Regarding blueberries and soil pH, the condition of the plant, specifically the leaves, can be, and should be used as the most reliable indication of soil pH. If the leaves are deep green, and they look generally healthy, then the soil must be OK with regard to pH. It is possible for the blueberry roots, and the associated soil microbes, to create a favorable environment for blueberry growth, even though the pH reading a few inches away is higher than optimum. If an acidic solution is used to lower soil pH, it must be diluted correctly or the shrub will be killed for certain. Using our water, supplied by the city, here in Madison, Wisconsin, it takes 6 fluid ounces of 5% white vinegar added to 4 gallons of tap water, to lower the pH to around 6. I have never put straight vinegar down on any of our shrubs, however, I did spill about a tablespoon of 5% white vinegar on the lawn recently, and it did kill the grass! Vinegar will break down in the soil, likely due to soil microbes, and the pH will rise, eventually. That's why its important to have agricultural sulfur, granulated sulfur, in the soil. This material will slowly dissolve and be transformed into sulfuric acid, but the process takes about a year. It is possible to use liquid sulfuric acid, added to tap water, to lower the pH of the water. However, sulfuric acid is not readily available retail. It is relatively dangerous to store in the house, where it might end up in the hands of curious children. Sulfuric acid that is intended for use in storage batteries could contain traces of lead. This would be fine, for the intended use, but lead should never be added to the soil, because it is toxic. If you are going to use sulfuric acid to lower soil pH, you should know where it originated, and you should have an analysis for trace contaminants, including lead. Iron contamination would not be a problem. The pH of the irrigation water will have to be measured, either with a calibrated pH meter, or by means of titration. It is generally easier and safer to work with 5% white vinegar, available at any grocery store, for about $1.50 per gallon. That's why I use it on our blueberries. Agricultural sulfur is harder to find, but they sell it to farmers in 50 lb bags. It is used for growing alfalfa, here in Wisconsin. It is not terribly expensive, I recently paid 79 cents a pound, at a rural farmers co-op.

I agree about western OK. It is heartbreaking to see how dry it is in the western areas of the state, some of which have been in drought with little to no relief since 2010. I don't know how the farmers and ranchers have been able to hang in there and stay afloat in these conditions year after year. They need to have some good years in the mix to make up for the bad years, and nowadays good years are getting pretty scarce. Our ground is hard like that too, and I've put off planting the back garden because of it. My son has a big gasoline-powered auger I could use to drill holes into the soil and then plant into, but I don't really see the point. We have had about 0.78 or 0.80" of rain this week. Tomorrow I'm going to venture into the back garden to see if I can break up the ground back there before it completely dries up again. It was too wet yesterday to consider rototilling. I'm trying to catch the soil when it is moist enough to rototill but not wet enough that I'd get dirt clods. Most of it is sandy-silty soil where plants grew pretty well last year in its first year as a garden plot, although heavy irrigation was required in July and August. The clay areas aren't even worth tilling and I may just put cardboard on top of them and pile on organic matter to see if it all can decompose and then be worked into the soil this winter. The grasshopper situation here is pretty bad. I'm going to have to get serious about implementing some control methods or it won't by our garden this summer---it will belong to the grasshoppers.

I received my wonderful box from Jeanette! It was full to the brim with bright orange and black wrapped surprises! I got: a wonderful Halloween kitchen towel. I love to change my kitchen towels for the season and didn't have a Halloween-themed one - thanks! a cute pumpkin votive candle holder with a scented candle in it a black and orange paper lantern a wonderfully scented potpurri mix a halloween wind sock a spider web wine/champagne goblet (so cute!) a spider on a spring a silver starred Halloween hat (sorry Jeanette - no digital camera to take a picture - my daughter kept saying "you're not going to wear that in front of my friends are you? - LOL!" a spooky hanging ghosty that emits an eeery sound - scares the daylights out of my little dog......... mummy's passion fruit tea bags and a ghost tin of chocolate kisses (oops all gone - how did that happen he he) Thanks Jeanette! Sue G.

I don't know how this happened but I paid $2099 for my Kenmore induction slide-in last October. I have never seen it that cheap again. I love, love, love the burner arrangement. I can use my 12" and 10" skillets together in the front at the same time. The free-standing version of the Kenmore induction has a really weird, not useful burner arrangement if you ask me. So far, I have found the warming drawer to be kind of useless. It takes a full 15 minutes to heat up -- by the time I figure out I need it, I don't have 15 minutes to wait. I don't think it really gets hot enough to keep the food like I want it. I just as soon keep the food in the oven with it shut off and the door cracked. The extended gliding racks on the Electrolux sound really nice! I'd like to have those for sure. All in all, the only thing different about this range and my 10 year old Kitchenaid electric convection slide-in is -- the induction burners and the warming drawer. Other than that my KA had all the same features. Love the induction burners not sure I'd spend $1,000 more for them. PS: The extended service plan for the induction range was also more than for a regular electric range. It is worth asking for a discount on the service plan. The also charge a boat-load to "install" a slide-in range. We did it ourselves but leveling it proved to be a challenge.