Here' an end of the year update to my All Natural versus Synthetic container growing experiment. The pictures below were taken on Sept 20, 2011 The previous posts are at: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg06185055362.html http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg0518184613195.html Overall this proved quite instructive for me with the following conclusions: 1. Forest mix prevents transplant shock wilting. Totally unexpected result. 2. Compost mix wilted some when transplanted, but not as much as the gritty mix. 3. The gritty mix needed to be fertilized and watered much more frequently then the organic mixes. Ultimately I gave up on the gritty mix containers. Since I watered with a drip system, I could not easily adjust them to water one container more than another. And if I watered a lot more the organic mixes would have been too wet. 4. One gritty mix container I dumped out and put in a 50:50 mix of peat and bark. Then fertilized with FP. This one did well, but since it had such a late start the pepper planted didn't get big. 5. The compost mix and forest mix pepper containers, ended up producing about the same amount of peppers. They did quite well and produced a lot. Even though the compost mix peppers wilted at the start of the season and basically didn't start growing until 3 weeks after the forest mix peppers, the compost mix pepper plants ended up bigger. But the forest mix pepper plants were stocker and stronger. The leaves were much tougher than the compost mix pepper plants. And the forest mix peppers were easier to keep fertilzed, didn't have to add the HLF as often to keep the leaves green. But since it is easier to prepare the compost mix and it produced the same amount of fruit, I'll use this one in the future for all my peppers. 6. The eggplant in the gritty mix was doing horribly, so I dumped it and made it into another pepper container with 50:50 peat:bark mixture, fed it FP and it did fine, but due to late start didn't produce much. 7. The eggplant in the compost mix didn't do so well. Another surprise. Last year the eggplant in the organic mix did well. But last year I purposely put the drainage hole 4" up the side of the pot. This meant that after watering, the bottom of the pot was in 4" of sitting water (just the opposite of a good drainage system). The pot this year, it had normal good drainage. However whenever I stuck my fingers into the mix after a complete soaking with a hose for over a minute, the mix about 4" deep would be completely dry! And this is in just a compost mix which doesn't get hydrophobic. I believe that the extensive and thick eggplant root system allowed the water to flow down the pot without wetting the mix. Next year I'll add some clay soil to the mix to see if this helps. I'll post pictures of this problem in a different post. Overall I came to realize that the gritty mix can be useful, but it probably shines most in wet climates, not as much in dry hot ones. Unless as some posters have indicated, you water a lot and fertilize regularly. Because of the watering problems of trying to combine a gritty mix and compost mix containers in the same drip system, I couldn't get a good comparison between which fertilizer system did better. The organic fertilizer (ashes and HLF) buckets, 2 peppers, 1 basil did great. Next year I'll just add one bucket with 50:50 peat & bark mix and use FP for that one. So I can see what difference the fertilizer makes. End of year, 6 containers. Front row left to right: 1. peppers in gritty mix. What happens when you aren't willing to water and fertilizer regularly as gritty mix requires. 2. Eggplant in compost mix, did ok, but not so good. Mix would not wet below about 3-4" from top no matter how much watered. 3. Basil in compost, did great as usual. Mix did wet ok, much better than eggplant pot. Back row left to right: 1. Peppers in compost mix, did well, lots of peppers. 2. Was eggplant in gritty mix, but dumped half way through and replanted with peppers in peat:bark mix, fertilized with FP. Did good, but too late for good harvest. 3. Peppers in forest mix. Did great, no transplant shock. Plants stocky and tougher than compost mix pepper. Harvest about the same. Peppers in forest mix. Pepper in compost mix.

madeline, I think Viking and Wolf are both good products. Most of my friends and aquaintenances have either or. Most seem to like them well enough. I have Viking AG with open burners for over 10 years without much problems. I had to have the oven ignioers replaced a few years ago. My DH did it for the price of ignitors which was about $50.00 each. I am not even sure if the newer gas ovens even have ignitors. I really like having an infrared gas broiler in the oven. I have never used an electrical oven with broilers that were as powerful. But others can correct me, if I am wrong. I also have a Miele Speed oven as a second oven. My Viking AG oven is not quite as even as the Miele speed oven. There are hot spots. On the other hand, the Miele oven does not have an option where the convection fan is NOT on. It maybe the fan that makes the oven more even. I also have a built in BBQ with infrared rotisserie which is right outside of my kitchen. I think you need to evaluate your total cooking package. For me, it was important to have adequate of everything I needed: broiler (gas infrared rather than electric broiler), good even oven (Miele speed oven) and an easy access to a grill.

I have a couple of dutch ovens, a pressure cooker, a crock pot, an Instant Pot AND a couple of bean pots. I got this one at an auction, with the instructions still inside, it looks like it's never been used. Actually, it came in a box with some other items, including a cake plate that I wanted. I bought the box for $2, got the glass cake plate and the bean pot, tossed out the chipped coffee mugs and other junk and still think I got a great deal, although my garbage man hates it when I do that. :-) The booklet was still inside the pot, showing that it was available for $1.79 with an additional purchase, so I guess that's probably about what I paid for it. (grin) Here is the recipe that was included: I like beans best in the crockpot, though. It's far cheaper than using my electric oven, and I can go away for hours and come back to supper. I also add bacon or smoked pork hocks or leftover ham, and that makes supper with some rye bread or corn bread. Fortunately, both my husband and I like beans in nearly any form, and although Grandma used navy beans and the recipes usually call for "pea" beans, I grow Italian Horticultural and shell them, then freeze them. They are not dried, they are more like fresh shelled beans and that's what I use because I have them. So I think whatever beans you like will work fine. I do like them cooked for a long time, as I think they absorb the flavor and I like them thick, a texture I haven't been able to obtain in the Instant Pot or the pressure cooker. Bean soup comes out well, but not the baked beans, they're too thin. I know there's a "learning curve" with the Instant Pot and Elery just got it for Christmas, so maybe that will be better after some practice. When I'm short on time I make the "cheater" baked beans with Bush's baked beans or my new favorite, KC Masterpiece with Bacon. I add some catsup, some mustard, some brown sugar and cook them until they are sticky, my grandson will eat a plate full. If I were to choose between a bean pot and a dutch oven, though, I'd have to go with the dutch oven, those get regular use here. If I wanted an actual bean pot, I'd be stalking the Goodwill and other second hand stores, I occasionally see them there as they are not particularly popular with the younger generation(s) and when Grandma passes away her "weird kitchen things" often get auctioned or go to the second hand stores. Annie

Alanna, I’ve had a crazy day and just checked in now and saw your posts! Nick, I asked Jinny the same question a while ago and was correctly informed that there is a Bearss lemon. Alanna, yes I do have one, and you guessed correctly...no ripe fruit yet. It has bloomed a lot this winter and I suspect will hold on to some fruit, but they will not be ready for a long time. About the whiteflies...yes, I am SO ready for spring so I can hose them off. I just sprayed again tonight bc I discovered, to my great horror, a hidden patch on a tree in my son’s room. I thought those trees were clear...ugh. There is no way I can move my trees to the bathroom to shower them off...sone of my trees are massive and in huge pots. I wish I could though. Alanna, if you have a ST, I would not bother with any other lemons. My ST is becoming a very productive tree. It seemed more finicky when it was younger, but it has really turned into a large tree. It is currently blooming on many branches and has lots of lemons set at least 2” long so far. I have not been able to count them all, but it’s got to be at least 20 plus the flowers. Between those and the many meyers I have, I can’t use them all. I’m going to make lemonade soon ;). Night all!