It CAN work, as long as the small pieces are either a SMALL % of the whole volume, or if the term 'small' is relative. What I mean by that is: You can mix 1/8" pieces with any % of 1/4" pieces and still come up with a soil that holds no perched water, because 1/8" particle size is about where the perched water table disappears. On the other hand, if you have a soil that is half dust to 1/8" and the other half 1/8-1/4", you'll have a soil with an average particle size that retains a considerable amount of perched water. Another way of saying it is: A soil of all 1/8" particles will hold no perched water, but a soil with an AVERAGE particle size of 1/8" will. Illustration: Pudding is made of (perched) water and very small particles. How much perlite must you add to get it to drain well? Al

Glo - Thanks for reassuring me! I hope your move is awesome! My husband has wanted to move us to Colorado for years and hasn't managed to quite convince me yet, although I think it's absolutely wonderful there. LOL So, Winter Solstice is the same everywhere? (LOL)... I guess you're seeing how little I know... Nancy - Thanks for the tip! I am gonna have to watch the lead hand myself as I way oversowed my cantaloupes this fall. The poor babies are fighting each other and giving me 2 to 5 inches fruits that don't look like they're EVER going to full ripen. I will be much more careful in the future. I'll try to not get TOO excited when I go to plant. LOL Carrie - Wow! That's some really good info. That's exactly the kind of thing I was worried about. I'm grateful for the heads up. Liz - LIZ!!! Hey, girl! Fancy meeting you here and there and now here! hee hee... The whole last paragraph of what you wrote is exactly what is concerning me. I know that I personally wear shorts through-out almost the whole winter except for those few crazy days that we see. 50's or what have you is not cold to me... We do get the occasional freeze, but then a week or two later at most you could have a 70+ degree high! All this in the same few days / weeks / months... it's SO crazy! Oh, and if they're having a plantswap around the 8th of December as well, I sure want to know as I'll be out that way. :-) Blessings, Angela

I am beginning to learn that there is quite a large difference between talking about a garden, penning casual notes about plants, and writing down precise observations. I spent most of my morning crawling through a garden to get a good look at emerging ferns, lichens, and mosses, and I seem to be encountering an uncommon number of road blocks to clear verbal expression. While I find it easy to distinguish between lichens on the one hand, and liverworts and mosses on the other, I have troubles telling one species from another (except for the most obvious ones). It also seems there should be a better way to describe the delicate green whorls sent up by mosses -- besides the mundane "stems and leaves." And how about their textures, their dryness or moistness of surfaces, films or dustings, and the flowing shapes of their dimpled mounds? Even now, at the height of winter, when few flowers bloom, I am grasping for words to properly describe them. Unfortunately, English has too few words to describe flowers (I'm trying to stay away from horticultural or scientific jargon that means little or nothing to the average reader), and there are only so many times I can use the terms blossom, bloom, blow, floret, flower, inflorescence, at al. without becoming annoyed by constant repetition. But the good news is that even in January, the dreariest month of the year, I can find a lot in my garden to write about. Oh, well. 'Nuff of that. Back to the garden.

Sad to say, your husband's company sounds like the type of employer that chews through employee's marriages... I could be wrong, but some companies have a culture that values home and family, and others don't. Do you know how/where you husband's company is on this scale? Because it will have a big, big impact on your life. Sorry, but I have to agree with Fairegold and Sue about "tagging along" on this trip if it violates the rules (written or unwritten) of the company culture.