Mary, it is good to hear from you! I'm so sorry about your continuing health issues!

Be careful with peat. It is hard to GET wet to begin with and hard to keep wet in our heat. We DO use it, in a Mel's mix formulation (1 part peat, 1 part compost, 1 part vermiculite). I'm not sure how I feel about it in Smart Pots. I am using Root Pouches this year, which the herbs love, but the tomatoes don't seem crazy about. I think the herbs like the well drained soil. The tomatoes find it drains too well. I've had lots of blossom end rot from inconsistent moisture.

I have no experience with actual soilless mixes. I know Dawn uses them, I'm sure she will comment.

Take care of yourself!

Mary, I just use regular potting soil and/or bagged garden soil in my Smart Pots. I've never made up my own garden mixes. Someday I want to try that. I have both Smart Pots and another brand of fabric pot. My Smart Pots do better for me, than the other brand. They all just have to be watered so often. Keep us posted on how your mix works out.

I am sorry that you are struggling with so many health issues.

Mary, I am sorry for all your troubles. I know it has been tough. You have been through so very much, and I know that you are a survivor. You survived the wreck. You survived other tragedies. You have survived all your heart issues. You are meant to be here and you are going to overcome all these heart challenges. I know you will. I am sure it must be incredibly frustrating to have been through so much, particularly with all the heart issues in the last year, but you are overcoming them and rising above them. I'm rooting for you and I expect that by next summer you'll be spending far too much time in the kitchen (as usual) canning all the wonderful, yummy things you like to can.

I've never grown in Smart Pots so cannot comment on them, but I imagine any soil-less mix is fine. I'm not overly fond of anything with peat in it because it is hard to get it to absorb water when it is dry and hard to get it to dry out when it is very wet, so often I substitute compost for it when I make my own mix. I think this is one of those things where you'll have to experiment, see how it goes, and make adjustments as needed. I hope you have great success growing in fabric pots.

Dawn

My tomatoes love fabric pots (any brand, they don't seem to care). I use a mix of about 60% potting mix, and 40% mushroom compost. That's it. Nothing special. I have a rotten back (2 slipped discs, lumbar spinal stenosis, sacroiliac joint dysfunction) so I can't lift and mix a special mix anyway. But I scoop some of each into the pot and mix, then scoop and mix a bit more until I have it. Add Tomato Tone, worm castings, eggshells, and epsom salts at plant out. I can get 'em to grow, now's the learning to keep them away from the squirrels problem.

Thank you guys so much. I apologize for my self-pity party. I was sitting on unexpressed emotion that's been building up and it finally found its way out yesterday.

Well, I am worried about all the peat now. However, I can amend each pot with more compost as I fill it. I will also add my epsom salt, tomato tone, and azomite at that time. I'm experimenting with the azomite to see if it makes any difference.

Hazel and Rebecca: I should call my pots fabric pots, because I didn't get the smart pot brand. They are made by 247Garden, and they are very nice and sturdy. I just call them smart pots because they look identical.

Amy, I was lucky that the bale of compressed peat had gotten wet sitting out at Lowes. It was a little moist when I broke it open, so that was nice. I didn't have to deal with any dust, except from the perlite.

Dawn, I wish I had just half of your good attitude and positivity;) I feel like Debbie Downer these days. lol I don't have any homemade compost, so I'm limited to what I can get locally. I have cotton-burr compost from Home Depot, Back to Nature cotton-burr compost, Black Kow, and I think that's it. The "pine bark fines" that I bought aren't really pine bark fines, but they are as close as I could get. I found it at Lowes , and it is called "hapi-gro landscaper's mix". It's made in Georgia, and it claims to be 100% composted forest products and organic. It seems like really nice stuff...very fine. I know that the completed Raybo's 3-2-1 mix (with added black kow) looks and feels beautiful....looks just like a big old trash can full of Miracle-Gro potting mix.

I didn't have to move any of this stuff, thank Heavens! It's all in the garage, thanks to a neighbor kid who was happy to earn a little money putting it all in there for me. So, my set up is all in the garage....that's my mixing station! I mix it with my hands in the wheelbarrow, ten gallons at a time, so I don't have to work so hard. So, it takes 3 mixing sessions to get my trashcan full. But, it's fun and it gives me something to do. My youngest cat likes to lay on the lawnmower seat and watch me. You can almost hear her thinking, "oh yes, that looks like the perfect stuff for me to do my business in". I have to keep everything covered. lol

No need to apologize. Everyone is due a little venting once in awhile especially when they are dealing with difficult health issues.

You know, I was thinking about the difference in my fabric pots. I wonder if the Smart Pots do better for me because they are a light tan color. The other brand pots are all black. Maybe they dry out faster.

Hazel, this is my first attempt at "container gardening". I grew one tomato plant several years back, in a plastic pot, and it did great! It was an early girl, and I just used potting soil. That poor little plant put out a ton of tomatoes. I think I filled it with miracle-gro.

I didn't stop to think about the color: Black definitely absorbs heat. I am thinking about putting straw under them, and putting them in a place that will get shade after about 4 pm. I want to put them in my driveway at the front of the house. The garden is in the back, but the 5 tomato plants back there are already getting their disease issues (I don't have a lot of room to rotate crops). I want to experiment with different locations. What do you think about the straw as insulation against hot concrete?

Mary, If I had been through everything you've been through, I doubt I could be as much of a positive thinker as you are. I don't think you're a Debbie Downer at all---I think you are struggling with all the changes that your heart trouble has caused you. I totally get that and I feel like I understand it even though I haven't experienced it myself. You've always been so brave and strong and just plowed on ahead with your gardening like none of your physical limitations from the trauma injuries were going to stop you from gardening to the best of your ability and also were not going to stop you from canning either. I've always admired that about you----you just keep on keeping on. So, with all the heart issues, I know you are capable of keeping on keeping on as well. I hope you feel you always can vent your frustrations here---I feel like being able to vent about things in our lives really is a huge stress reliever and can head off future stress-related health issues. Gardening truly is a healing activity and is good for the soul, but so is being able to vent to one another (whether it is gardening or just life issues) is an important part of being members of this forum.

I believe I have used that mix from Georgia that you found at HD and I liked it just fine. I hope your plants do well in your mix. I suspect Raybo's Mix will work well for you there.

I was worried about you having to move all that stuff, so I'm glad to hear that you weren't moving it yourself.

Your description of what the cat likely was thinking was making me laugh out loud because my cats would be thinking the same thing. Our cats are not happy unless they are in the garden with me, but then when they come in, they irritate me by doing things like lying down right on top of young seedlings. Why? With all the pathways and mulch and shade under taller plants, they will choose the tiny seedlings as their cat bed every time. They are not too bad about using the bathroom in the garden or planters because when I see them trying to do it, I squirt them with the waterhose or a water gun (Super Soakers are very helpful since they shoot water a long distance) and that has trained them to go somewhere else---not in the garden. lol.

When I grew in a lot of containers, I did like to put mulch (usually spoiled hay since it was free) around the containers to block the sun and that did seem to help. Having either mid-afternoon or late afternoon shade helps too.

Keep us posted on how your new plantings do, and also let us know what your doc says after the next appt.

Dawn