If that soil is retaining that much moisture you may need to find out the why and correct that, if possible. Is this simply because of compacted soil and will lots of organic matter actually correect it? Is it due to a high water table and is it seasonal, and does this need major drainage done to correct the problem? Is this bed on the edge of a wetland and therefore is this drainage problem not correctable?

I'd be interested in knowing why it is considered so acidic and might even have it tested. Decomposed organic matter regardless of source typically assumes a nearly neutral pH. This would include sawdust. If it remains still very acidic from its original components, then it is not sufficiently decomposed or broken down and could have some surface nitrogen depleting effects. You might try posting this on the Soils and Compost forum for some additional input.

No need to apologize, my toes are just fine! *grin!* But I took a 1/2 day seminar with someone who did museum textile conservation and am very aware of "delayed deterioration" due to detergent residue and even due to the clorine that is in tap water. BUT the treatment I give heirlooms and things that are particularly fine, like bobbin lace, old Battenberg or Hardanger is very different that what I do for things like linen napkins and banquet cloths or even crocheted edged tea cloths and tatted doilies and I wouldn't dream of washing a sampler. Linda C

It does matter if it is a 2 or 4 stroke engine. With a 2 stroke you put gasoline with 1 to 2 % oil into the engine. As the gasoline evaporates from areas like the carburetor, it leaves this oil deposited in the carburetor. This oil deposit builds up and clogs the jet and everything else. Some of the oil will evaporate if you heat the carbuerator to 150 C during the winter, but I don't keep my storage area that hot. With a 4 cycle engine you put a pure gasoline mixture into the engine. There is minimal residuals on evaporation, so there is nothing to clog the jets. There could be a problem with straight gasoline, and that would be if you have enough evaporation such that the solubility of the gasoline, alcohol and water is up set. In this case you would get a glob in the bottom of the tank, Since you do not leave your gasoline sit around in buckets, but in tightly closed cans, this is usually a small problem that is easily over come on fill up. Oxidation could create some acids in the tank. This could be a problem if you leave the engine sit over the winter period with a half inch of gas in the tank, where the ratio between the surface area and the volume of gas is low. High surface area low volume of gas. If you keep the tank filled the ratio is high, small surface area to large volume of gas. The oxidation is dependent on this surface area to volume ratio. The more surface area to volume, larger volume of oxygen that will be allowed to react with the gasoline, the lower the surface area to volume less oxygen will be in contact with the gas. The surface area also affect the rate of evaporation.