Ed - thanks. It's good to know about your success with the peat. It might have been the combination in the other potting mixes that I've used in the past. They would be a soggy mess at the bottom and at the top, the peat would dry and strangle the poor stems and then not hydrate when I would water. I haven't tried it in the 511, so I'll give it a shot. I'm sure my plants will thank me. I've read of people using the gritty mix for tomatoes and peppers...I wonder how they do it without having to water so much. Josh - You didn't miss it :) My tomatoes are in 5-gal or bigger containers, peas are in 3-gal and the greens are in 2-gallon containers. There is definitely no perched water at all in the containers with this mix, which is great, but definitely going to need something that will retain more moisture for our dry climate. Do you think it would be possible to add some peat to the ones I already potted to help them out a bit? I've just recently got them in the containers in the past few days, so I could probably carefully get them out without too much root disturbance (I hope) and add some peat, then repot...? Thanks to both of your for sharing your insights and wisdom :) Laura

That is not nearly decomposed enough to plant in,idealy. . But since you did, I would keep it moist, and add some nitrogen(grass clippings,alfalfa,etc) to hasten decomposition.. The more decomposed it is, the more water holding capacity it has. Think of wood chips, fresh chipped wood had bear none absorption, wait for it to break down and get spongy, a few inches will hold cups of water! Why would you buy leaf mold? Why not just soil/compost? It's funny how in fall, people give away their leaves and don't even want to rake them, comes spring, people would kill for some good compost! Next time, check your product before you buy it.. It looks like the city just vacummed up all the yard waste on the curb.. Looks like chipped wood,etc.. How much you pay for that? All that being said, I do the same thing you do, but I dont do it by "mistake".. I get free "compost" from the city.. It's hit or miss.. Sometimes it's fully decomposed, other times it's raw shredded leaves.. Whatever I get I doexactly what you did, just lay it on top the soil... If you keep it moist and have the right carbon/nitrogen ratio, it will break down before you know it.. Most of the times you just need a some nitrogen, throw a handful or two of grass clipping in the mix.. Don't worry, Joe

Up, up and not away!

If you do a search for "coarse perlite" you will get lots of hits. I bought my last bags on Ebay from the Violet Showcase and there are several offers for it right now from various vendors. You're looking for a #3 or #4 grade. I don't mix this with my potting mix; I use it in the bottom of my pots for modified Texas-style watering. There is still some dust/small particles in the bags because the stuff just naturally sheds, but mostly you will get pieces that are about 1/2" in size. I still use the small perlite (available at most big box stores) to add to my soil mix, but the larger grade is what I need for drainage in the bottoms of the pots because I use capillary mats to water my AV's. Be careful if you use the Miracle Gro brand perlite; last time I checked it they are now adding fertilizer to it...so, if you have fertilizer in your potting soil (which it is hard to find any without these days,) fertilizer in your perlite and then you add more fertilizer when you water - it could spell trouble for your violets. Trust me, you do not want to find out about over-fertilization (micro-nutrient toxicity) first hand. If using these charged products, I would withhold any additional fertilizer for the first 2 or 3 months after re-potting. And I re-pot my violets at least once (aiming for twice) a year. I will admit that the larger my collection grows (now well over 100 - yikes!) the less I get to that second time for the entire group. But it is worth making the effort because it is simply amazing how they respond to fresh soil and take off with new growth and bloom. Alternately, if you can't re-pot that often, even adding a bit of fresh soil to the top of the pot (thereby burying any neck) can also perk them up, I've found. IME, after a year most AV's are getting a neck on them anyway, and lowering them in the pot is much easier if you catch it before you are left with no other solution than to re-start the crown because the stem has gotten so long that even cutting off the bottom of the root ball won't make them short enough to sit down inside the pot as they should.