(I'm the original poster) When I made the mounds for my lavender I used 1/3 sand, 1/3 purchased top soil, and the other 1/3 is comprised of turkey grit, a handful or two of compost and one handful of bonemeal. The mounds look pretty lean and well drained so I'm hoping for the best. I have gone to all this trouble to build the mounds and buy 20 lavender plants so I just want to be sure I water the new plants correctly. I could probably water between the rows eventually but I can't do that now because, of course, these are tiny new plants and their root systems are shallow and the plants are perched up on top of the mounds. So that kind of watering probably wouldn't work right now. So should I just water gently around the base of the plants (not the base of the mounds) for right now? As far as the mulch, mowing around the mounds won't work so I want to use some kind of mulch to keep the weeds down between the rows. The mounds are on a slope that gets some water runoff during rains. So I think if I used landscape fabric and covered it with mulch, it would have to be a mulch that wouldn't get washed right off the fabric. Plus lindac says that landscape fabric might not be the best solution since it can get clogged and then hold water. I wonder if layers of wet newspaper would work and, if so, what is something inexpensive that I could put over the newspapers so the area will still look nice? Also, I heard that I should use white gravel to mulch the actual mounds themselves so light will be reflected up into the plant but I think my mounds may be a little too steep and pointed for gravel to stay put. I need to figure that out too.

They are pretty dang tough. I always bury mien deeper in the ground then I grew them in their starting pots and they looked sad for about a day and the next they looked great. Hardening off is another subject. Like said above, a few leaves might get burned, but very unlikely you will loose a plant. Just and FYI, if you snap off new growth by accident, try putting it in the ground too, you may get it to root and have more plants! keriann~

What I would do is give your friend some vermicompost from your bin first (no worms). Have him mix this into his new bins bedding, wait a couple of weeks for the bedding to "ripen" and then give him the worms. The worms will basically be moving back "home" and there shouldn't be too much stress on them. The new bin will have the same microherd that were in the original bin at your house and will have had time to start the composting that feeds the worms. Also, the yogurt container will be fine for the transfer.

The fact the computer said it was not recognised shows the computer is aware 'something' had been attached. As Kudzu notes, it may be defective. You could ask a family member or friend to try it in another computer to confirm that. You could burn the photos to a CD to give away if you do not want to buy another flash drive.