OKgrassguy, it is a mixed blessing on the farm. For the most part just what the doctor ordered. After two full years of no rain and triple digit heat for 5-months a year, it is a big turn around. So far only a single 90 degree day in N TX this year PeopleÂs water wells are now pumping water again, my stock ponds and reservoirs (everyone else too) are finally full from yesterdays rains. Corn is the tallest and healthiest I have ever witnessed around here (usually burnt to a crisp by now), and everything is green. With corn prices so high from ethanol pressure, it is going to be a stellar year for corn farmers this year. On the flip side, I have quite a bit of sod production areas under water from time-to-time around the creek beds. However with the floods comes free top soil evenly distributed with no labor cost. Lots of delays in harvesting sod waiting for what can be harvested to dry out enough to get the equipment in. Fortunately I have sandy loam, so it only takes a day or two of dry weather to dry things out. I have lost several acres of sod from being drowned, but not a devastating loss. The rest is so productive it makes up for it and provides a seed crop to replant the drowned areas later. Landscaping biz (my SonÂs biz) is good, just a lot of down days. However irrigation side is non existent. Only real complaint is tomato and pepper plants are suffering. Their feet are too wet and not enough sun to put fruit on. If it dries up a bit with some sunshine they should recover if the heat doesnÂt jump above 100. Anyway glad the usual summer high pressure ridge moved out of here this year and now someone else has to deal with heat and drought that it brings.

I'm not sure you will ever see any significant color change using these methods :-) First, coffee grounds are not really very acidic - they tend to have a pH that is close to neutral or at the most, only slightly acidic. So they are going to have minimal effectiveness in generating blue flowers on those types of hydrangeas that are receptive to color change (not all are). Also, it is the proper concentration of aluminum in the soil that makes blue hydrangea flowers blue. One can acidify the soil all one wants but if sufficient levels of Al are not present, the flower color won't change. Aluminum sulfate (aka 'hydrangea bluing') is typically the product recommended to blue up hydrangeas as it offers both an acidifier (sulfur) as well as aluminum. Second, to be able to release any CaCO3 (the chemical in egg shells that neutralizes acidic soil), the egg shells must be finely ground or pulverized, not just crushed. Unless they are of a very tiny particle size - like dust - they are pretty much useless. And finally, the coffee grounds and egg shells are intended to work with plants planted in the ground. Plants in containers have a completely different growing environment in that potting soil has no real soil in it and therefore few, if any, of the soil organisms necessary to process the raw materials like the grounds and the shells into plant-usable forms. So it is definitely best to use the aluminum sulfate for container grown hydrangeas. It is also important to understand that altering soil pH is never a very fast process regardless of method. And not nearly as critical with any plant grown in a container, as all fertilizing needs (what the soil pH dictates) are provided by the grower and not from the soil. Depending on the formulation of the fertilizer you use, you may never have to add a supplement like the aluminum sulfate. It is also important to understand that container plants must be fertilized often to replace the nutrients that are leached out with frequent watering.

Actually, I have saved considerably on my heating bills since I started using Speedheat's Rug Buddy. I started with one in the living room and then put them in all of my bedrooms, too. I used to keep my house a toasty 74 - not very green, I know, but I've always ran cold... but now, I only heat the rooms I'm using and keep it at about 68... it's a much different heat than blowing ones... it's like it heats you all the way to your bones or something... It takes about an hour to get the room up about 20 degrees or so if you cover about 50% or so of the room... about half an hour in the rooms that are 85% covered. Of course, your feet are warm within about 5 minutes, so that's helpful. I use the plug-in stat they have now in the baby room because I care more about the control, but the others, I just put them on a timer. They have an electrical cost calculator on their site. Just remember that you will use it less than other heaters because of the comfort level difference... and of course, you don't have to heat rooms you aren't using if you don't want to, which saves, too. - I think there are some that were on the market before that were more expensive to run - and I know hydronic is REALLY expensive. My uncle has it in NY, and it takes a pretty penny... I told him to just do this, but I haven't convinced him yet. lol Here is a link that might be useful: Speedheat's Running Cost Calculator

Thank you all for the replies and thoughts. When I removed the burlap, the clayey root ball seemed very moist, so I believe it was adequately moistened. I have since placed a soaker hose in my garden bed (under 2-3" of mulch) with a full loop around the base of the tree, so we'll see what happens with soaking for a longer period of time rather than 5-10 minutes of direct hose spray. I also want to note that I planted a new rhododendron immediately adjacent to the emerald green about 2 weeks ago, and I just noticed today that the rhody appears to have a disease, which looks an awful lot to me like phytophthora ramorum. I think I have heard that arborvitaes are also susceptible to this disease. Do you think there might be a connection between the rhody and the arborvitae? I am probably going to pull that rhody out and bring it back to the nursery where I got it, as it was only a few weeks ago. I posted photos of the browning arborvitae foliage, and of the rhododendron.