I'd chop 'em all off just above the crown and keep the soil damp, but not wet. WHILE you repot, it's important to keep the roots constantly wet. That means you need to be dipping them in a tub of water at least every minute, or removing the old soil with water pressure. The all-important fine roots dry out and die quickly unless you stay on top of keeping them wet. AFTER the repot, it's important that you keep the soil moist where it's occupied by the roots, That might mean watering every day until the roots start to colonize the deeper part of the pot. Other than that, you'll need to get a feel for how many fine roots you must leave to support the water needs of the top of the plant. I regularly remove up to 90% of a plant's roots during a repot and I almost never ever lose a plant unless it blows out or an animal helps it out of the pot. Al

I love that this thread is still continuing! I am curious though -- who do you recruit to bring in 20-100 pound boulders, a freezer, and the tub?! (Don't get me wrong -- I'm salavating, wishing I had the room in my 16' X 16' concrete backyard. LOL) Anyway, haven't been here since last summer, so not sure if anyone will be back to see some suggestions I've thought of or learned over the winter, but gonna pretend everyone will, eventually. LOL Oak, for your tree stumps. Hate the idea of getting them to your garden, just to find out they can't be used as a container, so thought of a couple of ways they still can. Succulents or bromeliads?! You're in AZ, so you probably know succulents! Why not stick in some of the tougher varieties, or rock lovers, like Hens and Chicks? Now, I've only been dabbling with them for a couple of years, but Prickly Pear Cactus can take anything, droughts, storms, cold and hot, since they grow throughout the continental states and way into Canada. I bet you can find one or two kinds that can take that kind of plant. I know even less about bromeliads, except the pineapple and air plants, but I found a site that tells you why I think they could work well for you ( http://bsi.org/ ) -- they grow out of three substances: earth, rocks and wood! Exactly the kind of plant(s) your stump has been craving and, if you're anything like me, it helps the main gardening question, "How can I fit even more plants into my limited space?" LOL luna, Bummed that your video isn't available anymore, but sure sounds like I have LOTS of space compared to you! I can offer you two ideas that might put your limited space into maximum use. First, the wall container you spoke about sounded familiar. Might even be the same thing I found, but it's a great use of a wall, if you can mount it (them) on yours. (My house is so old, if I put anything on any outside wall, I wouldn't be surprised if our whole house tipped over. LOL) Now, before checking out the link ( http://www.gardeners.com/Living%20Wall%20Outdoor%20Planter/NewOutdoorPlanters_Cat,37-001RS,default,cp.html ), I have had one really negative experience with Gardener Supply, I bought a pyramid kind of container for my herb garden, and was very disappointed with it. First there was very little room to squeeze herbs into, and second, it was made out of pine, so it rotted out within three years. On the other hand, I've bought many other things from them over the years with about a 60/40 success rate, and the 60% good stuff works so well, it gets me going back again and again, knowing I might be wasting my money, sooooooo, if you do like the wall unit, investigate the type of plastic they use, and what others think of it. If you're creative and handy (or, better yet, know someone who is), maybe you can make a better unit for less. It sure looks good to me! My other idea, is someone else's book -- http://www.amazon.com/McGee-Stuckeys-Bountiful-Container-Vegetables/dp/0761116230/ref=sr_1_6/104-2224842-7107157?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188223103&sr=1-6. I've been reading as much about gardening as I can find, and this book, by far, has taught me how to get the most out of the least amount of space, and it covers two important aspects of gardening for me -- growing edibles, and having beautiful displays at the same time! They're often talking about fitting several crops into one large container, so you know how little space is required. Now these ladies are much smarter then me, and will remain so, even if I keep learning at this same rate for another 2-3 decades, but I did end up notifying them that they did get one thing wrong -- I grew 4 pumpkins (started out as an accident LOL) out of a container. It is possible. It is also waaaaaaaaay too much work to ever try again. LOL Now, there is a cheap way of turning a container into a self-watering container, sorta. Worst comes to worst, it guarantees your soil gets "drip irrigation" past simply watering them. Depending on the size of your containers, use a plastic milk carton, a 2 liter plastic soda bottle, a 20 oz. soda bottle, and, although this won't help much, for small containers, a 12 oz. soda bottle. Poke a few holes on the bottom and towards the bottom on the sides of the containers. While you're filling up your container, bury the bottle, up to its neck in the middle of the container, and keep the bottle cap on whenever you aren't refilling it. (Takes longer to empty out, if no air to replace the water with.) And for those, who are having trouble watering balcony plants, if your balony is 38 feet or less from your nearest faucet, why not buy this gizmo? http://hobbies-leisure.drleonards.com/Hobbies-Leisure/Home-Repair-Tools/39-Foot-Indoor-Hose/37675.cfm And, finally, my main problem is leaning over -- I can't for more then 5-8 second, or will pay for it in increased pain later. Kinda see the problem there, since my garden is all containers? Besides the obvious idea of buying really huge containers (bought 4 huge ones from here for about $25, including shipping - http://www.mortonproducts.com/page.cfm/1464 ) I've been hitting my local FreeCycle Network ( http://www.freecycle.org/ )asking for anything to raise up my containers, so I can water them. I've asked twice a year for three years and hit the mother lode a couple of weekends ago. I now am the proud owner of two shelving units (really one, but was so tall, I made two out of it) for gathering my unused containers and supplies, as well as adding containers of herbs on top of the one next to the grill, so hubby doesn't have to go far to add herbs for our summer meals. My sweet potato vine is on top of the other, so I don't have to keep trimming it back like last year. I also got a round metal table that I'll use the top for my elongated containers, and smaller containers, and will have the 5-gallon buckets with my produce all around its sides. All that for the best price going -- FREE!!! By the time everything is where it is supposed to be (still moving around containers so I can set everything up the way I plan it to be) the only time I'll need to lean over is to pull out my produce, and for that, I'll pull my chair and cheap plastic table (trash picked) to gather the produce together. Only thing my garden needs now are for my gnomes and bear statues to come out and protect the garden, when I'm not there. Hope I've given some helpful solutions to keep everyone into our addiction -- gardening. LOL

Double digging in one section of my yard uncovered a tirod, a hub cap, and various jagged car parts. I've also dug my fair share of boulders from the garden beds. We use them for borders and edging. Twice during our ownership of the property we discovered a micro-sinkhole. Both gobbled up their unsuspecting victim like quicksand because of how saturated the areas became. I now landscape to prevent these problems from happening again. Digging up larger, unknown objects can spark a chain of events in the garden's evolution.

I purchased my St Joe many many months ago when I first listed my house. Its been blessed by a Catholic priest before hubster buried him. I said the prayer before each showing as well as a novena in January with no luck. Could have been our lack luster agent or the poor market but we too are re listed with a more aggressive company. Its been one week and we've had several showings, a weak offer and today is our first open house. (while watering the garden this am I taped the ground where he is buried to sort of wake him up LOL) On another note...I was at a store recently and saw a candle with an image of St Jude. Its said that St Jude is the patron saint on lost causes so I bought it-it sits next to my St Joseph candle. Hope the 2 of them can work together to get us out of here since we have found our new home-we need to go soon!! Cheers! Susie