I have seen where the Pine Bark Fines is referred to as 'soil conditioner' as well as the Turface being referred to as 'soil conditioner'. What exactly is Turface, They are both "soil conditioners" Pine Bark fines are organic. Turface is calcined Montmorillonite clay. Check your area for John Deere Landscape suppliers. If you can't find that then check your Tractor supply for "Oil Dry" in 40# bags. It will need to have the fines removed with an 1/8th inch screen. I've also read that it was like kitty litter, isn't that the same as the grit? So confused! :S the kitty litter is a clay product. The chicken grit is often a crushed granite product. It is a volume and aeration additive (?) that does not soak up water like the clay or the bark. I plan on buying the Reptibark for my Gritty so I won't have to screen and not for sure what I will need to get for the 5-1-1 bark fines. For the 5-1-1 mix check out the pine bark soil conditioners. See if it is ground to a fairly small size and is 100% pine. I have seen some that have other items like ground forest products whick are of questionable background. Locally I have Lowes, Tractor Supply, and Atwoods. I called Tractor Supply and they carry the Manapro grit for $4.99 and Atwoods has a 5lb bag of grit for $2.87 (they didn't know what brand). Then do I need to get the Lime and Gypsum for both (which for which mix?) or can I get just one of the two to use on both mixes? If I understand it correctly the lime is added to the 5-1-1 mix at the rate of 1 tablespoon per gaollon of mix. Seems that the ph of the 1-1-1 mix warrants the use of gypsum in the mix and then epsom salts are added to the water to help free up Ca and Mg. I don't have to make very much so I really don't want to have to buy 50 lb bags of all this! lol Also, what exactly to do for both on the fertilizer that's listed? you can add a Controlled release fertilizer or it is recommended to water with a weak fertilizer solution. Tapla has written on this and is worth the read Thank you so much for the help and sorry for all the q's! Thanks Al for all the help you are giving everyone!

Is sausage and cabbage/kraut supposed to bring good luck? That's the first I heard of it, here yesterday. We had spareribs. Will pork bring us luck, or does it have to be sausage? Beans and oven potatoes with the ribs.

I wondered about possibly doing 2 - 1 - 2 - would that be super weird? Maybe with a liner in the middle? I think I'd be okay with three rows of 1.5 and fill up the 7/8 remaining with the grout lines. I've thought about also doing 2.5 subway from Grazia but I'm not positive about 2 rows of tile. I'm also a little concerned about it competing with the 2" mitered edge of my stone. Ack!

Thanks guys. I have some old plastic water bottles which I cut off the tops and painted a couple years ago. Still trying to figure out what to plant in them...lol. I know, I know...peppers. There's the whole production thing again...In my climate and long season, I do my container peppers in larger pots. I think I'll do a couple cukes each in some 15 gal pots I got.