Hi justaguy2 Thank you very much for your reply. Meanwhile, I have made second bed(9'x4') with cinder blocks(8"x8"x16") and shovel the compost from the previous bed(10'x30'). As the new beds are small compared to previous bed, they are over flowing with compost. the compost was not really hard packed. I wanted to add vermiculite. We might only get medium grade for reasonable price(haven't shopped around here, only from web knowledge). But my husband doesn't want it as he read that it might contain asbestos and cause lung problem etc. (any thoughts on this?) for now the beds basically contain compost. The previous bed got lots of weeds. but i don't know their names. may be some of them are plants which were from previous year seeds. most of them came out easily with a shovel. As I am tired from all the work that i had already put and also weird weather here from past three to four days I wanted to take a break and stop here for this season and see what i could grow on this. I want to grow organic strawberries for my two year old son who loves it. They are awfully expensive in the store. yesterday i bought 1/2 pound for 3.99$. (I read conventional strawberries are not good for kids as they contain high levels of pesticides) If i make any more beds, that would be for strawberries. Can they be grown in sqft way? how deep the soil should be? where can i buy organic strawberry plants/bare root? and which way is more efficient with good results(bare root/plant)? What brands are good? I haven't planted any thing in my new beds. is it too late to plant spinach, carrots , beetroots? I live in triangle area of NC. This is my second year of my gardening. I am still newbie. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I have a 2 1/2 year-old son and we also struggle with working in the yard at times. IT is better this year here are some things I have done... Let them water your containers or play with water. Drexler now tells me the flowers are crying because they are thirsty. I then give him the hose and let him have at it...last night he was right. One of my pansies was thirsty! Get excited about things. Right now EVERY DAY when I get home from work my son asks to go pick the strawberries. We go out and usually a new one is ripe (can't wait a few more weeks). He is still working on not picking the green ones, but he'll learn. Teach them what is yummy. Last year we planted carrots in a container and he would go out and pick a carrot out, wipe it off and eat it. Clean soil, no chemicals and hey he was eating carrots. Teach them to love flowers. How does it smell? How does it taste. Have them help you pick out what ones to pick. Drexler and I will do this together, go into the house and put them in vases and then talk about how pretty they are. I have a small vase by my bed that he empties out every day and replaces the water in...and then the flowers. A bit of a pain, but he is learning to appreciate my yard. Don't freak when they step on a plant, but do teach them to be nice to your plants. I have a large yard and Drex has hurt some of my plants, but we talk about how to treat them. Teach them to watch for bugs and to be interested in them. Ants can keep a kid busy for at least fifteen minutes. Tell yourself you will most likely not get a lot accomplished with your helpers so when you do accomplish something it feels good. Make them an area that is all theirs.

They need repotting if you are going to retain them without cutting off pieces. I use an old curtain along the length to support the plant without damaging spines. A hemp sack would also do the job. Don't use newspaper as it will damage the spines. You can hold onto the curtain or sack to keep it upright as you firm new mix into the new pots. If you don't want to retain the current look (and the lbent one doesn't look attractive to me), you can cut off the top 30-40 cm, allow to callus over for two weeks and try to root it as a new plant. The old plant may put out new branches and look attractive again (I would cut the bent one down to 30cm height and repot it more vertical. I personally would probably leave the cactus on the right as is and repot it.

I buy mine for $30 a cubic yard. The farmer who makes it gets mountains of leaves from landscapers, and they are mostly shredded because they are picked up with mowers. He also uses some horse manure and bedding, and some grass clippings. There are some weed seeds, and I usually screen out some rocks and wood pieces, as well as some plastic. I think it does take at least 2 or 3 years to be finished and aged, the piles are only turned once a year in winter when the ground is frozen and he can get a bulldozer in there. I have made small quantities in garbage bags before, it also took 2 years. Check on craigslist, there might be someone close by and you can save a lot of time and effort for a very reasonable amount of money. If you can get a small sample first that would be good, test it for broadleaf herbicides by mixing 50-50 and planting some bean seeds, and compare those seedlings to ones planted in just potting mix.