Early use of the garden weasel followed by a grass-clipping mulch are keeping the weeds down nicely. The mulch retains water. Anything I were to grow in the narrow spaces between the plants would require watering instead. Zone and geology make a great deal of difference. Gardening in Massachusetts on a sand that was unsorted glacial till gave me little trouble -- except that I mulched for the first time (mulch plus soggy clay in a steamy, Western PA summer would have been a sure recipe for fungal diseases). The Carolina Sandhills are the remains of an ancient beachfront. The sand is nearly pure quartz and the grains are almost all the same size so its quite different from my Massachusetts sand. And the blistering days (I never thought I'd ever utter the phrase "Its not too hot today. Its only 90.), suck the moisture away so rapidly that I water only at the plants' roots. Any weed seeds in the area that I did not mulch yet are not sprouting because it hasn't rained in 3 weeks. My neighbor uses an annual rye grass on his garden over the winter with good results, but he doesn't care if his garden gives him nothing between late October and mid-June since he only grows beans, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and cucumbers. :-)

Yikes! Be careful with *fresh* chicken/bird manure. Dunno about emus but chicken manure is HOT and should be composted first. This is because of the concentrated ammonia compared to other manure. Ingrid, re: drip... I think drip is a solution of circumstance in each location: water thriftiness, time, location in the yard vs closeness to a water bib, etc. For us, since we are not full time at the mountain weekend/retirement place it started as a necessity, so unlike my old pre-marriage house I couldn't procrastinate until I had planned it ever just so. Also, it sounds like we may have less property, just 1/4 acre in all. *As far as unsightliness*, almost all of the 1/2" line is run either along the fence line, or under the rocks defining pathways or garden plots and doesn't show. The 1/4" line on the roses on the fence don't show at all because of the bushes, the rest where it shows now, the bushes are either growing to cover soon or I guess I can't care cause it's not much. *As far as clogged drippers*, I'm with you on that one, but that's an easy one to fix at least for me and a time trade-off with watering, but I think I come out ahead. Have you tried 'FLAG DRIPPERS'? As I've mentioned umpteen times here on the forum our WW water you can 'bout stand a spoon in it is so hard. Flag drippers are great because the end (flag) can be either twisted or removed. Twisting usually releases the mineral buildup, if not or if there is debris in the line, you can take the end off to clear the line. The latter mostly happens on drippers to the end of the line. In the summer I do this when the drip is running ;-) The ones that I get aren't anything special, I get them at Lowe's. For roses, with the hard water, I usually use two 2gal drippers per plant (none are more than 6x10'). Since, ad nauseum, we are so hard, I check to see if they are running well every couple of weeks, but still, this is less time than watering. This last year, after oh, 3 years I guess, I got another set of drippers to change out so I could soak the existing ones in hot vinegar to clean them. I'll swap them out as I prune/fertilize again in a year or two now that I've had this idea (saves time on the knees/back to do it all at once). *Re our environments* Well, I think I can top you on dryness, it was 9% 'humidity' when we came up on Friday morning, BUT only 70deg. In the heat of our summer we only get a month hovering around 90+. When the daytime gets warm enough, I switch the drip over from morning to evenings so the plants have more access to the water. This is a foreign idea for me growing up by the coast as evening watering of anything only promotes fungus; however, someone up here suggested it and since we are so dry it made a lot of sense and I could see the improvement. *Re since you asked for opinions* Ok, since you asked (and just my opinion, you know how I love to share ;-) so not a judgment) but based on a small slice of similar weather, humidity, and as I recall you also have decomposing granite soil as a base, a couple of thoughts... You said your roses get enough water, but it would seem not the case if they wilt so quickly, right? - OR, so to speak maybe the *AVAILABLE* water could be improved (???), which is where I *subjectively* anyway think that the drip gives me an advantage, at least on my weather/dirt - more water gets to the *deep* roots, less to evaporate, and better still, less weeds. Otoh, I do still need to hose water to work in fertilizer, alfalfa, etc. All that said as I contemplate, I DO have an advantage of our pines that filter here and there a little bit during the day. Otoh, I do have more UV radiation at my elevation. TOO MANY VARIABLES!!! ;-) I may have inferred that you had drip at a former house? If that is the case, it would be a really interesting experiment in your current location if you ran a short drip line off from your hose bib (you could put in a Y so you could still use your hose) and see if the dripped roses do better than before. That would be really interesting!!! As for mulch, I keep adding over time and as everyone says, it just keeps improving, I've now actually found earthworms so I guess it's working ;-) My very best to you, I hope you get this figured out so it best suits you and your garden! Kerin

All recommendations Mountain Man. First off, 'Gold Nugget' is in the common mandarin category, and not a Satsuma mandarin. And, Satsuma leaves are not ugly at all. They are long and lovely, and the Satsuma mandarin has a lovely more weeping growth habit. Silly thing for the nursery man to say, I think. The insect that your nursery man was probably referring to were aphids, hence the recommendation of Neem. A good hard blast of water to remove the aphids is first in order. But first look closely under the leaves to see if you have aphids. You can then treat with Neem. If you have thrips, they're much harder to see, extremely tiny, and most likely in the flower buds or on new growth. Almost microscopic. You can indeed treat with Spinosad, just be sure to really, really soak the flower buds and get the Spinosad well into all the cracks and crevasses. I see your new growth looks fine. Is you tree staying in a container or going in the ground? If staying in a container, I would suggest re-potting out of the black plastic pot, especially if you're in an area where you have some intense sun, and the black pots can heat up, which can be a bit tough on roots. Patty S.

Well I'm experienced only in quite different zones than you are in (7b to 9b), but my suggestions would be: make that area an herb garden and/or succulents (you had mentioned sedum). I think euphorbia might also work. What about Kalanchoe? Anything you put there should be "heat and drought tolerant" and like "full sun" (of course) because the stone and the sidewalk will reflect alot of heat. I think I would also consider making 2 beds in each of the corners there underneath the T of that sidewalk (the grassy areas that show in the picture), using the same plants or some of the same that you use in that border. I think that would make it look like all one garden and bigger is better! Laurie in Mississippi