Through the wisdom of a friend I figured out what the issue with this compost is. TOO MUCH SALT! Since this is purely made from the city wide organics and we consume too much salt and others like me will only put in items that are not healthy for either our worm bins or composters, the result is too much salty foods. That is why after about a year once the salt has diluted the soil is good. It's not acidic because if it was then my Hydrangea would be blue in colour and it is pink. The worms really don't like salt and it also acts like a preserver so even though it has lots of organic pieces like twigs it wont break down that quickly until the salt leaches away. Obviously some of you will get great compost from the city but most of us will find really lousy material, and are best to make your own or sometimes buy the expensive bagged stuff(which has never given me any problems before) So I have a stunted watermelon plant as a result of this and a Zuchinni plant that is dying also. But not too bad for this year. By next year the results should improve.

karyn1, yes, this is my guess, that it is roots raising out of the soil. I'm not certain why they would do this but I'm not going to bother them. I planted ten bare root pieces so there should still be plenty of roots underneath the soil. I'm hoping to see sprouts some day from at least one of the still buried roots. :-) I have read the ground must be quite warm before Maypop sprouts so will try to be patient. I have them planted in a long above ground planter and use a cover on them. During sunny days, I prop up or pull back the cover so the soil doesn't get too hot. I'm thinking this will work something like a cold frame. My initial worry was that the roots I received had no eyes or shoots showing. Apparently this is a common way to propagate this vine. I love this site as I learn so much from all of you! Mary

zep, you got off free and clear, not I, not the first time probably won't be the last. Oh well can't please them all. LOL and yes I do have resources to back it up. Help! My computer is slow! a highly regarded MVP posts about registry cleaner use. Mark Russinovich (Author of the "Bible", Windows Internals, co-founder of Winternals and Sysinternals, and since both companies were bought by Microsoft, now a senior Microsoft employee) "I haven't and never will implement a Registry cleaner since it's of little practical use on anything other than Win2K terminal servers and developing one that's both safe and effective requires a huge amount of application-specific knowledge. Will using Registry Cleaners speed-up my system and make it more reliable? It will have no effect on system speed. There is an excellent chance it will make your system less reliable." And the extremely well know Fred Langa Are software registry cleaners of any use? Fred Langa started with a standard PC, imaged it, and ran 10 registry cleaners. He ran each three times on an image: Highest number of items that needed to be "fixed": 800 Lowest number of items found to be "fixed": 59 "Does not this suggest that what needs to be fixed is not at all certain? The other question it invites is it not possible that those generating a large number of entries are trying to sell snake oil? " And from Bill Castner MS MVP who works on many of the support forums. "Summary of Registry Cleaner Software: Do not bother with this. It it unlikely to help, it can cause harm. There are no end-user benefits from running registry cleaners. Unnecessary entries in the registry do no harm. This should not be a regular maintenance chore. It most certainly if done should not be automated. I hold to the singular distinction I made in the beginning: there are times that a fast registry editor with search is needed to fix a single issue under Expert hands. There is no justification for the regular use of automated registry cleaning tools; and as the results above show, they are of dubious merit as the "fix" for even one-off problems that need solving." Bill Castner MS-MVP, Aumha VSOP & Moderator I could certainly go on for quite some time quoting from each of the support forums, but I won't bother. As DA so wisely stated "The problem is here at the forum we have members of various levels of inexperience who at times overly rely on a member's suggestion or from readings elsewhere." That is precisely why at help forums you MUST be extremely cautious what is suggested, and every support forum I work on goes by the statement that Bill Castner made above. If someone knowingly choses to use such a program they take that risk upon them selves which is fine if they are knowingly entering into it and know the risks involved.

Thank you ajc71 and greenhaven, I had no idea how stressful this process would be. So ready for it to be over...all the way over. I think the GC could have made this a bit easier with a better up front education in what to expect, because our expectations were way off. As a business owner, we have to educate our clients in what to expect and how the process works, in order to avoid this sort of stuff. Our idea of how it would work and reality were way off. Due to a variety of factors, many out of GC's control (could we have had more snow this winter? Geesh.) Managing expectations, not a step to be skipped! DH actually said today that he originally thought it would take 7 weeks. The six weeks to get cabinets, and the extra week after while they template and install counters! LOL! Ajc71, I lived in and around Boston for about 9 years, loved it! Too cold for DH though, so no chance of going back, and I do love the space of the country. I want to wait for my new kitchen table for a reveal, so it will still be several more weeks.