Watering once a week in our climate doesn't seem to work very well even when you live in an area with clay soil. I've been able to keep my lawn green watering every 4-5 days, but that's about the longest I can stretch it (although I'm switching to native grasses and should be able to go at least a couple of weeks at a time once they take over). With sandy soil, I think you'll need to water more frequently, but I'm not sure how often. It's probably tempting to water daily (especially if you have secondary water) but I think that would be counter productive. You may be able to get by watering twice a week, but may have to go to three times a week in the hottest part of the summer. If you can program your sprinkler to do so, use two different cycles--one for the front and one for the back. Is there a Starbucks near you (or one that you pass regularly)? If so, stop in and ask them if they have grounds for the garden. They're free and there's no need to buy anything. The coffee grounds are good organic matter (something nearly all Utah soil lacks) and a mild fertilizer. You don't have to spread them exactly evenly, but can just fling them around as long as you don't spread them more than about 1/2 inch thick. I start in one corner and walk backward spreading grounds until I run out. When I next pass a Starbucks, I pick up where I left off until I have covered the whole lawn, then start over. Adding organic matter helps my clay soil absorb water better and will help your sand retain the water better. If you want to try seeding something that will do well with little or no water, you could try western wheatgrass and/or thickspike wheatgrass. In my clay soil, streambank does better than thickspike. These grasses aren't as dark as KBG, but will stay green with little additional water. Crested wheatgrass (an import from Siberia) is another option but I don't care for the way it looks. Fine fescues such as sheep fescue and creeping red fescue may be able to do ok and are darker green than the wheatgrasses. These alternative grasses don't need much fertilizer and will suffer if they get too much.

i am surrounded by neighbors .... who have pungens like yours ... i have a ton of picea pungens in my collection.. all under 14 years old ... none of them are affected ... effected.. whatever ... one old lady neighbors husband... just before he passed... had his 35 pungens ... limbed up about 15 feet .... they looked better.. but it didnt change anything... he's been gone 5 years or so ... and she is left with 35 carp trees ... they were probably planted in teh 70s when teh house was built.. encircling the one acre lot on 3 sides ... the one next door... paid to have his 35 footers sprayed for about 5 years running... with no real impact ... except a boat payment for the sprayer and the chem maker ..... IMHO ... get it out of there.. as soon as you can afford it ... as to fertiing ... a mature tree... fert the lawn.. and the tree will steal anything it needs... same with water ... some suggest a tree .. and conifers are trees.. is twice as big below ground as above.. but in a rather flat pancake shape .... and if you contemplate that.. you think.. my God.. where would i fert it ... etc ... and i say.. the lawn ... and forget about spikes and what not ... how do you know.. wherever you might pound it in.. that the tree will take advantage of it ... crikey,.. the trees feeder roots might be over in the neighbors lawn ... finally.. i would NEVER spray a blue tree .. you will ruin the blue wax [just like a hosta] .... so whats the point???? i dont know what you mean by high water table.. but one would expect a tree to utilize such ... listen to me.. these are FOREST trees .. no one ferts them.. no one waters them.. so dont over think it all ... they either survive.. or they dont.. and there really is little you can do ... once fully established after planting ... they ... IMHO ... take care of themselves.. like ALL trees do ... they have been doing it for millions of years ... make any sense??? get rid of the oldster.. when you can afford it .. and dont worry about the relative babes... they might get the same in 30 or 40 years ... i know i wont be around to worry about it then.. and if i happen to be.. i will just be drooling myself.. and not really care .. lol ken

Laura, If in ground plants are not affected, I would venture to say it is not insects or disease, although both will show up sooner in stressed plants. What kind of drainage do your containers have? I don't see any drainage holes on the sides and where they are directly on the grass or soil, any holes in the bottom may not be sufficient. How is the growing medium moisture level about 3-4" under the surface of the medium? If you think poking a finger that far down into the dirt might disturb your plants, or the roots are such that you can't get down that far without damaging them, GardenWebber sprouts_honor (Jennifer from Cleveland) had a wonderful suggestion on how to tell whether or not you need to water your tomatoes, and I quote here: "Get a wooden dowel rod (or two) and sink it in the ground near a plant or two and leave it. Pull it out when you think you need to water. If the top is dry and the bottom is a little damp, it's time to water. If it looks dark and feels saturated, wait to water. I use this technique with potted plants that don't like being over watered and it's helpful with in ground plants too." As I said before, the most common cause of leaf roll is water logging. Please let us know. Betsy

Isaball, I just love that golddust! It's funny, Mason's never been much of a toy dog. He likes to tug with me but his idea of playing with a toy prior to Jovi's arrival was to rip it apart as fast as possible and see if he could eat the inndards before I got them. (Tennis balls he can "pop" quite easily, powerful jaws.) As a consequence, he only got toys when closely supervised. Well, now there are toys all over the place. The first week I was obsessed about picking them up so Mason wouldn't have access to them. (It's not the ripping up I care about, it's the eating and possibly causing an obstruction.) I finally figured out that the only time he picks up a toy, balls included, is when he wants to "tease" Jovi. He really is a very special boy and I hope some of him rubs off on Jovi. Maire cate, I'm so glad you're enjoying the photos! I really like GSDs and Rotties too. I just like big dogs and if they bred smaller Dobermans then I'd probably have stuck with that breed. As it is, I wanted a smaller dog too. That sofa and loveseat are old, about 12 or so years old. Our dogs have always been allowed on them and we've never had a problem but I keep their nails very short. How often I do them depends on their growing stage. Whit and Mason as mature adults had their nails dremeled once a week. When Mason was a pup, his nails grew so fast that I did them twice a week. Right now everyone is getting their nails done every 2-3 days because I'm teaching Jovi to accept the dremel. She did very well with it this morning! I'll try to get some new photos later today. It seems that one of Jovi's ears is trying to change from semi-erect (flopped over tip) to fully erect. I've never had a BC before so I've got no idea if this is common or what....I've sent a question in to the breeder's Yahoo group. Anyway, my little girl has one ear up and one flooped today. Oh and Marie cate? Just because I understand what you mean about size issues with a Dobe, that doesn't mean I need to make it easy for you. :-) A few more "baby Mason" photos to keep everyone until I get some new Jovi photos.