Q. Why can't compost be used indoors? A. Because. There IS actually a very good and well documented reason why compost is not recommended as a major additive to container potting soil, either for indoor plants or outdoor plants. And that is how it affects good drainage, a quality that is pretty much paramount for any sort of container growing. Compost continues to breakdown even as a component of potting soil. The longer it goes, the more frequently wetted and the warmer the container is kept, the faster the material breaks down. And when that happens, the individual particles become tinier and more uniform in size, the pore spaces (the empty cavities between particles) shrink and the whole mix compresses. Compression and lack of pore space has a big negative impact on drainage and soggy soil and rotten roots tend to be a result. That's why most high quality purchased potting soils contain minimal - if any - concentrations of compost. It just doesn't hold up. If you are growing in containers short term, like very seasonal crops, compost can work as an additive (not the base) to potting soil. But for long term success - growing anything longer than 6 months - you want a durable, barky, textural potting medium that is not going to collapse and impact good drainage. The Container Gardening forum has a detailed discussion on this very subject that is the longest running (march '05) thread on GW. More than 2500 posts have entered into the discussion and the knowledge base is pretty high - in fact, the original author is considered an expert on container soils and container gardening in general Here is a link that might be useful: Container Soils - Water Movement and Retention

I don't put any sulfur in the holes of the roses pictured. The other holes with sulfur didn't bloom well. My heavy clay is very retentive, there is no leaching here. Here's a quote from Nutrient Stewardship site: "Phosphorus is the nutrient most affected by pH. ..Nitrogen, Potassium, and sulfur are less affected. At alkaline pH values, greater than pH 7.5, phosphate ions tend to react quickly with calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) to form less soluble compounds. At acidic pH values, phosphate ions react with aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe) to again form less soluble compounds." It's good to test if one's tap water is alkaline, some cities add lime to water so pipes won't corrode. Calcium in lime will bind with phosphorus, and less is available. In my 12 years of growing flowers in pots, the year that I got continuous MOST blooms despite my pH 8 water was when I used high phosphorus SOLUBLE fertilizer, and low nitrogen. Granular phosphorus like bone meal and 46% superphosphate are useless in the planting hole here in alkaline clay. My results confirmed what University of Colorado stated "bone meal and rock phosphate can only be utilized at or below pH 7". My pH 7.7 soil was tested most deficient in phosphorus. Here's a quote from David Neal, CEO of Dyna-Grow Plant Nutrition in CA: "There is some evidence to believe that low N helps to convince a plant to stop its vegetative growth and move into its reproductive phase (flowering), but environmental factors are probably more important. P is typically 5th or 6th in order of importance of the six macronutrients. There is little scientific justification for higher P formulas, but marketing does come into play ...." He's right, just a tiny bit of SOLUBLE phosphorus made more blooms and more roots - but beyond that is wasteful. The site, Robert Morris NOBLE plant foundation, rated the mobility of NPK: "Let's compare the mobility of NPK on a scale of 1 to 10. Nitrogen is a 10 ... extremely mobile and can be lost to leaching. Potassium is a 3. It has limited movement in the soil. Phosphorus has a rating of 1. It is immobile in the soil and is likely to stay wherever it is placed." Here is a link that might be useful: Soil pH and availability of plant nutrients

It is getting more and more expensive to grow container chilis every year. My mixes cost me a darn arm and a leg since I start them in totes now (Jan)- (Feb) and let them cook for a few months before they are ready. I am all organic. This may be my last year using organics for my chilis. The containers are mostly larger 8-16 gallon even though I do a few in 5 gallon - 8 gallon, but the soil must really be alive by the time planting needs to happen or the organics are not available to the plants. I am thinking along the lines of fiedlermeister for next year. My nutrient costs for this year with 60 containers were 300.00 and that's without the soil mix. Could have been many cigars and beers by the pool with steak for this cost. YIKES

I just posted what will be the same advice to another post for hoods. Yosemite makes a pre cast hood that is pretty good looking that is somewhat similar to your picture without the corbels. They do not sell direct. My website will have it listed in a shopping cart for approx $900. A vent to go with it runs about $200 - 400 the larger fan unit costs more. If you click on the link at the end of the written text introducing Yosemite you can see pictures of it. On the 2nd page of hood pictures on Yosemite's site you will see they have extensions for different ceiling heights. Stanisci is a company that makes wood hoods with lots of curves in various heights and widths. They do not sell direct as their business model is to sell unfinished hoods to national sold cabinet companies that do not want to build them on site. Dealer costs when supplied by the cabinet company and finishded to match by them generally are $2,000 - $10,000 which is then marked up from there for profit of the local retailer. A few websites sell them to the public. You will have to finish them to match your cabinets if you go that route. I would think you could get a go painter to put a finish on it onsite that makes it look like cast stone. Here is a link that might be useful: Yosemite Hoods Link