What a tranquil, lovely spot you found to make home, dulcimerduo! Your totem is very pretty. I love how you incorporated the round pieces. I always think it is fun when people put a figurine underneath a bigger glass piece. Definitely gives the totems more character! Like the rest of the folks, I just love George! I'm glad he managed to fit in your Honda Civic! Only a Garden Junker would be so determined to fit something that size in a small car. he-he I can't wait to see pictures of your new and improved pond too! Here's a funny observation ... I was looking at the picture of your pond and I was wondering about the little gnome standing on the branch of the tree ... that was until I realized it was your DH pushing a wheelbarrow in the background! lol! Years ago, in one of my magazines, they had an article of how someone totally enclosed a mobile home to make it look like a cute cabin. It was located on a lake and they made a screened porch along the whole front of it. Looking at the finished enclosure, you would never know there was a mobile home under it! I could kick myself for not keeping the article. It looks like you have a similar idea! Please keep the pictures coming!

How long should I wait before planting an azalea, rhododendron, etc? Like i said, the soil is good underneath the cardboard. I am really using this setup as a way to not have to buy mulch and just use my access to tons of leaves as mulch to stop weeds. I might not even plant anything until Next fall. You could plant now IMO. Just pull the leaves back a bit where you want to plant, cut a hole in the cardboard big enough for the plant to go in the soil below it, dig your hole, plant, and the pull the leaves back into place around it covering the cardboard. But I agree that you will have to keep the leaves wet down until they begin to stick together at least or they will just blow away. Scattering some blood meal, fertilizer, grass clippings, or any other high nitrogen source will speed up the breakdown process on them so they will mat together a bit faster. Dave

In photobucket, click on share above the picture, then get link code, then click on HTML full size to highlight it, RIGHT click on HTML, left click on copy. You now have your photo ready to post. Go back to Hosta forum, type your message, hit return once or twice, then RIGHT click, click on paste and your photo will be there. Hit preview to see it before you hit submit. I resize my photos in photobucket to large or to fit a 15 inch screen before I post my photos. Practice a couple of times, we would love to see your photos.

I'm more familiar with reflected readings, but I think your figures match what I'd expect off an 18% card. That would give you about 500 foot-candles from your reading at the plants. Too low. You shouldn't be looking to match noon sun for 14 or 16 hours solid, but something like a fifth of that level usually works well for seedlings, around 2,000 foot-candles. That would be about f7.1 with your settings. Certainly many people grow with less than that, but you seem to have lots of light available, and even 3,000 or 4,000 foot-candles can be useful when the plants get a little older. You might like to measure the incident readings at different distances from the light. And then try hanging some baffles at the sides of the reflector to see if that puts more light onto the plants at the same distance. Since you have a light meter you are in a great position to see what works well.