I grew up in the northwest of the US, very similar climate. Geology is somewhat different, but in speaking on climate as you are, I'm intimately familiar with the conditions. Soil may be different, but nitrogen in its various natural forms is identical globally, and it is quickly consumed or leaches out (esp in high rainfall areas like the UK!) and needs replenishment for plant productivity. Saying that nitrogen is to grow leaves omits critical information from the issue at hand. It is one of the fundamental building components of chlorophyll, and lower levels results in less photosynthesis by plants, and thereby lower production. When modern cultivars are grown where nitrogen levels are low, the plants languish, just as is evidenced by the leaf color of the grass, weeds, and strawberries in the photo. They survive, but far below their potential. Did you notice that the RHS site suggest application of growmore general fertilizer? Looking at the growmore website, their general purpose fertilizers are generally very high in nitrogen content. The RHS appears to agree that annual nitrogen application is of value to strawberries, despite what local practices might be.

Thank you Owbist. It's disconnected now as I only have one monitor. I think the screw up has to do with the name of the computer changing. I don't remember how that happened, but recognize the name so I must have done it. The failure of the updating keeps mentioning the changed name and Windows doesn't know where to install the updates. There is more, but I'm on my phone as its the only way I can get online. I would reinstall but that's another nightmare. The windows license # is pasted to the envelope with the disk and I can't read it. The # is under the flap which is glued. I tried peeling it open and the # gets destroyed. How do I find the license #?? I think if I could change the computer name and workgroup, it might work. I'd really rather not go through a reinstall,. Yes, it's office 07 and I do have the disks

"Today I was panicking about what I will take to eat at work and how I will have time to knit, garden, etc. when I am at work all day. I may just have to keep flowering plants in my office and my knitting stashed under my desk. I don't know if my office will have a window, but I know it will have a door that closes!" When you prepare dinner, prepare enough to have leftovers. As you clean up after dinner, pack the leftovers into the containers you'll grab in the next day or so for lunch. Doing that makes lunch prep a breeze in our house. you won't have time for gardening, knitting etc. You'll have to figure out a way to prioritize to make room for the extras. Saturdays and Sundays willl become newly structured as well...errand running and the hobbies become relegated to those days. Knitting while at work....uh, I'd suggest you drop that idea. I have yet to run into an employer who would tolerate that - you weren't hired for your knitting skills, were you? It's going to be trial and error. You'll evolve into patterns that work...and it will take time.

Well, I'd like to start with the disclaimers. I live a few miles away from Jon's home, he and I belong to AW.org. Like Joel said above, yes, it's all true, he has spent quite a lot of time and money developing Rosalie's Zero Suds. It does not take much to make him talk about a lot of stuff he tried etc. With that out of the way, here's what I've heard from people I know and trust who actually tried the detergent: some did not like it because the scent was too faint, some did not like it because the scent was not faint enough, some did not like it because it wasn't unscented. I've heard people claiming that they could NOT deal with a detergent that basically made no suds, they are too used to seeing suds. Some couldn't deal with the detergent being so concentrated that just a tiny scoop would do. Most agreed that it was a competent detergent and that it cleaned well or really well. A lot of the "problems" expressed above could easily be solved by a large corporation just by offering the same product with different scents, concentrations and suds suppression, but this is not the case here, there is one formula, not everyone will be pleased. I have been using this Rosalie's since it was released -- Jon gave me a free box, and I already bought another two from Gray's Appliance since. When it was released it was *clearly* the best American detergent for sale, after that, Henkel released Persil ProClean which forced P&G to release Tide HE Turbo, which have similar performances, but produce more suds than Rosalie's. I would have probably bought more boxes, except that, I don't know if y'all have ever heard of this condition, I find it very hard not to test any laundry detergent I see at the supermarket that have wordings to the tune of "New" or "Improved", so I have a stash of Tide HE Turbo, Persil ProClean etc competing for attention with Rosalie's. I find it funny to see people talking about the price not because they shouldn't but because *I* have succumbed to the temptation to buy *imported* German Persil *multiple* times. I find Rosalie's and German Persil to be mostly tied for performance, one cleans some stains better but change stains and you might need the other detergent. Here's the thing: the "use one scoop" direction is for High Efficiency washers with about 8 pounds of regular soiled clothes. This is not that different from what many of us here have been using when we use German Persil. If you have more than 8 pounds, or the clothes are very dirty, or your water is very hard etc, you will need more. If you are using a deep fill toploader with the traditional agitator, the box directs you to start with 2 or 3 scoops and increase from there. Here's what I like about Persil and Rosalie's -- with the water I have available to me (0-4 grains most of the year, thus "soft"), I can use enough to clean most things. I have had one of my frontloaders washing about 16 pounds of *heavily* soiled clothes and I used, if I remember right, 3 scoops in the pre-wash and 6 scoops in the main (hot) wash, everything came out clean, the washer did not suds lock in the interim spins and the last rinse was clear water. The clothes were clean with a very mild scent that reminds me of old-time detergents, not the sweet cloying stuff on the shelves today. The dosage I used of Rosalie's is very close to the dosage of Persil Megaperls that I got from Germany when you use the Persil scoop provided. I don't know much about business, so take the following with a grain of salt: I've heard that when All was released in the 40's or so, they released a small box to emphasize how concentrated the product was and it did not start selling well until they started selling it in a large box and people who failed to read the directions (we don't know anybody like that, right?) started using a heaping measuring cup of All instead of the intended dosage (I forgot if it was 1/2 or 3/4 cup), which of course made it clean and rinse better than other detergents of the time. I think that might be the case here -- if Rosalie's came up with a box 4 times the current size and an oversized scoop directing people to use the same quantity they tell us now, a lot of people will use the full scoop (or about 4-10 times as needed) and the thing might start flying off the shelves, because it will rinse well and clean well. I am sure there will be some absurd dosage that will make it oversuds or even sudslock, but I have not found it yet. Maybe people with different water quality will experience differently than me. The other thing I want to say is that if you look at the ad in the webpage, the two women are holding a box that appears to be twice as tall as the current box, but with the same number of loads, I think. So, I commented in person to Jon that I was surprised the box was shorter (changing box sizes and having to print a new different run is expensive) and he told me that one of the problems he found out a bit too late was that he had to experiment with the formula and make it more concentrated because shipping depends on the volume of the box and also the weight. At that time, boxes were about 2 pounds, if I remember right, and his goal was to make it under one pound because anything above one pound gets *much* more expensive to ship. This is not a huge company that can tell FedEx or UPS that they'll go with a competitor and get a much lower rate. Someday, if the shipping company starts parking several trucks at their docks everyday, shipping might go for peanuts, right now I think the company is paying about as much as I would if I shipped it. Anyway, I believe he was offering free samples. I would suggest people take him up on it and make up their minds. I like the product, most people I know liked it too, a lot of them find it too expensive, but such is life until production can ramp up significantly. I would like to add here that the opinions I've expressed above are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone at the firm that researches, develops and/or manufactures Rosalie's Zero Suds -- I have no connection (financial or otherwise) with that company except for knowing the inventor of Rosalie's. Cheers, -- Paulo.