Short answer: wait a week or two before resuming fertilization. Longer answer: while the mix certainly sounds gritty, it most certainly isn't Gritty Mix - so I'd refrain from calling it Gritty Mix or drawing conclusions about the Gritty Mix proper. Each ingredient is moisture retentive, and I'll be interested to hear how it dries out. After watering your mix, tilt your containers to see how much water was perching in the lower layers. I predict there will be a fair amount. If so, be sure to tilt your containers after watering or utilize a wick to drain the mix. Many folks grow succulents in pure pumice, pure lava rock, or pure turface....with good results. Choosing the right size container will influence the results. Josh

That link works well, xerophyte. Thank you very much for taking your time to help. I do have much clearer idea of what I should do. Let me now recap what I have learnt from the above: 1 - place some big rocks to define the bed; 2 - put in a few big plants to anchor the bed; 3 - fill in with other smaller plants; 4 - mulch with 'native' gravels/small rocks (I add this step since I saw that in the photos on the link.) I will definitely start this bed of succulents when I find enough big rocks. Thank you again, xerophyte, for all your instructions. Xuan

Wow, those are just stunning. I especially like the color on Alexandra, Marie Curie...well, actually all of them! Makes me want to run out and buy some. Do you have a separate rose garden or are they mixed in with other perennials? If you have a group shot I would love to see it. I have stayed away from roses until last year when I broke down and bought Paul's Himalayan Musk because it was on sale and I wanted a good-smelling climber for the deck post. This year I just bought a yellow carpet rose (can't remember the name at the moment), still in the pot waiting for me to decide where to put it. The reason I have been reluctant to buy roses is the JBs. At my old house I had some roses and those little monsters came in droves to feast. Do you have trouble with them or some great way to control the population? One more question...What kind of camera do you use? Those pictures are so clear. I want to replace/upgrade my digital camera for garden shots. Thanks for sharing, Gillian

Ewwww,, Loud bang, snap, then flap, flap flap when starting the car.... Is the neighbors cat missing???? As sad as that sounds, it actually is not all that uncommon of a "diagnosis". Of course it could be just a straight mechanical problem, locked up accessory pulley, bad belt etc. But many times it is the result of an innocent animal climbing up to "something warm" and going to sleep. For the most part what Kalinin is saying is unfortunately way too accurate. At least 50% of our phone calls today are not about someone wanting to bring a car in for repair, they are solely about taking the knowledge of the technician while saving themselves every penney they can. Again, THAT'S AT LEAST 50% OF THE CALLS. Strange as it may seem, for me half of those calls anymore are other shops that have suddenly found the 2004 (or newer) car they have in their stall does not communicate to their scan tool. Or there is no information in their repair information system. I do make it a point to assist other shops, they will likely be my client some day provided they don't abuse what I will share. Some shops I have cut off from that help and they can either step up and make the investment to get up to speed, or fail. Their choice. Saturday I had one appointment. An inspection. The vehicle had a severe gouge in the sidewall of the RF tire. That would be a "It just blew out without a warning" if left unnoticed. The RR tire just passed at 3/32, the RF inner tie rod was worn plus various lamps were inoperative/broken. All of this was about a $600 repair, and the car would give normal service to it's owner through-out the year barring any suprises. The vehicle's owner's father called me and started trying to wheel and deal on the price say "his mechanic" would do the repair for much less than the estimate. I only have one response to that strategy, "Let him fix it then". I'll cancel his sons appointment for this coming saturday. You see, I don't pull any punches when it comes to investing in training, and equipment necessary to be ready for whatever shows up at the door. No-one in the four state area is keeping pace with me when it comes to those two areas. While I have been keenly focusing on being the very best that I can be I have had to put pricing where it has to be in order to do that. Because of that I'll never be the cheapest, that's a tug of war I cannot win. But lets play who's the best, (at electronics/diagnostics) and who can keep pace with the dealer on the majority of the cars on the road all the way through current model year, 2008. (over 97% of the new cars on the road I have a current O.E. scan tool for) Oh, one thing changed from a few months back. Honda heard our(my) complaint about the scan tool turning off. They released a new laptop based version, for which I was able to have my Ford IDS laptop sent out, the hard drive partitioned and installed into the same laptop. Instead of some $7000 just for Honda, I was able to take my $6000 Ford tool, and add about $3000 to it to make it also the Honda O.E. tool. One win for the little guy.......