Hi Laura: As Jacqueline, Tessie, and JeriJen often said: "location, location ...." Tapla's recipe of 5 parts fine mulch, 1 part peat moss, 1 part perlite is best for climate like mine: low-sun, flash flood warning and fast drainage is a must. It is recommended by Douglas Green, an owner of a large Ontario nursery of many plants in pots, including roses. If I use Al's 5-1-1, there is no need to put loose gravels or bark nuggets at the bottom for fast drainage. However, I use super-slow draining MiracleGro in green bag, and medium-slow draining Organic MiracleGro. I skipped this important process of putting loose stuff at the bottom, and regret it terribly. Now I have to dump the soil out of each pot, and start all over. I realize this after a heavy-rain simulation with a hose, with the pot flooding over and loses 1" of soil - which happens every time it rains here! Sure, Field Roebuck said it's not important, just put a paper towel at the bottom of the pot, and fill up with soil. His Texas climate doesn't have the low-sun, and 6" of rain flash flood. Each region should have its own recipe of best potting soil. Now I realize that the regular MiracleGro potting soil (green bag) might have been made for indoor pots, where one puts 1 measly cup of water per week. It's not meant for several outdoor heavy thunderstorms with 4 to 6" of rain per bout like my climate.

We are talking container soil here - soil-less potting media. There is minimal life in this type of media, if any so, a) there is minimal concern about killing it off and b) this is the primary reason organic fertilizers won't work. No microbes, no digesting the organics into plant-accessible nutrients. (and btw, the microorganisms are in the soil - real soil that is, not in the fertilizer) FWIW, both organic and synthetic fertilizers must present nutrients in exactly the same fashion - as soluble ions. That is the ONLY way plants can absorb them. The difference is how they get to that point. Nearly all organics require the activities of soil organisms to achieve solubility whereas most synthetics are immediately or very rapidly soluble, via salts. But the endpoint is exactly the same and the plants really do not care how the nutrients were delivered, only that they receive what they need. But remember we are discussing growing plants in containers That is a very different concept than inground growing and with very different limitations on it. The simple fact of the matter is that organic fertilizers are far less efficient under any kind of container growing situation unless they are fully soluble. And most liqiud/soluble organic ferts leave something to be desired in that they are not as complete as one would wish. With container gardening, I'd opt for optimum effectiveness and healthy plants rather than some noble but misguided notion that organics are the only way to go.

Usual recommendation is to remove the soil from the whole and mix with a combo of garden soil (NOT potting mix), humus, compost, peat and bone meal (IMHO). Your ratio should be 50-50. In zone 5a you would probably want to burry the bud union at least 2", but I'll let those that live in your area/zone weigh in on that.

Oh swell. I've already made some adjustments because I believe my soil isn't draining well. I'm afraid to repot lest the young plants get upset. The plants are actually starting to look better. I believe they had fertilizer burn so I flushed the pots once. They are buried halfway in my garden. Perhaps I shoukd drill more holes into the buried portions to allow more drainage into the native soil. I love gardening but I feel I'm failing. And if I spend any more $ my hubby is not going to be happy :'-(