My dirt is heavy hard clay with a heavy Bermuda grass lawn. I cut out the bottom of the pool and left about 18 inches of the bottom attached around the edge, otherwise the the sides will kick up and everything run out under the sides. After I filled it up, I realized too late that I should have turned it inside-out, so that the pale blue inside would have been the outside. I've sort of grown fond the the little fish on the sides now. ;-) I grew the tomatoes like this last year with just compost. The compost held lots of water bit it still dried out really quickly once the vines got big. Before I set out my plants, I added three 25 pound bags of Wal-Mart Special Kitty Natural Litter to each bed. I scattered it on top and then scratched it into the top bit of compost, and it has settled further in as I watered each time. It holds tons of water and the extra water retention has really helped this year. I had a few determinant tomato vines that had finished fruiting, so I replaced them with some new transplants about a week ago. The roots had gone at least 6 inches into the underlying clay soil. Before I filled the beds last fall, I mowed the grass as short as I could cut it, I then covered the turf with 2 layers of flattened cardboard boxes to smother the grass. The worms and microbes had left no sign of the grass or cardboard in only 9 months. My basil and peppers are about 3 feet tall now. I'm permanently disabled and live on Social Security, so I was looking for something for raised beds that was really, really cheap. Cedar 1x6s lumber would have cost me about $100 for raised beds that were 16 sqft. Before I started using these pools I was growing tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets. The 6 foot pool is 15 inches deep, which is almost as deep as the buckets, but gives more horizontal space as well as roots going down into the soil underneath. If you've got some space and not much money, I could not recommend the pools enough for raised beds. I was not sure at first if the round beds would be a problem, but the really work well. On Victory Garden recently they showed a community garden in San Franscisco where they used straw-filled burlap bags to form the border of their round raised beds. There is a picture below. They were really nice because you could knell or sit on them to plant, weed, and harvest.

Cactus cuttings should be planted in the same orientation to the sun as the parent plant. This helps minimize sunburn damage. Cactus develop thicker skins on the sides exposed to greater amounts of sun(west and south most notably).Wihout a good root system the cuttings can literaly cook in the hot summer sun which isn't far away. I have proagated quite a few different species using a technique that has had a very high success rate. When you take the cuttings, or in your case, re-cut the cutting you have (which will take some of the curve out of it) dust the freshly cut end in rooting hormone THEN let it callus over for one week. The rooting hormones usually have a fungicide which will help protect the cutting and they start faster. Plant in a good well drainig soil and water once every two weeks until established. Here are some of the cactus I have started this way. Here is a link that might be useful: Propagated Cactus

Well, if you really want to be totally accurate about this, there is nothing "natural" about any landscaping that has been manipulated by human hands. And there's nothing natural about gardening, for that matter. The only natural landscape or garden would be one which was left as was found right after that last glacier scraped through North America, regardless of what it looked like. Since none of us is interested in that, I'd suggest that those insistent on the "natural" approach have a serious look at their definition of natural. Life is full of walking contradictions, like those who consider themselves "vegetarian" simply because they don't eat red meat. (Poultry is flesh, fish is flesh, you're not a vegetarian, get it?) In my MG travels I've met an "organicist"(if that's even a word) who firmly believed that there were strictly enforced federal and state laws governing what was and wasn't organic. He was apoplectic upon learning that it's easy to play fast and loose with the term "organic." Then there was the "certified herbalist" I met who dumped more chemicals into her backyard than they sucked out of the Love Canal. Am I judging people here? Yeah, admittedly I am, but there is just so much nonsense out there. And while I'm rockin', how about those tomato gardeners who sniff down their noses at those who grow any varieties other than heirlooms? Gawwwwddd, spare me, please. So you'll just have to please overlook my minor rant. Thank you. And this is a great forum, happy to have found a gathering spot for fellow MGs.

Who did that "soil test"? Your Kansas State University does a much better test that does include, besides pH, the ratio of Calcium to Magnesium, the C.E.C. (Cation Exchange Capacity), and amount of organic matter in the soil. What you need to know is the soils pH. Most all nutrients are most readily available with a soil pH in the 6.0 to 7.0 range, although some plants have evolved needing a lower soil pH. The ratio of Calcium to Magnesium influences soil pH. The C.E.C. is a measure of the soil ability to hold on to both moisture and nutrients and release them so plants can utilize them. The C.E.C. should be in the upper teens to low twenties and sandy soils tend to have very low numbers while clay soils tend to have much higher numbers. Organic matter tends to have numbers in the upper teens to lower twenties. How much organic matter is in the soil. Whether your soil is sand or clay you should work toward an amount of organic matter in the soil between 6 and 8 percent. In addition to helping sandy soils hold on to both moisture and nutrients and helping clay soils release the moisture and nutrients and open up the clay so drainage improves the organic material added to soil feeds the Soil Food Web that feed the plants growing in that soil. In addition to having a good reliable soil test done, preferably by your Kansas State University Cooperative Extension Service, perhaps these simple soil tests may be of some help. 1) Soil test for organic material. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains’ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell, to a point. Too much organic matter can be bad as well. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. kimmq is kimmsr