The garden center where I bought my plants said that I should water tomatoes and bell peppers 2x a week in the morning. I would water at 8 AM for 40 min with a super soaker hose turned on all the way, and I would discover some of my plants wilting in the sun by noon the following day. So I would water the plants again even though I was told not to water in the middle of the day. Also, my bell pepperÂs leaves were curling which I read is a sign of under watering. It developed 3 little bell peppers, but they were badly twisted and one fell off today. I just went back to the garden center today and they sold me a neat little gadget called a "Moisture meter" for $8. My bell pepper was an 8 out of 10 in terms of moisture or borderline "wet". My potted plants were 10+ or "wet". My avocado tree was 5 out of 10 or "moist". I had been watering my avocado tree and blueberry bush every 4 days and they were due for watering today. My blueberry bush was an 8 and I decided to water it according to schedule too. The man I talked to at the garden center said that it would be ok to water my plants every day if they are dry because it is very hot and dry right now. But I wonder if I should bump up the time from 40 min to say 60 min with the soaker hose. By the way, I donÂt have a lot of run off or any standing water after using the soaker hose. And my garden is heavily mulched. I am in Orange County California. Any advice?

Kavell, Cancel!!!!!! your top soil shipment!!!!!!!!!!!! I once planted a big tree like yours into exactly what you describe. I had help fortunately as the soil was actually dried to the consistency of concrete. What you truly need to do is take your pitchfork after you measure the diameter of both lengthwise and vertical of your rootball and dig to a depth of almost as deep of the vertical dimension but dig very wide. 'Today' it is common growing practice to, "dig three times the diameter of the rootball." In your case, I'd dig 6 times the diameter of the rootball. And that's exactly what I elected to do with this other large tree. You can certainly toss in some organic matter but not very much. For that entire area you'll be digging, you might use 2 bags of compost. Skip the peat. I also methodically stood by all the backfill soil and chipped at it with a shovel and broke it up as finely as possible. It must of took us a minimum of an hour for 4-5 of us to plant this tree I made mention about earlier. The compost certainly won't over do the amending practices of today but only as long as you don't do anything like 50/50, try to stay about 80-90% at the level of consistency with native soil. This to me for everyone to comment on is a perfect example despite what any "book" would say or even what any college university might too say regarding ammending soil about the use of soil ammendments. I can't comment if that tree we planted made it, but that's what I did because I thought to myself at the time that this tree will never make it otherwise. Nice purchase by the way. Dax

I will look into creeping red fescue--have never heard of it. Would you happen to know the "proper" name? Will also google it. Will also look for Ohio spiderwort. Also, I'm curious about the rye grass. I've read of that in vegetable garden books. That is a definite attraction to me. Doesn't it also improve the soil? I did hear recently of a couple in Lindsborg, Kansas about 70 miles from here who gave up their traditional lawn for a native grass that is bluish in color and gets 4-6 inches tall. I will try to find a way to get in touch with them. If it is dependent on sun, cannot use it. I had areas of my buffalo reseeded and it is fraught with weeds. My neighbor went to a nursing home, and the nephew who looks after the place is a farmer with no time, and let the lawn go wild, so I am getting the effects--that plus an abundant amount of rain this spring are the two causes, I believe. I have cats who are indoor/outdoor cats and try never to use herbicides, so I have spent hours weeding and nursing the buffalo along. The buffalo area is quite large and is around the sides and old front of our house. The new front is in the back of our house and I have a small area of fescue (forgive me for that!) and many perennial plants. But should the buffalo never recover, I sure would like to find a native grass. Thanks for your replies. Alleycallie

Ask your friends if they can or know of someone. Then visit someone while canning. A possible idea is to ask to purchase produce & can together splitting the results using your own jars. Reading a book isn't the same as hands-on experience. Another idea is to work with a partner whether family member or friend. Then someone else can remember details & keep steps in check. Countless times when canning with my school age children we worked together and discovered errors. Two heads are better than one. Our married daughter cans even more things now and is teaching her friends who are interested. It's a learnable skill for sure & valuable. I'd suggest you practice with the easy things like jams, fruit sauces (applesauce, chutney, etc.), & tomatoes that can be processed in a boiling water bath. Save the pressure canning items for later on. Can what you eat regularly and only try a few new things. You might decide you don't like apple butter & if you've canned an entire box of it you might be disappointed that your jars can't be used for more blackberry jam. Also, you might prefer the taste of frozen peaches over canned peaches. Sometimes we just eat the ripe peaches & save the rest in the freezer rather than can a box of peaches. Peaches are easy, but time consuming whether peeling or not. I was bummed my quarts were full and I couldn't process concord grapes into juice concentrate for winter eating. In the beginning you can't have too many jars especially if you're doing large things. If you run out of time just wash & measure fruits for future batches of jams & sauces. Works great for berries & plums. We've also saved measured raspberries with sugar until a cooler day when we had more energy to process them. Works fine for freezer jam, too. Nothing beats the taste of homemade with good quality ingredients whether home grown or fresh produce purchased locally.