Hmmm, I unfortunately don't fit into the "more money than time" group. My mistake was not researching before jumping in head first, as I would have learned that there are other alternatives to good garden soil besides commercial bags. Live and learn. I'm looking to learn as much as I can at this point...before doing something else unnecessary. This site has been a treasuretrove of info. Thanks to everyone that is so willing to give advice! : ) Digdirt- Yes, it was MG, and I did mix a little of my own soil in, but not very much. Thanks for the heads up on that! (I didn't read the instructions, obviously.) I planted a few things today and removed some of the MG soil, mixing in more of my original soil. To my delight, I found worms!! There were no worms when I initially dug out that area. I am happy about this, as I had read that good soil has worms, though am somewhat apprehensive about being overly joyful, as I am sure there are some nasty worms out there that I don't want. We have had a ton of rain since I initially dug that area, which may have made an impact on their presence. I'm going to research the presence of worms in garden soil tonight so that I will be able to keep an eye out for any unwanted visitors in the garden.

Good Luck selling at work, people usually love to buy that way as they know you! How nice of you to take things to women's shelters!! I'm sure they will be thrilled!! Jan

Comparing colors or looking for color character details is pretty much a pointless exercise online because your monitor/device can only show you the sRGB color space which is a relatively small color space, limited number of colors. In addition, each device will render that limited number of colors differently. However, if you're good with color notations, you can mentally visualize the color and fill in the blanks. So, the color space might be limited, but your color know-how is not. Communication is yet another use of color notations. Colorimetry, color math, spectral data, spectral reflectance curves are all important terms and if we all understood how it worked, we could 'talk color' with a great deal of accuracy and specifics; the devices we used would be moot. To be honest, colorimetry/color math is not that hard once someone shows you how it all works. The website easyrgb.com is a great, free resource to look up spectral data for major brand's paint colors. Another name for spectral data is a color's fingerprint or DNA. And once you have that raw data for a color, it's amazing how it can be applied to choosing colors for the built environment - not just paint. I don't pull paint chips until I'm ready to decide on what samples need to be purchased. I don't purchase samples until everyone is ready to make color decisions. Whenever I consult online, I carefully read all emails and pull up the notations for the colors that they call out as not working for them and why. Those become benchmarks. Then - using hue/value/chroma notations - and the benchmarks from the 'failed' colors, I locate the right paint colors. Without getting too complicated, a color's spectral reflectance curve is where color notation comes from. The bundles of wavelengths of light in any interior room has a spectral power distribution. If you know how to align the two, spectral reflectance curves of paint colors and spectral power distribution of the inherent light, you can predict what's going to happen: color shifts, what's going to work, what's not, etc.

Wow. I don't think that dr. Greenthumb is a real doctor, just sayin... also I wouldn't even call that pruning. He just chopped off some dead twigs and didn't do that right either. BUT having said that he has a pretty tree. Supporting my previous argument that it doesn't take a genius to have and grow a beautiful japanese maple. They tend to be beautiful trees. Part of his problem is he obviously loves that thing and doesn't want to part with any of it. Someone who knows better would make some hard choices and remove some foliage and expose the branching and some of the trunk. That way it isnt just a mound of attractive foliage, it will start to look like an elegant little tree. Japanese maples are small, relatively expensive, and can develop slowly. That's why some people are reluctant to really work on them. They don't want to cut off growth they waited a long time for or paid a lot of money for. Sometimes good pruning takes nerve.