millertime

Now to pot the bareroot stuff...since it's early in the season and I'm not too sure where I want all the newcomers, I'll pot these all for now. The roots have soaked all night, so now to mix the soil...I use this thing, called an "Odjob" mixer. I bought this through the mail from Gurney's, but I've seen them offered elsewhere. Price was $29.95, and it was money well spent! I got a nasty tendonitis in my elbow a few years ago from the repetetive motion of mixing soil-no more of that with this handy item!This was originally designed to mix concrete, but it works great for dirt, too! Need to write out the ID tags...I use these from the Paw Paw Everlast label company http://www.everlastlabel.com/ , and as implied, they really last well! Only $29.15 for 100 of these, and they send the grease pencil to write on them with. I like to put the plant name and year acquired on the front...

...and the name of the source on the back. Keeps everything straight for me, cuz' I need all the help I can get!Our first soil mix ingredient comes from this pile-sand and horse manure combo. The sand is most similar to the soil the plants will eventually reside in, so I try to make that a large portion of their potting material...