I guess that is part of the secret, realizing that we'll never get any of it done, unless we just set our minds to dealing with just one at a time! But, you are right. I do feel badly that hubby became disabled, but I'm sure glad I get to see more of him then I used to. I generally don't have to worry about dinner. He's a great cook and does most of it with great enjoyment and great results (as demonstrated by our great girths now, too. LOL) One thing I have learned in the last 8 years, that only other people in our situation truly understand -- the house will not fall down, if all the housework cannot be completed. LOL Sounds like something else we have in common -- a reduced sense of what absolutely has to be done for daily chores. ;) I sure hope your daughter can visit occasionally, so the two of you can sit in the garden and simply enjoy what you have so far! That's part of why I love gardening -- the amount of time hubby and I sit back there in the summer through September and just watch the tomatos fruit, the birds enjoying the bath and seeds, and the variety of herbs and flowers, as we just take it all in silently together. Lynn Here is a link that might be useful: Young Buds in the Garden

I have never used F&B, but I don't think that matters. This is a problem normal painters have using dark colors since the paints became all acrylics. The problem is usually the location of windows and the location of the wall being painted. I mean...is that a ceiling? This is the reason people will say that they used the same product and it looked perfect. Each room is different because of the way the light from the windows hit the surface being painted. If you want to fix this problem, then spray it!

berniek - I'm interested in your 3 vs. 5 yr comment. Is this in part based on region or just generally based on recouping closing costs etc? I'm not bernie, but in the past it was sort of a rule of thumb that you needed to stay in a house about 5 years in order to make enough to cover closing costs, commissions, etc., and not necessarily make a profit. Unfortunately with the recent run up in prices in some areas people think that they should walk away with tens of thousands of dollars after only being in their homes for a couple of years. In fact that was the reasoning that many lenders gave to push the sale of 100%, ARMs and interest only loans. They were telling buyers that in a couple of years they would be able to refinance to a fixed rate because they would have so much equity because of rising prices. With prices NOT going up at such a rapid (and unsustainable pace) many are finding their mortgages have adjusted beyond their ability to pay.