Whenever a plant has the potential to be in the same soil for 2 or more growth cycles, I use the gritty mix. I no longer have much interest in growing what we would think of as typical houseplants. Almost everything I now grow is either a woody plant that can be manipulated, or a succulent, though I do practice bonsai techniques when the whim strikes, on plants like coleus, snapdragon, or anything else, the looks of which can be enhanced by a variety of techniques commonly used in bonsai. Many bonsai techniques are very easy to learn/apply, and can be seriously effective tools you can use to keep plants healthy and looking good - no matter whether you have an actual interest in bonsai or not. So, as things are now, everything you might think of as a houseplant is in the gritty mix; but, if I was growing gobs of plants like pothos, croton, pilea (the more herbaceous stuff), I'd have a lot of them in 5:1:1. FWIW - oxalis really loves the gritty mix, as do almost all succulents. How I judge what soil to use: If it grows very fast or has a very enthusiastic root system and needs repotting every year w/o fail (if they are to perform well), I'd choose the 5:1:1 mix. Plants like datura, brugs, hibiscus ...... go in the 5:1:1 because they almost always need an annual repot. I can't see much reason to put plants like that in the gritty mix unless they're to be grown in rather or very shallow pots where perched water would be especially ruinous of potential, even if you CAN squeeze a fair amount of additional potential from plants in more carefully-structured soils. Al

It's difficult to tell where the water flows after it leaves your property, but looks like another road or drive where the police car sits.? It looks like you have negative grade in the area closest to your house. If this was done by a landscaper or contractor, then this is a poor job. As far as I know you have the right to have water flow from your property. Is the water flow from the right coming from your neighbors property? It's really tough to give advise without knowing all of the entire story. But, I think that I would put in a french drain, as you indicated in pink, that extends under the standing water on the far side of your property. This would take care of that problem, too. I would get a small excavating company do the job. Do any of your neighbors downspouts connect to anything? I see that yours just spills out onto the concrete. If you could tie in your downspouts to a drain this would probably take care of it. Is there a storm sewer at the street? I have more questions than answers. You just have to help gravity do its job. Luke

geovann, If the softener is operating properly and all that happened is that you ran out of salt here's what you do... With enough salt in the brine tank to cover the water, add a couple gallons of water to the brine well (4" tube where the float lives). Wait 2 hours (for salt to dissolve) and initiate a manual regeneration. As soon as the regeneration ends add 2 gallons of water to the brine well (4" tube where the float lives). Use no or as little water as possible while waiting 2 hours and initiate a second manual regeneration. Now the resin will be as replenished as possible and all should be well. If you just wait for the softener to catch up, it never will. Your water heater is full of hard water so you'll need to use that up. Routinely keep as much salt as necessary in the brine tank to cover the water and get in the habit of checking weekly.

Contrary to rumor no studies I've found have shown that a correctly sized and efficiently set up softener has caused any damage to a septic system. A correctly sized and efficiently set up softener should be regenerating no more frequently than once a week and the effluent sent to drain is approximately 50 gallons which is easily dealt with in even a minimally sized septic system. Many septic systems have a 1000 gallon or larger tank If your governing environmental authority prohibits softener discharge into a septic system then there are alternatives like a French drain type setup as biermech posted.