Mike is using one of the professional potting mixes from Fafard...and even better, it's one in their line of Heavy Weights. Their term, not mine. It's very coarse textured, composed of more slightly composted pine bark than mucky peat. So, we're pretty sure that it's not the mix. Mike, not only could the pH of the water be an issue, but so could the soil temperature. Iron (as well as other miner elements) can remain unavailable for uptake until the temperature warms up. Foliar applications of a chelated iron product can help in cases like this, as well as using a touch of vinegar in your watering can on watering day. We want your next pictures to show a complete turn around!

You make a good point about the music belonging to the estate cynic. I am surprised though that anything can be released at this point. In the 'real' it takes much longer for property of the estate to be release...any property. I guess it's possible Jackson made some provisions in his will regarding the music? I expect there will be lots of people contesting Jackson's will, the custody of his children and what happens to his belongings...... Lori

Helen, That is too close. I've had close calls like that before and they scared me to death. When I've had that sort of a close call, it is hard for me to go back into that area again because I am so afraid another snake will be there. I did notice that it was pretty wide and wondered if it either was about to give birth, or if it had had a really good day and found something good-sized to eat. You know, it is that time of the year. I think the copperheads here usually reproduce in August. I don't really have any suggestion about how to pick tomatoes in an area where you already have found snakes. Sometimes with beans or southern peas, I carry a 3 or 4' long metal green fence post with me (I use them to stake tomato cages) and stick it into the area where I am about to pick beans or southern peas. I move the foliage around a bit and look carefully at the ground and at the plants themselves trying to make sure there's not a snake in there. It is easy to do that with legume plants that are more lightweight and move around pretty easier. It would be harder with tomato plants that are sprawling on the ground as they are heavier and cannot be shifted around easily with a stick or pole. I've always felt pretty safe in the garden early in the day, assuming that the snakes already are out of the garden by daybreak. The encounter with a timber rattler that was headed into my garden, not out of it, a little after 9 a.m. one day a couple of weeks ago made me stop and think twice about that. Even though they tend to be nocturnal, I've had them in the garden more than I'd like during the daylight hours. Copperheads are not as aggressive as some other venomous snakes, or at least at our house they aren't. Even the timber rattlers would rather warn you to go away than to waste their venom on you. Chris stepped on a copperhead one night when he was getting out of his car when he was in college. It didn't even bite him, for which we were grateful, but as he pulled his leg back into the car and closed the door, it slithered under his car and headed straight for us and a bunch of our friends. We were sitting there in lawn chairs, so Tim had no choice but to shoot it because it was coming right towards us. Another time, back not too long after we moved here, Chris and I stepped right into a bunch of copperheads. It was a mother and a bunch of babies and they were moving across the pasture towards the pond in broad daylight and we stepped right into the middle of them in tall grass, saw them and then jumped and ran away. It is hard to believe that the adult at least didn't strike us. Ever since that happened, we always mow 6-8' wide paths through our pastures and only walk in the mowed pathways. At least that way we have a good chance of seeing the snakes before we step on them. Please be careful! You've had too many close calls lately. Dawn

Jandey, you may be right. I scoured the web and looking at photos of Heidi Gold, the inflo has similar coloring and as the blooms open you can see the lavender edge on the back of the petals.