a cherry picker in regard to teh tree forum would be the thing at the link.. in my world... hence my confusion.. dont you think .. lol ... you motor cherry picker.. i could not figure out how to make those small wheels roll across grass.. even if the ground is frozen .. wrong tool in my estimate ... use it.. to put it in juniors wagon ... gently pull out there.. and then tip wagon and all over ... come on man.. you are thinking outside the box with your motor picker.. but i think you are outside the wrong box.. you need all terrain tires ... lol ken at the forest museum.. they also used those big wheel contraptions ... check this link: http://www.google.com/search?q=mvoing+logs+thru+the+forest&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=5Q_5ToukNKjg0QHt7czCAg&biw=1045&bih=949&sei=6A_5Ts-NC6He0QGV_aCfAg#um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=mvoing+logs+thru+the+forest+big+wheels&pbx=1&oq=mvoing+logs+thru+the+forest+big+wheels&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=6487l9140l0l9494l11l11l0l10l0l0l134l134l0.1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=87cce0650e6d8e2b&biw=1045&bih=949 and then there is the draft horse version.. what show did i see those on.. oh.. worlds dirtiest ... with mike rowe .... did you move.. i thought you were on a small suburban lot... ??? Here is a link that might be useful: link

I think the leak is OK, because you don't necessarily want standing water for the bog. At the same time, you may even want more leaks or holes, to make sure the area is moist but not standing water (but different CPs will tolerate different water conditions so that's another thing you could decide about now, before fully committing to altering the pond liner) I think you can use the log as part of the landscape/bog but not necessarily to replace the peat. Now that your additional comment suggests the pond is actually deeper than you thought, how deep is it exactly? If the water is draining away, you might be OK with putting the growing medium on top of the gravel. Otherwise, removing it and filling it up entirely with the new medium will depend on your budget and how deep it really gets.

I've got volunteer periwinkles from about three years ago that grew before I turned the spot into a vegetable garden. Every year I see a couple new seedlings pop up. I also have a volunteer dill from last year's seed. It came up in the middle of the beet patch and I'm just letting it grow. My Swamp Milkweed that I planted last year dropped some seeds (I was careful to harvest pods before they burst open, but I still missed a few). I've got lots of milkweed volunteers coming up all over the place. So far, I haven't got a tomato volunteer yet. And on the subject of Santa grape tomatoes - if they still have them at our grocery store, I may have to try saving some seeds and growing them out sometime. Sounds interesting.

It's not like armillaria is the reason behind every fallen tree or decaying log found in the forest!! Many are the result of completely natural and nonpathogenic causes. If you suspect or detect armillaria, then use the proper judgment and avoid but otherwise............ akamaine, as I'm sure you know depending on type, a 15' rhody could be a pretty mature specimen anywhere :-) Sure we have lot of mature ones here that size and much larger........but just as many that won't ever reach that size! Decaying wood assisted or not :-)