There are two things that might help. Try mixing a little sugar into the water next time you water the pot. Sugar is a natural wetting agent that is actually not a problem for the soil microbes. There are other wetting agents that are. Start with a quarter cup of sugar per gallon and see how that works. Molasses should work, too. Once you get the peatmoss accepting water, you might be able to back off on the sugar. The second idea is soap. It is a wetting agent that is not much of a problem for the soil microbes. I like the Wal-mart brand of baby shampoo. It has no conditioners in it and should do very little harm. You only need a few drops to 'wet' the water and reduce the surface tension.

Wet down your bed pretty thoroughly - so its moist at least 18" deep, but not with pockets of water. It may take a couple of days of water-wait-water cycles to get it to this state. Maybe even 3 days. However long it takes, it will be worth it. Put down damp flattened plain brown corrugated boxes. You can get all you want for free from local groceries and even Valdemart. Leave "aisles" for your garlic, or you can just cut out where you need to plant the garlic with a box knife. Cover with mulch - ANY kind of mulch, even ground up trees - so they won't blow away. Water plants with drip or a soaker hose. You CAN water by hand, but it looks like your beds are kind of large for that. Overhead watering is kind of a waste of water with this method. There's no need to keep the mulch wet. You can run soaker hose under the cardboard if you want, but I prefer drip tubing with side hoses to where the water needs to go, and soakers down rows of things like carrots etc. Come spring, cut holes in the cardboard where ever you want to plant. In ONE YEAR, you will see a huge difference. The cardboard not only helps to keep the soil moist and cooler in hot weather, it keeps weeds from coming up. What few may poke their heads through the gaps where you've planted will be much easier to pull. The earthworms will be cool, moist, and happily working away ALL OVER your bed. Replace or add to the cardboard in the spring - it will eventually degrade and be pulled down into the soil by our friend, the earthworm. I like to lay down a double layer of flattened boxes to start and then I don't usually have to add to it for 2 or 3 years. If you are concerned about things overwintering or if you live in Slug Central (say, Portland, OR), you might want to just lay down a single layer and pull it up each fall to add to your compost. I've never had anything overwinter, nor had any particular problem with slugs - but I suppose the potential is there. I have tried everything. Double digging, tilling, using a heavy duty fork to break up hardpan at the bottom of my tilled/double-dug plots, working in tons of peat moss and organic matter, cover crops - the works. The only thing that worked was putting down 18" of spoiled hay one year. And how often do you get that much hay or straw for free? Cardboard plus mulch is the answer. It works on hard clay soil, it works on the sandy gritty soil I have here in the desert. Either way, I water less, plants thrive, earthworms magically appear to do all my work for me. I wish I had known this 40 years ago, what gardens I would have had, every single year! LOL! I am disabled now - lacking strength and stamina and its not that easy for me to get up and down. With this method I literally never have to touch the bed except to put the plants in and maybe toss some fertilizer in once in awhile. I have not had to pull a single weed out of that bed since I put down the cardboard. And it is INFESTED with bindweed. The other bed, where no cardboard was used, only mulch, gets carpeted with bindweed every time I turn my back. I have an incipient rock garden going in over there, but I'm going to have to put cardboard under the rocks or at least around those plants - such as rosemary - that don't spread to try to rein it in. The thyme - which does spread and which I hope will spread - seems to choke most of the bindweed out by itself. Cardboard plus mulch - no weeds, no bindweed. No cardboard, just mulch - the stuff still comes up. Guess which one I prefer? LOL!

Hi Lpink. This recipe was posted by riverrat and I've made it - it's fabulous. I was wondering if you could use the frosting from it? It has kind of the same flavors you're talking about. Stacy LEMON BUTTERMILK CAKE WITH STRAWBERRIES Âriverrat Serve this dense, moist cake with a big bowl of lightly sweetened strawberries. CAKE 1 3/4 cups sugar 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 2 tablespoons grated lemon peel 3 extra-large eggs 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 3 cups cake flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups buttermilk 1 16-ounce package frozen sliced sweetened strawberries, thawed FROSTING 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature 2 cups powdered sugar 5 tablespoons frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel 2 1-pint baskets strawberries, hulled. FOR CAKE: Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter and flour three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Beat sugar, butter and lemon peel in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon juice. Sift flour, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pans to racks and cool 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto racks and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly in plastic and store at room temperature.) Boil sliced sweetened strawberries with juices in heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat until mixture is reduced to 2/3 cup and begins to thicken, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature. FOR FROSTING: Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in lemonade concentrate and lemon peel. Divide strawberry mixture between 2 cake layers and spread over tops, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges. Let stand until slightly set, about 5 minutes. Place 1 strawberry-topped layer on platter. Drop 3/4 cup frosting atop cake by spoonfuls; gently spread over top. Top with remaining strawberry-topped layer. Drop 3/4 cup frosting by spoonfuls atop cake; gently spread over top. Top with remaining cake layer. Using spatula, spread remaining frosting in decorative swirls over sides and top of cake. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and chill. Let cake stand at room temperature 1 hour before continuing.) Decoratively arrange strawberries, pointed side up, atop cake. Cut into wedges and serve. Serves 12. Bon Appétit June 1995 Jeanne Thiel Kelley: Los Angeles, California

I suggest shipping the cake in the cake pan. I'm not sure if you were thinking about a layer cake - that may be hard to ship. But if you make a cake in a 9 x 13 pan or a bundt pan, just ship it in the pan which would keep it intact. Here is a recipe for a cake to ship that I found with packaging suggestions: Want to make someone who is far away from home very, very happy?! Make them a cake and send it to them. Maybe you heard Ben talk about this cake on the radio. Or maybe you just want to do something nice for someone who is a long way from home. This cake is easy to make, ships well and will just surprise the heck out of anyone who opens it up! Easy Chocolate Cake For People Overseas 1 Stick Of Butter 4 Eggs 16oz Hershey Chocolate Syrup 1 Cup Flour 1 Cup Sugar 1 tsp Baking Powder 1 tsp Vanilla Disposable aluminum pan for shipping Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and chocolate syrup and vanilla. Blend in flour and baking powder. Pour into a well greased 8" pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 60 min. or till toothpick shows done. Cool it completely. Tips: Bake in a heavy 8" pan (not in the disposable aluminum pan) and put on top of a cookie sheet in case it spills over. After it is cool, run knife around edges of cake to loosen and dump whole cake on top of a large sheet of saran wrap. Wrap well and place in the aluminum cake pan and wrap well again. You may want to use some bubble wrap, too. We suggest you ship this in the UPS flat rate box (11 x 8½ x 5½) for a set price of $7.70 regardless of weight. Be sure to include standard customs forms, and you should be able to add a few goodies for no extra postage charge.