Rhizo's advice is great :-) Applying organic gardening principles is easy....once you understand the basics of how plants grow and what they need. The Botany for Gardeners text is a great starting point but then you'll need to research the specifics for the individual plants you choose - each will have its own set of preferences. Soil conditions are only one of multiple variables and cultural requirements that affect the growth of plants so I wouldn't get too hung up on that to begin with. After you understand the hows, whats and whys, then you can get specific about how to provide those requirements in your situation. For a good all-round reference on both organic gardening and gardening in general (but overlooking the kind of high falutin title), I'd suggest Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Resource for Every Gardener. At 700+ pages, it should build up some muscles anyway :-)

The recommendation is usually to let it harden off and heal on it's own... However, I always worry that stuff will get in there and put the same glue on that I cover the cane ends with when I prune them...

Always fun to experiment!! Just my opinion Oxy, but if I were you, next time I would use first aid tape..the clear kind. Wont rip away any of the plant when you remove it, like I would think the packing tape might do. Also the first aid tape will stand up better to the moisture. Daniella

Actually it looks like caulk was doing the job for YEARS, judging from the extra-wide band that I scraped up, and from what I found behind the baseboard in the adjacent closet (where leak shows up)--i.e. leak doesn't appear to have been going on for long, yet previous owner did mondo caulk job. Of course there was significant grout erosion in the wall grout, from floor up to about 2' level; caulk was pushed into these seams as well. The shower floor is the 1" mosaic tile, with much wider grout lines than the 4" wall tiles, yet the floor grout appears to be in much better shape. I appears that the leak is just from a 4" crack along the floor-to-side-wall seam, starting at the 3-way corner where the front wall meets. I'm fortunate that leaked water is flowing in only 1 of 4 possible directions... lucky slope of the slab. The 2 bathrooms share a common wall, containing all plumbing; adjacent BA medicine cabinet covers plumbing access for the shower in question... pulled cab, took a long look w/ flashlight--no leaking from valve body, no migration of leaked water toward shared wall. This leak is small, limited, and begging for a patch job. I think most of the grunt labor is in removing old caulk and loose grout. Need some tips on what acid/wash to use to COMPLETELY clean tile. Thanks in advance... NOTE TO SELF: Borescopes are finally dropping in price... buy one soon!