It is not good to get up in the morning, make coffee, get downstairs, turn TV on to channel 59 to watch US Senate vote on cloture for the budget bill and expecting to watch the speeches afterward before the final budget bill is voted up or down, WHAT? The SENATE ISN'T ON THE CHANNEL ANYMORE. House CSPAN is still on 58 but the senate isn't on 59 anymore. I don't believe it and hit 59 several more times to make sure - TNT movie channel every time, my senate is gone.
What had the stupid cable company done? Where was my Senate? I looked at higher channels from there and, what the hell!, I now had MSNBC - Chris Matthews crazy man is now on my TV channel list - did they take off my senate and replace it with MSNBC - I'm getting very upset right about now. The channels just before my old senate channel showed it wasn't on one of those close channels, either.
I frantically hit channel 2, the beginning channel and started up - What? My Senate CSPAN is now on channel 7 instead of 59. And, I now have MSNBC, the Chris Matthews crazy man channel.
I have recovered now as I watch the senate on channel 7. I really thought they had taken the senate channel off and I was thinking what I could do about that - like they give me back my senate or I cover their building which is on my shopping street, with honey and let bees sting them until they give me my senate back. :o)
On to the next problem, the holes in pots that need something between the holes and the potting soil mix so the holes won't plug up with dirt (I don't think that can happen, but everyone else seems to think it can). It is true dirt is coming out of those holes.
I found “Archovations Inc Better Than Rocks” to cut and place on the inside bottom of pots. At two places, it wouldn't get to me until January 3 and it costs a lot of money even for four pieces 12 inches square, from $26-28 plus $14 shipping.
If we started a company making plastic rocks, the right size for pots, in other words, not big rocks, but smaller rocks, that wouldn't turn to compost in a million years, we would make a fortune on this light weight, cheap in price, item.
I cannot find shipping peanuts that last a million years - you can't buy them. Office Depot has the right sized bag for what I need, around $8, but it is biodegradable. The rest they have are enormous amounts of it starting in the $20s and it doesn't say it is bio or not but I bet it is. It appears to me you can't buy million year peanuts anymore.
Solution:
I am gong to use “Marcella's Theory of Physics” to put layers of netting made out of million year plastic, in the bottom of those pots. You will say the net is so easy to mash down, the weight of he dirt will make the net flat and not work. That is where “Marcella's Theory of Physics” can refute your sorry, mean, you must hate me, :o), criticism of my net theory. Here is the well thought out “Marcella's Theory of Physics”:
“Something is something and no matter how hard you mash it, it is still something.”
That is my profound physics truth. Now, take that truth and use enough “something” so the applied pressure can only compress it as far as you want it to. One layer of net has too many holes to let dirt through, but use many layers going different directions and it is difficult for dirt to get through. Those many layers also put more “something” between the dirt pressure and bottom of pot, keeping the “something” thicker. Even one layer is “something” and you can't get rid of that “something” even though it is thin - just add more of that something and it is thicker and always between the dirt and the pot.
I'm using layers of net “something” today in the bottom of the pots and planting those blackberry plants. It won't cost me extra money and I have enough net to cover my whole town (well, maybe not that much), and it won't take a huge amount for those three big containers and there is plenty of net to cover the inside bottoms of all the containers I have in this room which is 25 containers.
Wow! If nothing else, this will be an interesting experiment. :)
Sorry for being so late to the game here, but you can use just about anything in the bottom of the pots, as long as it keeps the soil away from the holes without actually blocking the holes.
And I have had pots where the soil plugged the holes, as well as pots where the soil washed right out through the holes.
I like using green scrubbies for this job. It’s ok to use the old nasty ones that are too dirty to use on dishes anymore. Or you can use chucks of styrofoam, flattened soda cans, bottle caps, whatever. The key is in creating a space between the soil and the bottom of the pot.
(Disclaimer: I’m typing this as my sleepytime meds are kicking in. Anyt typos are to be blamed on the medication. Wheee!!)