first ... get over the guilt/unhappiness .. every flower has its season .. and sometimes that season is not long.. you wouldnt complain.. that a tulip only blooms for a week.. would you??? so be happy for your success .. and move on ... crimminey.. you grew them from an embryo ... aka .. a seed ... second.. it has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SPOT .. meaning the soil ... see PS ...... its a cultural problem.. most mildews.. occur and thrive during hot, humid NIGHTS [perhaps they are the vampires of the garden] ... my PM does anyway ... and i will yell.. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SOIL .... CULTURE is how the plant is treated above ground .. as in heat.. sun.. humid nights.. etc ... though the spores.. if that is the right term.. can be on the soil surface i suppose .... but once disturbed.. that should not be an issue ... and probably solved simply with a mulch ... [and rhiz can correct me again.. if i am wrong.. lol] ... amending planting holes.. ONLY .. can lead to problems.. you really should NOT throw things ONLY in holes.. just because you have it laying around ... a little perlite.. is NOT going to change the drainage capacity of a clay soil ... especially not a hole dug into a poor soil ... BTW .. if you are growing.. and succeeding with rose.. what i consider one of the most foo.. of the foo foo ... you really shouldnt be all wrapped up in problems with cosmos ... you really are.. much further ahead.. than you consider yourself ... ken ps: i said it has nothing to do with the spot.. but one thing that reduces it.. is night air movement.. when things are too jammed together.. and air movement is restricted.. that culture.. can make a problem explode.. PM is endemic in monarda also ... it was a nightmare for me way back.. so i dug it up and set it in full sun ... by itself.. and the problem was reduced significantly .. and the biggest thing.. culture again.. was that i learned not to come home from work.. and in the late evening.. give everything a shower with the hose.. if your plants go into dark.. DRY!!! ... again.. you reduce the 'potential' greatly ... darn.. the PS is getting longer than the reply.. lol ... reducing potential.. would be part of IPM .. integrated pest management.. and should be next on your learning curve.. so as to reduce the need to run to the chemical bin.. and getting out the sprayer.. every time something is not perfect ... [PM is not a pest.. per se .. but it would be within the concept of such.. wouldnt it???] PPS: .. if i were to be thinking of spraying the roses.. i would have cut the cosmos to the first or second buds.. down near 6 inches.. and then sprayed those with the the roses.. and with severe canopy reduction.. removal of the PM.. and an intact mature root system.. they probably would have been back to 3 feet in weeks ... it would have been a neat experiment ... and would have increased your learning curve.. had you not had the chicken little complex of utter destruction ... based on fear .. there is a mixed metaphor for you .. lol

Greetings! Comment 1: I'm not sure about your texas seasons, but you might be jumping the gun on the beans there if it is the right time to plant all the other you mentioned. Those are all cool weather crops except for the beans, which prefer heat. Question 1: ultimately it is up to you, but I wouldn't bother doing that. If indeed things got moved around by the rain (might not have), I would make the best of it and let them grow, perhaps thinning them as needed as it becomes apparent which are where. Or you could chalk it up as a loss, fix that area so it doesn't happen again if such weather is common for you. Then move on to plant summer crops there when the time is right. Comment 2: by tight I take it to mean compacted? Question 2: well, compost is really good, composted manure or leaves are good, you can use straw or hay or other mulch for water conservation this year and till it in in winter... And I can't remember just now, but there are some deep rooted cover crops that are good for breaking up compacted soils. Some type of radish? I can't recall, it's been a while since I moved to sandy soil, I'm forgetting stuff that had to do with loosening heavy soils :)But usually getting soil less compacted is a process that takes time and repeated application and you see improvements year by year.

I've had my worms for more than 10 years, about 6 of that in a Can-O-Worm bin. The bin is usually very healthy, lots of worms eating lots of kitchen waste and creating lots of vermicompost. EVERY SINGLE TIME that I open the lid, there is between 2 and 20 worms crawling on the sides and the lid. I figure that since worms have spread all over the world (to a certain extent), there are always going to be some that have a little more wanderlust in their heart(s), and feel the need to explore. So if there is a few worms crawling out of where they are "supposed" to be (remember, not all worms have read the book to see what they are "supposed" to be doing), my experience is that that is normal. If there are many worms on the sides and lid, or if the number is continually increasing, maybe something is a little "off" in your worm bin. Maybe too wet, too much food, not enough food, etc. Emily in frigid Fairbanks

multi tier worm bins are real bad for brand newie worm wranglers. The trouble is they seem like simplicity itself. open lid and throw kitchen scraps which are 70% water in top tray and sprinkle with water. Over time these kitchen scraps 'decompose' and the worms eat upwards on the food, fungi, organisisms all muching away at these foods. The water and moisture from the kitchen scraps follow gravity to the bottom of the bin into the sump. So this bottom area tends to mainly be moist and smelly since new worm wranglers tend to not empty the leachate (which is toxic and poisonous) off enough, so the worms tend to dislike this bottom area since it has yucky stagnant water pooling there; its basically a swamp since it also contains worm castings. Thus new worm wranglers often drain off this foul smelling soup and flush the system with more water, but by 'overwatering' now they are compacting the upper layers with water molecules. this is because water acyaully is very heavy and it clings to itself, so the overwatering tends to compress the food bedding layers and the water clings to itself and displaces oxygen. So now we get anerobic decomposition and instead of aerobic methane that quickly disapates off in a well balanced oxygenated worm bin we get a compressed mass of food that slows down its decomposition due to lack of oxygen. Now we get ammonia gas and this gas kills worms real dead, so the worms must run away (into the bottom sump) or do a worm run and leave the bin entirely to avoid being gassed to death. So, to dry, to wet? the newbie worm wrangler tends to lighten up on how much water they add, so gravity tends to pull down moisture into the bottom layers and water sump. So now the upper layers of newer food tend to dry out more and worms breathe through their WET MOIST skin so they tend to move to where the water is (into the sump) luckily. AS long as they have a ladder to reclimb back up to the bedding layers instead of drwoning in the sump. Remember they need moisture to breathe so they dehydatrate if they stay up top. If it rains then they worm run away to the refreshing outside rain and die from sunlight or lawn fertilizer or whatever. So this is why (especially) with a sudden unplanned for run of hot weather that evaporates or transpirates your top layers of moisuture away your worms flee to the bottom sump layer for the life giving water. Remember without water worms are dead, dry bedding to a worm is the same as you crawling over broken glass or sandpaper without protection; it would not be nice so do not 'neglect' your worms. These factors and others are why multi tier worm farms are not the greatest for newbie worm wranglers, but remember worms are very resilient and people learn if they lose or hurt their babies (worms), so over time humans get better at 'listening' to what worms "like". Generally worms like being left alone to do their thing and mainly new worm wranglers try to hard to 'help' the worms with to much food or water but we humans usually get better over time, but of course you have to take note of the weather since worms cannot learn to drink from a tap; how could they turn it on ? ;)