I have two Earth Boxes with tomatoes in each. I used Pro-Mix (purchased from Home Deopt) in one and Jungle Growth (From Lowes) in the other. All four tomatoe plants (2 in each Earthbox) are doing well; however, I did not add any lime to either. Since the Pro-Mix contains lime, those tomatoes are showing no signs of blossom end rot. I have one cherry tomato and one Patio Hybrid in the other box, with the Jungle Growth with no added lime. The cherry tomato is just starting to put out tomatoes, but the patio hybrid is covered with big, green tomatoes. So far I've had to throw out about 10 or 12 of the patio tomatoes due to blossom end rot. I still have about 20 tomatoes on the bush, so I'm hoping to get a few good ones before it's all over. From now on, it's Pro-Mix for my Earth Box tomatoes, or added lime to the mix. BTW, I love the Earth Box for growing tomatoes. I found some plans for building home made boxes using five-gallon buckets and an planning to grow more tomatoes in the future in these self-watering boxes.

try a commercial snapper with a kawasaki engine. heavy mowers but built to last and the drive sytem is very serviceable should something happen to it. many of the lawnboy/toros and other cheap mower have too much plastic in the drive train. they are designed to be replaced in a short time as we have become a disposable nation. that has caused us to think gee why but a $700-1000 mower when i can get 3 or 3 $200-300 mowers. surely 3 cheapies will outlast one good one and i can eat out more on what i save. buy a good one and it will last 25 or more years instead of buying 10 cheapies in that same timeframe. think about it 10 cheapies now $200/300 = $2000/3000 and in 10 years they will be $400/500. invest in a good mower and it will pay back.

Part one I have a friend whose parents were among the founding members of the botanical society here, her name is Martina and she loves all growing things. Her mother passed away in 1996 and the botanical names of many of the plants she inherited are unknown to her although she grew up with them. Her parents are Austrian and called their plants by their Austrian names, sometimes translating the Austrian to English. When I first met her 4 years ago when she was dating my friend Charles. He brought her over one late afternoon for a visit, she'd brought a staggeringly beautiful plant with her that had been on my want list for a long time. Charles had it with him, he took her to the backyard and came to the door with one of it's flowers in his hand. I couldn't believe it when I saw him standing there, and tried to take the bloom, he was holding it out. He pulled it back and asked me what it was in a kind of challenging way. I thought he knew what it was and was testing me, lol, I said "It's a Gloriosa "Rothschildiana" of course!" Welllll, it wasn't a test, Martina really wanted to know and was such a warm, adorable, lovely person that we bonded almost instantly. Down through the years we've just gotten closer and closer. I love her to pieces. I wish I'd known her mother, she sounds like a rather wonderful humanbeing. I did meet their mutual friend, Nell, who is another wonderful and unique individual. Martina's a hero for introducing us. Her plants are amazing and she is passionate about them, and about life in general. She's 73 years young and can outwork most men I know. She's tough and knowledgeable and compassionate all at the same time. I think the world of this lady. Part two About the same time I met Nell I found Gardenweb and hooked up with a member in Mobile. We hit it off instantly, we had a lot in common and each was doing things that complimented the other. She's so wonderful, I don't know how to tell you how much I think of her. She's beautiful and smart, frank and earnest, honorable and ingenious. Our first meeting was at the botanical gardens' fall sale, we had a great time because we were kind of kept busy answering the questions of the other shoppers there, we didn't get much shopping done, lol. She went back on the last day of the sale, she knew the left-over plants would be marked down. One of the plants that hadn't sold, marked at $8 a gallon, was a bunch of Clivia miniata, it was marked at $2. a gallon. Ginny already had plenty of clivias, including some nice yellows, but she was knowledgeable enough to know that she shouldn't pass up an opportunity like that so she bought a couple to give as gifts, one was for an old friend, the other was for me! I couldn't believe it, I had wanted one for sooooo long, it was such a sweet, thoughtful thing to do and I hope she knows how much she means to me. I've had this clivia ever since, it's such a nice plant, such lovely long, orchid-like foliage. The whole growth...

My store in Alexandria VA ships nationwide on Hancock and Moore, I have customers all over the country including many in Illinois. Send me an email to keepingroom@gmail.com and include the model number, the leather cover you are interested in and your zip code and I will get a quote back to you in less than 24 hours. Some notes on pricing. 1) Be sure you get a dealer that stands behind you after the sale, the lowest price is no good if they ignore your phone calls should there be an issue. 2) Home delivery services cost three times more than delivery to a commercial address (18 wheeler accessible off the back of the truck). If you have the capability to unpack it and transport the last mile to your home you can save quite a bit in that area. 3) There are significant price increase coming in January 2021. Supply chain costs have gone up considerably. 4) Century Furniture (Rock House Brands) owns Hancock and Moore. Century has already implemented collection of Sales Tax into Illinois for that brand, its only a matter of time before you will be paying sales tax on H&M into your state as they consolidate accounting systems, this is likely to happen in 2021 as well, along with all the other Rock House Brand Companies. Currently we are shipping Hancock and Moore without that sales tax added. Duane Collie