Thank you, hummersteve for the info. It takes time for the alfalfa to break down, and takes time for the worms to excrete .. versus ready-made worm-castings, which works immediately. I had seen good results when people use worm-castings in the pots for roses.

We have tons of worms every year under and around our roses so hopefully they continue to poop up a storm and do all the work for me...lol

Thanks for the info hummersteve & Straw!

Anyone have some good info on vermicomposting? I wouldn't mind learming more about it...

An entire form is dedicated to the topic.
Go here http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/verm

Ditto Jean

I'll take a look at that forum link thanks...

Goodie! I bought two 40 lbs bags of worm castings at the farmers market from a local supplier two weeks ago. I haven't gotten around to putting it down. I was thinking of using it mostly for tea but I'll make sure to include some when I plant and fertilize the roses.

oh, and you can get free coffee grounds at Starbucks! :)

Hi Mas: Good to hear from you. I used to get coffee grounds at Starbucks. It was a nuisance to wait in line & plus I always buy a treat. After that I simply went behind the store, they have the garbage disposal there, which I could get as much as I want (including banana peels), without bothering anyone.

oh, I've never tried that. I'll check out my Starbucks. they are good about saving the grounds. Some other stores are not as good and claim that 'someone must have taken them all' when they didn't have any to begin with.

I've spent an hour today putting freeze blankets, buckets, quilts, plastic bags, etc on the plants that I planted early and the ones that are also fully leafed out. We have a freeze warning tonight.

I covered ours last night as it dipped to 29 degrees... Tonight expected low is 27 degrees and the next night 24 degrees then starts coming back up to the mid 30's at night...

Temp only got to 36 dgrees here today so it outta be a real cold night...brrrr

Holy cow, Jim! Your plants are having it rough. It got down to 32 yesterday. Today the low is 34 and then it goes up to the upper 30's lower 40's. Does that many days with hard frost kill some plants in your yard?

Actually I only cover because I do not want to take any chances as all our roses are looking real good at this point... But actually those low temps are only lasting for a few hours and its been cloudy & windy here so even at temps in the 20's I have seen no frost.... I'm watching my nephews dog for a week so I have to get up all hours of the morning to let it out so that is how I know there has been no frost...lol... But those clear nights frosts can be really heavy so I cover to be on the safe side....