Well, I posted a very long blog post about my mistakes making the 5-1-1 mix and how it all turned out. In the end, after sifting out all the big chunks, I actually ended up with something that looks a lot like Miracle Grow, so it should at least work well enough with some TLC! Here is a link that might be useful: blog post on the 5-1-1 project

I have this question too. It seems to me that the best recommendation I've seen here - iirc - would actually be to use the bark between the 1/4" and insect screen (which is easy to find). I might be wrong though. Maybe that was just for the gritty only? Maybe the just-under-half inch - or, what goes through a 1/2" screen - is just fine for 5-1-1. I see that some people here have had good results with the 1/2 inch screen - and that's good news - yet given that it is prime repot season in North Am now, I am hoping for more people to chime in. (I'd love for 1/2" screen to work.) I've read a bunch of the threads and somehow I don't seem to get a fix on this yet. Sorry if it is rude to re-ask, or if I am hijacking. Like so much else, my internet etiquette is not always ideal.

Ohiofem, Just saw the recent posts on this thread. So you think you need some sort of "gardening intervention"? Ha, I doubt it. You are correct that having both a full-time job and a family places significant limits on free time, but the great thing is that you have come up with a system of fertilizing that helps minimize your time and effort. By using the Osmocote/Dynamite CRF you no longer have to carry those heavy water/fertilizer containers all over your yard. We all have to do what works for us. As Al has said in various posts we all have to balance what works for us as growers and what works best for our plants. It's always a balancing act between the two. TYG

Congrats. I know exactly how you feel. I found mine at Ohio Mulch, only 97 miles away, middle of nowhere. I loaded my SUV with 17 bags, drove 1/4 mile, and SUV said, "Not one step further." Had to be towed. I'm laughing now. Ha.