I thought adding lots of peat moss to the soils would be enough. But looks like I need to add even more to "dilute" the soil's alkalinity. Jackson-Perkins used to grow acres and acres of roses in this area, with no special amendments. No peat moss ... when that stuff dries out, it turns into plastic and is extremely hard to re-wet. And, if you have a heavily-supplemented planting hole surrounded by native dirt, you will stunt the roots. They won't leave the hole. It's called "flower-potting" because you might as well have them in a pot. Soil Sulfur will lower the pH a bit, but more important, it frees up other minerals. Dig a planting hole a couple of feet wide and deep enough to hold the roots and have the graft at the correct level. Fill the hole with water and let it drain. This puts a reservoir of water under the roots to encourage them to go deep. Mix a cupful or so of soil sulfur into the dirt you removed from the hole, plant the rose in the hole at the correct level and pat the dirt down. Thoroughly water the plant in - a slow soak. Apply a thick mulch to the entire planting basin to hold in the moisture. Water deeply when you water, and use a moisture probe to tell you when you need it, until you get used to your garden's patterns.

Thanks for posting this, Raven. There's something I've been wondering about. I just got an email from a company 2 days ago (unfortunately, I'm forgetting which company) that alerted me to this Epsilon breach. I don't understand why it took the company that long to contact me. Is it bc. Epsilon took that long to tell them? or are different companies just making individual decisions about whether and when to contact their customers whose information was compromised? It's very upsetting to think any of these companies - Epsilon or the individual companies who have my name and email address - are taking the liberty to make their own decision about whether to inform me - and how much to disclose. Shouldn't some official regulatory office (not sure if this would be the FCC or what) be stepping in here and telling Epsilon and the effected companies what they must disclose to people and how they have to handle it. It just seems as if every company has had it's own discretion in how to handle this. Not a single company that contacted me told me anything substantial or helpful. All communications have had the feeling of "we're covering our a** by telling you that there's been a breach" - but we don't really want to tell you the details of how you might be effected - and we're really not going to give you meaningful advice about how you might need to handle this. Lynn.

Mommabird, I know EXACTLY how you feel. We have a few things in common. I have just come back to ths after being away for a couple years. Like you, I've been unable to do much around the house and yard because of ruptured discs and a heart attack. I'm slowly getting better, but only within the last month have I been able to start carving away at my mountain of work and stuff. Being unable was the magic motivation I needed when I was finally able to do the work. That situation impacted me so much that for the first time in my 53 years I have been keeping my kitchen neat and clean, simply because I could, starting only about 3 weeks ago! I wish I could have learned this before raising 4 children and having a 31 year marriage! My 2nd biggest motivator was putting a TV in the kitchen. I found myself able to work in there all day, if needed! I don't actually watch it because I'm cleaning, or culling junk, but it keeps me company while I'm working. I had my DH carry it into our bedroom where I'm doing the same thing: deep cleaning and sorting. I'm sure everyone in North America has been living with TVs in the kitchen and bedroom for decades, but it's new to me and it's my new helper. What I did in my house was to start in the living room near the front door. I was depressed that my living room was so dusty, disorderly and neglected, so I started there. I took decorator items from other rooms and put together a fresh look. That boosted my spirits enough to keep me going. I've been a FlyLady disciple for years too, and I know she'd be proud of me for having both my living room and kitchen within 10 minutes' of being company-ready at any time. It helps that the kids grew up and moved away-- when I clean it stays that way a little longer. I don't swish and swipe the bathroom every day, but it, too, is within 5 minutes of being presentable. I now have high hopes that I can get the laundry room, mud room and back bathroom presentable and keep it that way, too. If I can do it, you can too!

MomJ- although I rarely eat meat (organic free range chicken), I doubt that any animal meat is much better for you than GMO soy/corn fed fish. After all, animal feed is the same feed (gmo soy/corn) on top of that, they are pumped full of hormones and chemicals, and don't get me started on the fact that many factory "farms" recycle dead animals as feed for the live stock(i.e: diseased piglets being fed to the adults.) and are abused by the workers. Seems only safe way to go is organic veggies and fruit. Everything else is either poisoned, over processed, or made up of frankenfoods.