Viv - If you're worried about the roots cooking because the gritty mix doesn't hold enough water, you might be surprised - especially because you can adjust the water retention by increasing the amount of Turface in the mix while decreasing the amount of granite, all the while keeping the bark fraction at 1/3 or less. I'm not trying to twist your arm - just wanted to be clear about the fact the gritty mic can hold a lot of water w/o holding perched water. As far as temperatures go, the gritty mix is going to be quite a bit cooler than heavier soils because it is more porous & takes advantage of evaporative cooling. I have several friends in FL & TX that use it with excellent results. ;o) I don't think the key to successful figs in containers lies in providing a spare (not rich) or rocky soil. The key is even moisture (damp not wet) with good drainage & no soggy parts of the container, along with a favorable pH and good nutritional supplementation program .... and sun. Beyond that, figs don't ask for much. ;o) BC - Most fir bark comes prescreened & ends up being better suited to the gritty mix because of its lack of fine particles, which would clog up all the large pores & negate the reason for using it in the first place; that's why I like fir bark in the gritty mix. Pine bark that's screened to the right size is also fine for the gritty mix, but unscreened pine bark in the size range dust up to 1/2" works best in the 5:1:1 mix, which is very good for figs. I'd be using the 5:1:1 mix if I didn't like the gritty mix better. BTW - I would have chosen a more clamorous name for those soils, but other forum members started calling them 5:1:1 and gritty, so I just went along. ;o) I'm sort of reading your post & posting as I go along, so if I sound a little disjointed, it's because I'm replying to you on a paragraph by paragraph basis. That some trees are found in sandy or even clay soils doesn't mean that a clayey or sandy soil is a good choice for the same plant in a container. As I mentioned to someone who took me to task upthread, containers have their own set of rules that govern how water behaves in containers - quite different than it behaves in the earth. Container soils are all about structure and the ability to retain that structure. It's also nice if they're made from materials that hold enough water, but I make a convincing case that aeration and durability should be our focus when we decide on a soil for our containerized plants. Where cuttings are concerned, the 'durability' isn't quite so important because the cuttings are soon bumped to larger pots, but aeration is a very significant issue and has considerable influence on root initiation and development/growth. About the ash - it would contribute to the vitality of the plant only if it supplied something essential the plant was missing. We can be sure that it contributes nothing physically - nothing to the soils structure, so it's value would have to be chemical, and whatever it supplies would have to be in short supply in the soil solution. Rock dust isn't soluble, and mineralization takes a long, long time. Heck - even bone meal (an organic amendment) breaks down so slowly in containers that it is considered insoluble by commercial growers. You can put together a very effective nutritional supplementation program by reading labels & making sure that you're supplying all 12 essential elements plants take up from the soil solution, or by using a fertilizer KNOWN to have them. I use Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 because it has ALL 12 essentials in favorable NPK ratio AND in a favorable ratio to each other. This allows you to fertilize at the lowest rate possible w/o nutritional deficiencies - a decided advantage for you and your plants. If you're using a fertilizer that DOESN'T have everything, it's doubtful that the volcanic ash can be relied on to pick up the slack. It's more likely it will simply duplicate some of what's already in the soil. If you're worried that your fertilizer is short some nutrients, it's better to change fertilizers to one that supplies everything (except perhaps Ca/Mg) than to try to supplement with elements or compounds aimed at eliminating a deficiency of only 1 or 2 nutrients. That usually leads to a loss of potential in the long run. The KISS method is best when it comes to fertilizers. I don't really have a final mix. I use the gritty mix for all my woody plants, from the smallest seeds to the largest trees (4 hand bonsai take two good men to move about), so if it's woody, it's either IN the gritty mix or about to GO IN the gritty mix. ;o) Whew! Al

I'm trying a new cut, to me anyway, cross cut something or other..supposed to actually be similar to rib eye, but not as tender. And it's best to marinate it. It was onsale for 5.49/lb but it's buy 1 get one free at Albertsons, so I googled it before I bought it. LOL so $2.25/lb isn't to bad for some beef. Gonna give it a whirl. I'll use it if nothing else for chili. LOL

I agree with the above, this is a wrap-around casing and all you need is 2 pieces to make it right. The tile guy screwed this up by cutting to high. All he had to do is use a scrap of tile, scribe it and cut a straight line like an example, especially today not many use saws anymore to make this cuts everyone has a multi-tool and to make this cuts is a breeze. Ask your trim guy to replace it, not a big deal and it will take 10 min to make it right. That being said, this is a fireplace and I assume this is a focal point in that room, I doubt you want to use Bondo or some other filler to patch the void, it will not look good.

I’ve run into cabinets like that in old 60’s homes. Some even 3/8” inset. Just plywood with an applied edge molding as Pal says above. The join between the ply and molding was inevitably filled with kitchen crud because it wasn’t easy to clean. Think zero angle sink. But that was with 60’s lacquer finish coatings that tended to degrade into crud to begin with. Id bet this could be fairly easy DIY. But I’d also bet that applied molding wouldn’t hold up as well as you want either. It took the brunt of the nicks and dents and was even ripped off in a couple of instances.