Just wanting to comment on a few posts. I agree that my plants aren't 100%, like I said this is only my second year. However, I don't think its from underwatering. We've had a lot of rain here the past week or two and the days it didn't rain alot, I made sure I watered them deeply if the ground was dry. I think maybe I didn't put enough nitrogen. I read online early on that I should sidedress with a high nitrogen fertilizer once when they are a foot high and right before tasseling which I did but I guess maybe that wasn't enough. The reason I didn't put more was because I read somewhere when I was researching what to fertilize it with before planting that you can burn the plants by putting too much nitrogen on them so I didn't want to over do it. I used bloodmeal and they turned much greener after both applications. So that I know this for next year, how often should I apply the nitrogen??

I've been gardening now in my home for 27 years and can only go by my experience, but I don't have problems with MG potting mix causing any problems in my gardens. When first dug, as there where no gardens anywhere on the acre of land we purchased with our home, I added plenty of peat, humous and top soil to the gardens. Kept turning them over and over and planted a few annuals the first year. As my gardens expanded to many different ones, I would put a handful of MG potting mix in the hole when the seedlings went in the ground. I always fertilized with MG fertilizer. My container pots got miracle grow potting mix in them and at the end of the season, the soil went into a compost area for next season. In the spring it was loaded with worms etc. I would mix the compost and MG soil in the containers and use the MG potting mix when planting in the gardens and the MG fertilizer for the plants. All of my flower and veggie beds are covered with bark mulch purchased by cubic yards from a local nursery and it decays over time into the soil. 4 years ago, I started WS seeds and used MG potting mix in all my containers to start the seeds and have had at least 90% germination every year. What ever didn't germinate went into a "let's see what happens" bed and some seeds have germinated in the area. I just let mother nature water them and see what happens. As I have dug out these seedlings do transplant I have found many, many earth worms in the soil there that is mostly sand and MG potting mix. This past fall, I wasn't in the best of health as I was emptying my containers of soil for the winter and decided to just dump the soil in left over plastic bags that had held the many cubic feet of MG potting mix I had purchased. I left the soil in the bags in the back of the house all winter. They where covered in snow, rained on, sleet, ice etc. Typical stuff for winter in New England. I hoped that the sun and heat within the bags would make a compost that was fairly good to use. Well, Saturday I decided to check the soil and see what had happened to it. Hubby dumped one of the bags that was almost full, making it about 2 cubic feet of soil, into a lawn cart. It smelled rich and much like a compost and it was full of earth worms. At least 30 of them in that one bag. Based on what I found in just 1 bag out of 4 of them, I fail to see how the MG soil is such a problem to the ground and gardens that we have. If, as you say, the MG potting mix would deplete the soil of good nutrients and not good for the soil, how is it that I have a bags of it left outside and they are full of earthworms, smells like compost and looks rich and healthy. I have had my soil tested many times in the areas of my gardens and the soil has always been good for my plants and that's with use of MG fertilizer. Now my lawns are another story, but I just keep digging up more and more of it as I think beautiful green lawns are a waste of time and money. New England weather does not produce perfect green lawns unless lots of chemical stuff and water is used. I prefer to have beautiful gardens instead. The only pesticide I have ever used is roundup on poison ivy and I don't like to use it but have no choice. My daughter is anaphylactly allergic to the stuff and when she was young, almost died twice from contact with it. My gardens are full of healthy beneficial insects, butterflies, birds etc. The only insects I gave up on dealing with is the red lily leaf beatle. When that problem became an hourly pick off the things, I pulled out all my lilies and got rid of them. Too many other beautiful plants to put in the ground without dealing with them. I recycle everything we possibly can, separating for the recycle pick up. For WS, we use only the recylces that are deep enough. My plastic bags are on their 4th year of use and still appear to be able to reuse another year, as are most of my containers. The ones we can't use, will go in the recycle bin. I use styrofoam cups for plant swaps and ask that the cups be returned for use in follow up years and they have been. The ones I use for starting seeds in, are in their 4th year of use right now and still in good shape for another year. When they can't be used anymore for seeds, I will break them up and use them in the bottom of containers for drainage. Personally, I think there are many more concerns for our gardens than he worry about MG soil. Bees disappeared from my gardens until the neighbors moved. They had to have a perfect lawn and the chemicals the lawn company used kept the bees away. Now they are gone and the insects are back. The attitude the public has "a little bit is good so a lot is better", is the dangerous thing. The products that are sold to the public and used for everything under the sun are a much bigger concern. The aim for a perfect lawn and all Scotts perfect lawn method is far more serious than MG soil problems, if they exist. It's improper use of chemicals that is the real problem. Just wish they could come up with a way to eradicate the misquito. that one serves no purpose and their bite can kill people. Like a student in high school that was a student of my daughter. That scares me a lot. Not MG potting mix. Fran

Randy, Three batches of baby birds! Cool! Oddly, we haven't had any phoebes this year at all, which is not surprising, I guess, in a year when EVERYTHING has been odd. The rest of the bird population seems fairly normal, although we have more hummingbirds than usual and fewer bluebirds. We have had rufous hummingbirds in addition to the usual ruby-throated ones too. We often see rufous (and black-chinned hummers) during the migration only, but this year, the rufous have stuck around. Like you, we have a huge wasp population as well as tons of ants AND grasshoppers. I think this is the worst grasshopper year in 6 or 8 years. What's missing? No Colorado Potato Beetles (not that I'm complaining), no aphids, and spider mites only on the verbena bonariensis. TONS of brown stinkbugs and green stinkbugs, and they arrived in May instead of July. They're obviously my biggest garden problem. We're raising 17 keats (baby guineas) bought at the feed store to go with our three surviving males from our original batch of 24 almost a decade ago. Since keats generally don't hatch until late May or early June, these are still really small and we had to chase a 7' long snake out of the henhouse last night. Most years we lose all our keats to the darned snakes and I am determined not to let that happen this year. That's the bird and bug report here. Dawn

fallingwaters; first of all, know that your you and your dh, and his hea lth care prov iders are in my prayers. Your priorities are in the right place, although I know there is some disappointment after getting so much in place for the renovation. I, too, put off my kitchen for a year. My MIL fractured her hip and was having repeated complications, my husbands workload increased at work and by being the primary healthcare surrogate for his mom. I sensed that just having the stress of ripping out the kitchen -- but also of not HAVING a functional kitchen, was a bit more than our family could deal with. My kitchen is a place of respite, even if in it's current state it isn't perfect. My experience has been like needssometips and jreuter. I saved up some more $$. I'm not putting that extra into the kitchen, but it is giving us a bit more of a cushion. 2. I've gotten just about every wee decision made, down to the gar bage di sposal, and what I'm lining the drawers with. Except for the darn faucet. Still trying to figure it out. In the next few months as you go thru this with your husband, there will likely be times when you feel out of control. Looking at pulls and such and making a few decisions unrelated to the health aspects may help you get a feeling of control back. And in the middle of the night, when you can't sleep, no doubt someone has posted a tittilating post (I know that isn't spelled right) that may take your mind off the stressors for a few minutes.