hey steve... i have no clue what to advise you in SoCA ... its a foreign land as far as i am concerned in z5 MI ... lol but i hoped you learned one thing.. buying bug IS NEVER advised ... if budget is a concern ... buy the biggest thing you can get in the car/truck .. and in 5 years time.. it will be bigger than buying big.. and waiting for them to get re-established ... you will pay 1/3 the cost.. and avoid the crane .. and it will be much easier to take care of all the variables .... smaller root ball... smaller hole... etc .... and as noted way back when ... TIMING is everything in transplanting ... do it at the right time ... and you avoid a lot of problems with leaf burn.. etc ... the leaves fell off every single tree in my yard in the last two weeks.. up here its called winter ... cant help you with leaf trouble down in nirvana in winter.. lol .. good luck ken

Today... the rain guage spider web is up to the 2 inch mark and there is a small B-B sized white sphere suspended inside the web. Must be a boxed lunch for Mr Spider. Pete in I.F.

Well Corrine, it actually is compost later on. In 3rd world countries where there's no access to peat moss or vermiculite, they teach this method using only 100% compost. Even if you use the prescribed "Mel's mix", the only thing you end up adding in the future is nothing but compost. After 15 years of my original purchase of Mel's mix(expensive), my garden is now 100% compost. The peat is gone and so it the vermiculite. And perlite is a waste of your money. Folks use perlite instead of vermiculite to save money. Vermiculite is used in this system not only to add fluff, but more importantly to hold moisture. Perlite holds no water. If you doubt that, just look at anything that's got perlite in the mix. It's the stuff that floats to the top. If it's floating, it's not holding...ie, water. If you're trying to save a few bucks just go with 3 bags of 3 cubic feet of commercially available compost. That's enough for a 4X4' filled with 6" of soil and it will only cost you $30. I've got my favorite, but there may be others out there equally as good. But not all compost is created equally.

Lori, so sorry to hear this. Sending good thoughts and prayers. Please start keeping detailed daily notes on how you are feeling. Also, please check with an attorney. You don't know if you will always have excellent medical insurance. I used to have great insurance, but as times got tougher, my employer drastically reduced benefits. I'm hoping and praying that you will be fine. I don't want to be Mrs Doom and Gloom, but as Mom used to say, it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Take care, Lynne