There are a couple of points to be made that seem to have been overlooked. Dry organic fertilizers used with container plantings are going to be pretty ineffectual. Commercial bagged container or potting soils tend not have the necessary populations of soil organisms required to break them down into a plant usable form. OK for any inground planting but not for containers, despite what the label might indicate. While some nutes might get assimilated and absorbed or taken up by the plants, most of it will be wasted. If you want to stick to organics - ideally not really advised for any containers - then stick with fully liquid ones. That the dry stuff has developed a 'mold' is not unreasonable. Fungal organisms live off the organic matter these products contain and the 'mold' is just the visible sign of these natural decomposers. They will also appear in regular old and unfertilized potting soil as well, as a good percentage of that is also organic matter. In and of themselves they are harmless and won't adversely affect the plants - they feed off of or decompose dead OM, not live plant tissue. But they are often an indication that the potting soil is being kept overly moist and that CAN harm the plants!

Stay calm, Marsha, I didn't mean to imply you're on the DG marketing team, or anything, but although their section on use of material is much less lengthy than the one in the new iVillage TOS (as are their sections in pretty much ALL of their TOS, which is about the size of GW's OLD TOS when Spike still owned it), it DOES have the same gist to it, i.e., that they're saying they can use whatever you contribute however they see fit. It's kind of like some magazines that accept a lot of submissions from readers... For instance, I subscribe to "Birds & Blooms," and I LOVE the magazine... Each issue is FULL of plenty of beautiful pictures and occasionally a useful article or two, as well :) MANY of those photographs happen to be user-contributed, however, through various sections of the magazine where they tell you how you can contribute and in most cases they say something to the effect that "photographs cannot be returned and become the property of 'Birds & Blooms,'" thereby getting a lot of content for free -- or they sometimes will say they'll send you a free "suncatcher" or something similar if they use your photograph (token payment). That sort of thing is quite common among smaller PAPER publications. The INTERNET, on the other hand, is still a rather young and evolving area, and I think this idea of forums laying claim to perpetual use of all material posted on them might be a growing trend, since I now see it on both Dave's Garden and in the new iVillage TOS... Prior to this development, the internet, still being very much a sort of "wild west editorial environment," has had forums like these with sometimes experts and even famous people posting on them as just "regular Joes," sharing their knowledge and expertise, perhaps in some cases even relieved to finally be able to have something resembling "public conversations" without having to worry about being swamped by fans, and so forth, or repeatedly asked for free professional advice because people know they actually happen to be Dr. Phil, or Steven King, or whoever. And NO, I'm definitely NOT one of THOSE people... At one point a few years ago, I had a bit of "local celebrity" status as a weekly newspaper editor, but the biggest thing I've ever published was the cover story for a state-wide public policy journal read by all the lawmakers and public officials in SC... And I'm not aware of any such folks on the Carolina Gardening forum, but I DO know of at least one Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Vermont who is a sometimes (used to be regular) poster on the Ponds forum and wrote that forum's FAQs. He's been featured in pond programs on national programs on Public Television, too. I seriously doubt HE'D appreciate having HIS contributions -- many of which he doubtless gained through years of research and study both in his pond and at the university -- appropriated by iVillage to use for THEIR advertising, without attribution, for free. As for the photographs, Yeah, I've done a bit of "professional photography." I shot many of the photographs for several of the papers I worked for, and I also shot weddings for a while, and got some really good shots... And today, with digital cameras and the ability to see what you have and keep shooting until you get what you want, I can get even better shots (My theory on professional photographers has long been that the biggest difference between most pros and serious amateurs was how many shots they could afford to take)... So nowadays, I'm getting some garden shots I think are of publishable quality, although since I lost my paper I'm too blocked to get up the gumption to go back to free-lancing again... BUT I'd still like that option. And I'm sure I'm not the only one... If you want another example, go to the Ponds and Aquatic Plants forum, click on the Gallery and look for the Fall Ponds Photos (10-17, I believe), posted by Cliff_and_Joann. That lady (Joann seems to do all the posting) takes GREAT pictures and has some of the most beautiful ponds with some of the most beautiful koi I've ever seen... and she usually posts them fairly large. She doesn't deserve to have those "appropriated." No, Dianne. I won't leave (although they may kick me off with all I've been writing, lol). But I may be more selective with what I post and shy away from some of the more humorous or creative posts, or anything I think might look "attractive" to someone looking for something to "appropriate." And Marsha, I think your efforts on this front are admirable, so please don't think I was slamming you. I'm not really all that concerned about the cookies and partners and ads and so forth. I just don't like them laying claim to all our "intellectual property." By the way, it's not just me. I think all of YOU have a lot of "intellectual property" to protect, as well, even if you don't. Take care, Jeff

Hello Bruce I don't believe the size of the seed matters. It is the right conditions. Warmth, and humidity. I put my seeds in small plastic containers, and put them on top of the hot water heater. I picture lawyers drooooling over this,and it's a crying shame. Just keep them away from the pipes. They don't need light to germinate.(This applies to lawyers also): On another note I had some new seeds I bought last year (just one type). I only got 2 or three sprouts out of several seeds of this packet last year. I figured they were not very fertile, so I threw the rest of the packet in this year. Well I now have 29 Marrina's Peace sprouts. I guess the humidity is the only difference. I used the same water heater, same growing mixture. I guess I did use different tap water a year ago :

Yes, I have. A little late for you now, but I learned the hard way to always take color chips and make them paint and fully dry out samples  for every single can  before I'll leave. Part of the problem is they aren't collecting the money. They mistakenly see it as they don't have as much skin in the game. Combine that with paint store staff who are painfully narrow-minded, might understand paint to a degree but are clueless about color, and it's a disaster waiting to happen. Paint store staff can be very difficult to deal with -- even at some of the independent Ben Moore stores when it comes to Ben Moore products. On one hand FS takes more hoops to jump thru to acquire, on the other it's not any more of a PITA than trying to get standard product out of standard stores. Being a consumer of color can be frustrating and a lot of work. The brand name doesn't seem to matter much because it happens across all price-points and processes. He gave you wrong answer when he said it was Ellen's problem. It's going to be 'made right' and It's going to be okay. My guess is the paint store guy will quickly learn that Ellen is not short on support on an executive level at Azko-Nobel. His fortune cookie of the day should read: "Enlightenment is coming your way."