Thank you! If only I had the energy and ambition to make them come true!

Especially the idea of making expanded hydroponic clay pellets in shapes that would really enhance soil drainage and aeration. Really heavy clay needs some kind of initial "loft" to enable even cover crops to thrive enough to drive their roots down.

And just try, some day, pricing enough coarse sand to make any kind of difference to a yard-full of heavy clay! Carrying those bags is unimaginable to me ... a fleet of dump trucks would be more like it. But expanded clay / rock wool twisties would weigh very little, but jump start soil recovery ... in my imagination, anyway.

I forgot another fantasy: "expanded bark" Biggish chunks of bark do the most for bulk aeration and drainage, but then they have "wasted" the root zone volume taken up by a large shunk of bark.

However, if you could "pop" some kinds of bark like popcorn, the internals of the bark chunk would be accessible to water and root hairs. Was thinking "steam under pressure" and "industrial-strength microwaves".

However, a veneer-cutting machine might very well be easily adapted to "shaving" bark into sheets that would then fall apart into long strips that woudl give GREAT drainage and aeration to heavy potting mixes, or lighten garden soil yet last for 2-3 years. The "fantasy" element there is that I could figure out how to compete with existing bark-for-potting-mix companies that have learned to shave every possible penny out of their costs.

Rick, are all the lumber mills up there gone? Make friends in the right places!

Good point!

There aren't any near Seattle, but ...

From my reading, it sounds like a lot of nursery products are shipped down from Canada, or at least when I look for "bark", I see a lot of that.

it is strange, because any bulk item like these, whose costs are mostly shipping and handling, HAVE to be cheapest locally.

P.S. I also want to figure which kinds of bark lend themselves best to long chips or shreds. Pine? Not so much. Fir? Balsam?

if someone found a conifer bark blend that did everything that peat moss does, plus rehydrates easily and maintains good aeration even if over-watered, I think they would have a gold mine. Until someone duplicated their formula, which would probably take about 2 weeks ...

>>>I also want to figure which kinds of bark lend themselves best to long chips or shreds. Pine? Not so much. Fir? Balsam? <<<

Birch, but doubt it would work as well for what you want it for.

Oh my. I found this place that sell pepper, eggplant and tomato plants (and also seeds). But I have never heard of it before. Called ChilePlants.com.

http://www.chileplants.com/

Wondering if anyone has bought from them? I have stuff put in my shopping cart. Tomato, pepper and eggplant plants. But hesitant to order as I can't find any reviews on this company.

Never heard of them, sorry.

They have a really nice looking website but of course, that doesn't guarantee anything.

Sounds out of country - Chilean...

They are in New Jersey. The Chili part refers to peppers.

Still, I've never heard of them.

I saw it spelled chile, with an e, in the name of the site......
So I thought....

It looks like they have a positive reputation on Garden Watchdog.

Oh Bitbit! Thank you so much. I had looked at Daves under ChiliPlants, I did not know they were listed under Cross Country Nurseries. So I had not found any reviews.

Now I went and read all the reviews. The Neutral one only complains about the minimum order being 12 plants which is no problem for me as I want tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. The other negatives about actually going there don't faze me either as I will be mail ordering.

The rest are positively glowing positive reviews. Just what I was hoping for!

When I have time I will be looking some more to narrow down my selections. I wish I had found them first before I ordered at Burpee and Territorial although I am sure those plants will be fine also.

Today was a flower day so I planted some broccoli. Only a week behind last year so not as far behind as it felt like. So far I have 80+ planted. Plus because some got a couple of seeds and I had Calabrese seed from 2003 that I just poured a bunch in each cell just to see if I can get any to germinate.

I have more seed coming this week so I'll have another day of planting broccoli. Planting cauliflower tomorrow.

Sounds like a lot of broccoli and cauliflower to me. I only plant about a six pack of each. But then you need them for market and I only need them to have some for myself to eat.

>> I had Calabrese seed from 2003 that I just poured a bunch in each cell just to see if I can get any to germinate.

For me, that would guarantee a germination rate over 80%.

I swear they read my mind and do the opposite of what I expect, just to mess with my head!

Really, if they did do that, I have the space to plant them and I've read they're supposed to be a pretty decent tasting broccoli, so either way, I'm okay. If they're not good I can finally throw away the rest of the seeds. Oh, and I actually have another packet from like 2006 or something. I'm not testing those until I see what these do. Or maybe I'll put some in a paper towel.

I never did a controlled test, but dilute hydrogen peroxide either helped me with salvia seeds a lot, or that year I had finally learned how, or got some fresher seeds.

drugstore H2O2 is 3%
Dilute that 32:1
1z per quart or
1 1/2 teaspoons per cup or
1 tsp per 5.3 ounces