Lol - beating me up is not unheard of around these parts - and I thank you very much for your kind assessment, Sam. I appreciate it - the fishing invite, too. I've done a LOT of offshore trolling for salmon & trout on the Big Lakes surrounding MI as well as lots of stream and inland lake fishing for a wide variety of species, but my salt water experience is limited. My first inclination is to assume that the paving stone is probably crushed limestone and that it would be inappropriate as a 1/3 fraction of a medium because of its perceived affect on pH. To temper that, I continually read that limestone larger than 200 mesh is considered virtually insoluble insofar as agricultural field applications; but then I reason that the application is an almost immeasurably minuscule fraction of the soil, not 1/3 of it. I also know that fig growers often mulct the top of their containers with limestone with no ill consequence, so I have to say I don't know. I suppose I'm way ahead of myself because we don't yet know that it IS actually limestone ...... Do you know what the material is? Where do you live? (You might wish to add that to your user info (like my "z5b-6a MI"). I'm going to link you to a thread about growing trees in containers. There is lots of info in it, and if you pay attention to the parts that refer to removing 'wedges' of soil from citrus during repots, I think you'll have all the info I might have repeated here. Take good care. Thanks again. Al Here is a link that might be useful: Click me for Trees in Containers

My recommendation would be to call pioneer gravel and sand, and get a price from them for soil. It's much cheaper when you are buying it in bulk. They will bring it by dump truck, and you'll have to haul it wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow to where you need it at, but it should be much cheaper. If you tell them the dimensions of your bed, and how deep the soil needs to be, they can give you a pretty good estimate of how much more soil you need, and how much it will cost. They have a very nice soil mix that I've used for my rose beds, that is much less expensive than buying it buy the bag. I think I paid $100 for a dump truck full when I bought mine several years ago now. It shouldn't be much more than that. Good luck! Easy

In as word : no. Vegetables need mucho mucho light. There should be -- at a minimum -- two 40-watt florescent lights, 48" long, suspended a few inches above the seedlings, moved up as the seedlings grow. Cabbages probably want to be grown as cool as possible, as well. A cool sunny window with a supplementary 100 watt incandescent (or the equivalent) in the evening would probably work also. My mother grew delphinium seedlings that way years and years ago in the old days before we had all this equipment at our disposal. I am not an expert vegetable gardener, but I imagine you would want to get those cabbages outside into the ground as soon as you ever possibly can. They are winter vegetables, no? The good news is that seeds are cheap and you can always try try again.

Tongue and groove ceiling is beautiful and good for you for not ruining it with canned lighting. My family's house was built in the late 1800's (about 4000 sq. ft. including additions over the years). Lots of natural light. NO recessed lighting was ever added in order to preserve the beautiful, pre-war architecture. The house is well lit with lamps, chandeliers, and old hanging fixtures. (ceilings are 9'6"). Undercabinet lighting was added in the kitchen. Obviously, you don't see it, but provides enough light for a large kitchen, PERFECT. We are currently building a fairly large, custom home. I told my architect several months ago that I wanted NO recessed lighting in the house, ANYWHERE. To help with lighting, i've added extra windows, hanging fixtures where necessary, sconces and undercabinet lighting in the kitchen for "task lighting". However, i am adding a lot of tongue and groove paneling (including ceiling) and i think recessed lighting is very distracting (even including recessed lighting in high end homes). Well placed fixtures and lamps where necessary seem to be enough lighting for me.