I joined a rose club, and the speaker said soaker hoses get clogged. Still I really need something like that myself but I suppose I could hook up a sprayer instead and just not spray during the heat of the day. Sometimes last year I HAD to water in the heat of the day even after a good morning soaking and then again at night. Mulch will work well if you put in plants that are already started, but I think it might be difficult to work around if you are sowing seeds directly into the ground. I'm doing a mixture of both. I guess if you see the water is not soaking in fast enough or things are getting waterlogged, you could adjust the timer. For spot watering in smaller areas, somebody suggested poking a hole in the bottom of a gallon jug and letting it drip. I tried that and it seemed to work ok. I'll probably resort to that, too, but it won't look so good; it's only temporary.

My initial response is to suggest you contact your local extension office to tap into those resources for gardening in your zone/location. Next would be to visit local botanical gardens to see what does well in similar conditions to what you have to offer the plants & how well your soil/growing conditions meet their needs. After that, check out some gardening books from the library and do your homework--I did tons of research before I ever stuck a spade in the dirt to design my beds and I was a fairly experienced gardener when I started out. Don't lose track of the wealth of information that's available to you thanks to the Internet. Here at GardenWeb are many voices of experience that, if you heed them, will help you avoid lots of common mistakes the rest of us have made (sometimes repeatedly) over the years. Read old threads and learn from our mistakes. I hit the jackpot when I moved here--my folks practiced organic gardening for 50 years before I came so I'm blessed with amazing soil conditions + lots of healthy, plump worms. First lesson I learned was to avoid chemicals--they're marked 'poison' for a reason. Poison the weeds & you poison the bugs & you're poisoning the earth. For every garden situation, there is generally a non-toxic, earth-friendly alternative. For example, I pour vinegar on weeds & poison ivy rather than spraying them with weed killer. Check out a book called 'Trowel & Error' by Sharon Lovejoy--you won't regret reading it. Watering may or may not be an issue given your soil type and zone but again, it doesn't hurt to ask questions of the neighbors or local garden experts. There's generally a garden article in our weekly local paper so it's often a good thing to read those. One tip I can offer is that when you do water, it's best to water at the base of a plant but only when it needs it. A recycled plastic milk jug set close to a plant & with a pinhole an inch from the bottom will slowly let out a stream of water so the plant gets watered at the base. Generally speaking, watering the entire plant during the growing season isn't recommended. IMO grass is the worst invasive plant on the planet. If you just grind it up when starting a new bed, you may never live long enough to eradicate it. I dug up the turf in sections and removed it before planting a new bed. Looking back, it was one of the smartest things I ever did even when I didn't know what I was doing. Did you buy the butterfly bushes or grow them from seed? Did you tease out the roots before setting them in the ground? The roots of nursery-grown plants tend to start growing around and around inside their pots because there's insufficient depth/room for them in the pot. If you don't tease them loose before planting, they'll continue to grow in a circle which ultimately means the plant dies. Ask me how I learned this. While I don't amend my soil (thanks Mom & Dad), many on the forum will recommend you add compost to the soil. Your planting window may or may not be closed at this point but that's a zone-specific question which I'll leave to those more familiar with your growing conditions. I can pretty much plant right through the season except for the extreme heat/dryness of mid-summer where I am but generally consider each plant's unique requirements before doing so. Like you, I have zero interest in annuals other than pansies--got to have pansies as soon as they're available from the nurseries. My focus the past 7+ years has been perennials that perform consistently in the garden with little to no help from me and which attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Keep in mind Mother Nature has kept the planet green for a few million years without our help so take whatever tips you can from what she's accomplished & do your part to keep it going. One last note--check out the Winter Sowing forum. You can grow lots of perennials from seed for virtually zero cost and quickly fill your garden with healthy plants in a short space of time that way. My own garden beds are now filled with perennials I grew from seed via WS. As a result I've achieved my garden goals far more speedily than I ever would have anticipated.

sy, When you write that your has good drainage, does that mean water can leave the pot? The moisture has to reach the seed and a little below. The soil should go from saturated at watering to barely moist before watering again. Usually the water travels through the pot and out the bottom leaving moisture behind but not flooding all the air from the soil. Good drainage allows the air to reenter the soil as the water moves out. Roots need some water(nutrients) and air to grow. Does this make sense? There is an amazing amount of information on this in the container gardening, tomatoe SFG forums. GL Aloha

nn, The sun could have been a problem, but it sounds like it wasn't (no sunburn). Pictures would be right handy. It sounds like your suggested soil method is spot-on. 'Too dry' can happen to succulents, but not usually - it's best to let them get dry between waterings. When it's warm and succulents are in growth (and porous soil), a weekly watering is usually sufficient. I hadn't heard of Taciveria (Tacitus x Echeveria) before (someone must have officially declared Graptopetalum bellum is actually Tacitus bellus). Echeveria lilicina is a great plant and it's difficult to have too much 'Blue Haze'.