All that talk about "getting too old" and "moving on" from an "obsession"...I feel like the person who turned up a day late for the party! I am 73 and have FINALLY gotten some roses. Indeed, I have finally got some gardening going, and it consists of what I and I alone want. My first real garden, even though it's only a sea of pots on a balcony. And I do feel ever so slightly obsessed. It's the beauty that gets me - the beauty of the blooms, but also the rest of it: light shining through the leaves, the grace of a particular little tea. I'm sure I'll calm down after awhile - especially since it's Winter, and the roses don't seem to be doing much (except acquiring a number of insects that don't match anything I've seen in my internet searches). I haven't done any painting in months - perhaps this is the time to get back to it. Maybe in January...

I don't think there is any clear winner in terms of what most start with. It varies a lot from what I have read of other people's set ups. Many don't even use Mel's mix at all, but rather use soil + whatever. Many don't even Square Foot garden, but practice some hybrid intensive cropping method. I, personally, use Mel's mix and love it. I used my own compost until it was used up and then used compost from the city's compost and mulch site. I am very fortunate in that I have literal mountains (OK, hills) of quality compost available free for the hauling 24 hours a day 365 days/year. If your city doesn't make compost from resident's yard waste ask them why not and encourage them to get with the program. No reason not to do it. What Mel recommends in the book for those without a source of homemade compost is to use at least 5 different sources of compost mixed together. Homemade, unbagged would still be preferable, but at least by using multiple store bought sources you end up with a more diverse end product. Most of the store bought composts are made from a single ingredient.

"(I don't know what this "wetting agent" might be; I thought it was probably polymer gel but they list both the wetting agent AND polymer gel for their #7 mix, so apparently not!)" The "wetting agent" is just a surfactant that allows the peat to soak up water more easily--rather than to repel it like dry peat does so very well! For all practical purposes, it SOAP! When Zach posted that he got a bale of pure peat and talked about how hydrophobic it is, I almost posted (but the Nasty, NASTY has been preventing me from reading so I've just been x'ing out when it appears most of the time!) that all the peat-based soils/mixes must have a surfactant in them, because even when they dry out ALL the way, they're quite easy to re-wet to make them "usable" again. Without a surfactant they'd take hours and hours to moisten well enough to be able to use them! Polymer, in my opinion, is entirely unnecessary for growing things in pots or in beds that are regularly watered and taken care of. When I was getting started buying the seedling trees that are being planted on the mesa top just south of Mesa Verde I thoroughly researched the stuff, and I found comments by people who were putting it in their "hanging baskets," and "when they watered their plants the soil was all falling out of the top of the basket!" Polymer E-X-P-A-N-D-S! I did buy some to be used where the seedling trees are being planted--in a situation where they get maybe a gallon of water when they're planted, and then they're 100% on their own, but to be using the stuff in an urban garden makes no sense whatsoever to me! When I bought it the first time I wanted to see "what I had," so I put a level teaspoon of the dry polymer in a water glass and filled the glass half up with water. After an hour all the water was GONE! I wanted to see if it would soak up more, so I added more water! Hour later the water was GONE! I dumped what I had in a clean (regular size) peanut butter jar and added more water! Kept adding water till it was up to the top and left it sit! I wound up with a jar filed up to the top with "expanded" polymer---from ONE LEVEL TEASPOON OF DRY POLYMER! The stuff is intended to be used in situations where plants will not be able to be watered, where they need "the extra stored water" for when there's no precip. And, clearly, the people who were using the stuff in hanging baskets and "small" pots didn't have a clue what they were doing and hadn't taken the time to figure it out! My guess is they were taking a half a cup or a cup of the stuff and mixing it into the soil in their 8-10" pots--and then they were wondering why the soil was all falling out of the top of the pots when it started to expand! Virtually everybody with an "urban" garden waters--except for those who plant true xeric gardens, and polymer in the soil would kill xeric plants real quick! For me, if I had polymer in my "potting soil" I'm sure I'd promptly rot off all the plants--the same as I do with vermiculite--and vermiculite holds far less water than polymer does. As I see it, polymer is a Buzz Word these days, so the companies put it in the mixes and sell it for twice as much as the stuff without it--and since "everybody knows how good polymer is" everybody falls for the "Pintrest Wisdom" and pays for it! "Good" is relative! What's good for something can be very, very bad for something else! Having said all that...... Try whatever you think might work for you and see if it does work or not. If it works, keep on keepin' on! If it doesn't, try something different! If you try something with polymer, or add polymer to something, remember! One Level Teaspoon absorbs enough water to fill up, to the top, a 16 ounce peanut butter jar! It may have soaked up even more water, but I never took the time to put it in something bigger to find out! Mycorrhizae! Some of the sunshine mixes have mycorrhizae these days too! And ProMix (the stuff my brother uses), like Sunshine, comes in ALL different mixes. Mycorrhizae is something else you don't need for growing things in your Urban Garden! This came up on B2's "evergreen tree garden" thread last year, and there's a whole buncha links about the stuff on that thread if you want to read more. http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3117113/my-evergreen-tree-garden-2011-2015?n=9 Sunshine #4 must be the one they had out when I saw the pallets of it out front that one time--that cost more than #1--and I couldn't figure out why! Still don't know why! It sure looks to be the same as #1 to me! I buy "the cheaper" #1!!! And I prefer to stay out of the "organic" brouhaha! As far as Sunshine #1 goes, the Canadian peat is organic, the perlite is organic, and the dolomitic limestone is organic! That's 99.9% of what's in the bale, and that's good enough for me! Skybird

I have an issue with added sugars as well. The only breakfast cereal type meals are my homemade granola. Even then it is a heapng tBsp with plain greek yogurt and some blueberries. No sugar added. In a tiny 1/2 pint ball jar. Or a single egg...not a big breakfast person. I went a bit overboard this year. Too many choices. I'll do a small batch test tonight. Planning on making two batches...1/3rd small batch Asian wasabi. One Niece and sister will love it. Dad not so much and i will warn him. 😂 same Dad that snack on my dog treats every year...on the counter in a small lided glass pyrex. (meant for visitors to offer the pups a small cracker treat to break the ice). .."Please offer them a tiny pup cracker to calm them..." Friend for life offering a treat to pups. Every year Pop says, "not bad but they could use some salt", 🙄 I'm busy prepping and freezing a few appetizers but have the goods for testing party mixes. Even the basic recipe seems to be consumed since family members have a favorite hand 'blend'.