@dleverette When making 5:1:1 mix, I break-up the compressed chunks of peat so they pass through a 1/2" screen. I toss any sticks and such on top of the raised beds where they break down with time. Here's a tip you'll find very helpful. For large batches of 5:1:1, pour the bark onto a tarp laid on a flat surface, then wet the bark a bit. Then, add the screened peat and spread it over the bark. Add your lime on top of the peat, then put down the perlite and wet that. The trick is to use just enough water to make the mix damp when it's thoroughly mixed. Both peat and pine bark are hydrophobic (water repellent) when allowed to dry below about 20% of their water holding ability. This makes a dry 5:1:1 mix extremely difficult to rewet if you don't moisten it when you make it. The moisture in the mix diffuses, moistening the bark/ peat and "breaking" its tendency to repel water. Within 15-30 minutes of making the mix you can pot plants and water them in thoroughly w/o the frustration associated with trying to rehydrate a dry soil. FWIW, I don't use coir. As many times as I've tried it and cone comparative experiments, I've always had problems or been dissatisfied with the results. You might be interested in a comparison between peat and coir I wrote several years back: Peat vs. Coir Sphagnum peat and coir have nearly identical water retention curves. They both retain about 90-95% of their volume in water at saturation and release it over approximately the same curve until they both lock water up so tightly it's unavailable for plant uptake at about 30-33% saturation. Coir actually has less loft than sphagnum peat, and therefore, less aeration. Because of this propensity, coir should be used in mixes at lower %s than peat. Because of the tendency to compact, in the greenhouse industry coir is primarily used in containers in sub-irrigation (bottom-watering) situations. Many sources produce coir that is high in soluble salts, so this can also be an issue. Using coir as the primary component of container media virtually eliminates lime or dolomitic lime as a possible Ca source because of coir's high pH (6+). Gypsum should be used as a Ca source, which eliminates coir's low S content. All coir products are very high in K, very low in Ca, and have a potentially high Mn content, which can interfere with the uptake of Fe. Several studies have also shown that the significant presence of phenolic allelochemicals in fresh coir can be very problematic for a high % of plants, causing poor growth and reduced yields. I haven't tested coir thoroughly, but I have done some testing of CHCs (coconut husk chips) with some loose controls in place. After very thoroughly leaching and rinsing the chips, I made a 5:1:1 soil of pine bark:peat:perlite (which I know to be very productive) and a 5:1:1 mix of CHCs:peat:perlite. I planted 6 cuttings of snapdragon and 6 cuttings of Coleus (each from the same plant to help reduce genetic influences) in containers (same size/shape) of the different soils. I added dolomitic lime to the bark soil and gypsum to the CHC soil. After the cuttings struck, I eliminated all but the three strongest in each of the 4 containers. I watered each container with a weak solution of MG 12-4-8 with STEM added at each watering, and watered on an 'as needed basis', not on a schedule. The only difference in the fertilizer regimen was the fact that I included a small amount of MgSO4 (Epsom salts) to provide MG (the dolomitic lime in the bark soil contained the MG, while the gypsum (CaSO4) in the CHC soil did not. This difference was necessary because or the high pH of CHCs and coir.) for the CHC soil. The results were startling. In both cases, the cuttings grown in the CHC's exhibited < 1/2 the biomass at summers end as the plants in the bark mix. I just find it very difficult for a solid case to be made (besides "It works for me") for the use of coir or CHC's. They're more expensive and more difficult to use effectively. The fact that some believe peat is in short supply (no where near true, btw) is easily offset by the effect of the carbon footprint of coir in its trek to the US from Sri Lanka or other exotic locales. That's the view from here. YMMV Coir Study: https://sites.google.com/site/plantandsoildigest/usu-crop-physiology-laboratory/coconut-coir-studies Al

My advice is to stay the course. Keep providing increased levels of N. For rapidly growing vegetables I would suggest no less than 1 tsp per gallon (FP) at every watering. With cucumbers you probably don't want to go much higher than that but you can check around online for ppm N for continuous feed and cucumbers and decide for yourself. The eggplant could probably use more. In the future my advice would be to use bark that is more appropriate and to make sure you add a starter charge. Josh and I disagree on this. In my view you want partially composted pine fines which look nothing like what you have in your pots. If you want to know what I mean you can see my (annoyingly repetitive, I know) video concerning 5-1-1 preparation here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPOATQ3nxXY&feature=plcp I've seen Josh's and I think the bark he's using would be a problem in my growing conditions. I prefer my bark the way you see it in my video. There's a particular shot where I zoom in that is the best one to see the quality of the bark - the wide angle shot makes it look finer than it is but you will get the idea. You can also get the idea of what it should look like by tracking down a single bag of Fafard #51 or #52 mixes. It's a pine bark based potting mix used by nursery professionals and you will see that the bark in that mix looks just like the bark I show you in the video above. The stuff you have there would be more appropriate for the gritty mix in my view. Also note that if you use CRF as a starter charge and then let the soil sit around in damp and warm conditions for a long period of time you will kill whatever you try to plant in that soil down the road. If you use crf as your starter you want to plant in it immediately or make sure you keep it cool and dry. Whatever you do in the future you do not want to put a plant into a soilless mix with absolutely zero nitrogen and then skip 1 week of fertilizing. That's asking for trouble. Was the water that you used in the mason jar distilled? If not then all you did was read the pH of your tap water and you should redo the test with distilled (spring water and etc will not cut it). If you did use distilled then that's not a great number but FP will drop the pH over time if you keep using it (assuming your water quality is decent in terms of alkalinity). Testing for soil nitrogen is not a simple process and I wouldn't trust any home kit to give you anything close to a useful number. Even if you send a sample to a lab it won't tell you all that much. N is more mobile than other nutrients in soil and rain/leeching and a whole host of other factors can cause soil readings to be difficult to interpret.

Thanks lomodor. I do plan on putting her in the ground. I'm taking out some honeysuckle and making a row of bananas on the southeast side of my house and then eventually on the southwest. After talking to my friend from the nursery, and doing a bit of Internet research, he believes the variety is burro banana. Otherwise known as Orinoco(?) Anyone have experience with these bananas? My soil is mixed decomposing granite and clay. I actually dug a hole for a papaya, and it drained extremely slow. It took all day to drain the first fill. So that's where I'll plant the banana. If they are heavy waterers, then the water retention will be handy. There seems to be a strip of clay on the southeast and southwest parts of the property. Those spots seem to be decently fertile. I have a pomegranate in the southwest corner that I never water and it's doing great. I compost almost everything here. I was reading on how when the leaves die, to layer them around the tree for mulch(?). Would that be sufficient? Oh and I collect rainwater. I wouldn't attempt to grow half of what I am growing if I didn't. That water bill would be outrageous. I already pay ~$45 a month which I think is too much. It used to be $20. And yes I plan on having as many bananas as I can :D so my next question. Do I need more than one type of banana for cross fertilization? When can I plant my pup? It was pulled out of the ground a couple days ago, so can I put it back in the ground right away? I was hoping to make sure it stayed alive first before I put it through the shock of another transplant. The soil that it was growing in is the same soil I have. The nursery is right down the street, and the pup was from the banana tree already growing there. Sorry for the novel, but I want to do this right. I love having bananas in the morning, so homegrown would make me happy :) since I've noticed that the flavor of store bought bananas seem to have gotten a "watered down" taste to them over the past few years.

Good stuff. I would just add that I think the green/brown ratio has a lot to do with whether you lose N and its importance should not be underestimated. If your spring grass based pile gets really hot and smells like ammonia, you've got too much grass in there. Add some browns. Also, a turning or two over the next few months will help the compost finish and provide a nice consistent product with fewer undigested bits. It also gives you a chance to check moisture levels. The pile will dry out rapidly during the hot phase so if it doesn't rain, poke in there and check it. I'm drooling over the neighborhood's grass harvest as we speak.