I'll answer the first question for you. The planting hole should be the as wide as you care to dig it, though with a sandy soil, you needn't make it much larger than 2 or 3 times the width of the root ball. It should not be any deeper, however, than the height of the roots and maybe even a little bit shallower. That root ball should rest a little above the surrounding soil level. It's best to measure carefully so that you don't have to put more soil in the bottom to compensate for a too-deep hole, but dig it out so that the roots can rest directly on the natural soil. Do not add a single bit of soil amendment to the hole or to the backfill. Plants establish themselves much more efficiently in native soil whether it be sandy, clayey or anything in between.

Nik Yes, the panels I am thinking about would be detachable. I also would like to have two "doors" - one for my husband to get to his grill and one to allow us to still go out and sit by the fire pit. I know that will increase the price but I really would like to make it practical and look good. I think we would enjoy sitting on the patio and still being able to see out and have it look really nice during the winter. I will have to get pricing info because I know they are not cheap. Your pergola idea sounds great too. One of the least expensive options I saw was the super clear plastic that you can order is custom sized sheets that has grommets all the way around. My only concern with that one for my patio is that there would be no "door" openings so when my husband would be cooking we would have to take the size down and the top of each panel would be over 10 feet high so that would mean a ladder every time we wanted to go out in the yard. I will let you know if I get any information. I saw the pics of your trees. They look great! I can't believe the prices you got. What Lowes did you find them at? My Lowes never had all those varieties. I only started attempting to grow citrus in June. I just switched to the 5:1:1 mix recently so I am by no means experienced with the different mixes. I chose 5:1:1 because I could find the ingredients easily and after reading on the forum I noted lots of people had success. I know lots have had grea results with the gritty mix too. I have used the pine bark from Home Depot and liked it but I honestly did not sift. I live in basically a zero lot line community so our yard is tiny and I don't have room to store leftover bark and my beds are full of mulch so I don't need any more there. For my situation the 5:1:1 seems to be draining well, easy to find ingredients and I think I will continue with repti-bark because the pieces are nice and tiny and as far as my pots go I am happier with the reptibark ones. Meyer Mike uses both 5:1:1 and gritty mixes and his plants look amazing so I am guessing both are great mixes. He also uses Foliage Pro at every watering - not full strength. He posted lots of great information about pests too. I got some fish emulsion at Home Depot and I am going to add that to my regimen. Kim

Cheap lighting would be shop lights from Home Depot or Lowe's. 48". They're easy to hang. As for keeping a dwarf tree alive, that's debatable. Do you mean Oroblanco? If so, it will need full sun and a lot of heat in order to thrive. And you'll never get fruit unless you can give it several months of direct sun and heat every year. They are delicious, and I wished you lived in an area where they grow. I live in a climate where citrus thrives, and have never seen them grown indoors under lights, and wish you good luck. Did you buy it locally, or mail order?

zarah Your containers are cute and good that you made sure about drainage holes - how many holes? - you could poke few just to make sure. Are they some kind of plastic? I would point out that with your humid climate you need to make sure about good air flow besides the drainage. I think your plants are planted little deep - especially ones in oblong containers. If you could make sure they are sitting higher, the air circulation would be better. The container should be filled to just touch below the rim. There isn't that much space in your individual pots to raise the level of mix since the handles have openings, perhaps just a little mounding in the middle would help. And what did you use for topping - is that rice husks? It looks pretty good, but I don't know anything about their water retention - but have seen them mentioned few times.If you think they hold water for too long, maybe a pebbles/stones could be used for top dressing, they could be bigger than what you use in the mix itself. The little 'stones' you mentioned that you buy along the road - are they the white particles visible in few photos? (the white granules - they look almost like perlite) - if yes, I think that's good sized grit. Rina