Substitute for Mels Mix in the south

Retired Member 1 6/24/2010, 3:19 pm

I wish we could search inside posts -- it would make life so much easier. (hint, hint)
At any rate someone posted a substitute for Mel's Mix that was recommended by a garden center in Texas. Can you help me find that post? I just can't keep the mix hydrated in spite of watering three times a day. Two hours after watering, the plants are droopy and stressed. As much as I love gardening, I really would like to have my life back.

Garden_State 6/24/2010, 3:25 pm

Hers the link to the topic

junequilt 6/24/2010, 6:17 pm

Belfrybat, have you mulched? That could help a lot.

Another thing I wonder is, how hydrated is the peat moss in your mix? I've read a couple of posts on this forum that made me wonder if the peat moss in question had ever been fully hyrdrated. All peat moss is not equal in terms of its ability to easily rehydrate. Some rehydrates instantly, while with another you may actually have to force water into it by soaking and squeezing underwater. And here's the thing: once you've got it mixed in, it's very difficult to determine. Dry pockets and layers can hide. If peat moss isn't fully hydrated when you put it in the ground or the box, it can remain dry for years and water will run right over it.

This is something I learned from an American Rose Society master gardener several decades ago, and it has paid off in spades (well, shovels).

Retired Member 1 6/24/2010, 11:00 pm

Garden_State wrote:Hers the link to the topic

Thanks!

Shoda 6/24/2010, 11:47 pm

Belfrybat,

Hmm... I search inside posts all the time (or so I thought). Just click on the advanced search button and enter the keywords you are looking for. You can choose which forums if you want to limit your search and then press enter (or alternatively click on the lowest SEARCH button).

I am not sure if it finds everything but it seems pretty good to me.

boffer 6/25/2010, 12:31 am

Per the bigwigs on the support forum, the search function only looks at topic titles. I can't confirm that, but I have trouble searching/finding some of my own posts. Mad

Here's a post from a mod on the support forum. (posted today) They take it seriously-make it a good topic title or you won't get responses.

Substitute for Mels Mix in the south Topict10

Substitute for Mels Mix in the south Topict10

Anybody can read the support forum. The link is in the footer of every page: 'free forum support' --- then click 'home'

Shoda 6/25/2010, 1:50 am

I have had mixed results too. But try using the advanced search for "basil". It pulls up a couple topics with basil in the title and it pulls up "Oregano in Mel's Mix" that has basil highlighted within the topic but not in the subject. So something isn't as they say.

Icemaiden 6/25/2010, 5:48 am

Shoda wrote:I have had mixed results too. But try using the advanced search for "basil". It pulls up a couple topics with basil in the title and it pulls up "Oregano in Mel's Mix" that has basil highlighted within the topic but not in the subject. So something isn't as they say.

It finds the oregano thread because Sir Travers posted on that thread and put in his own title including the word basil Substitute for Mels Mix in the south Icon_smile

Icemaiden 6/25/2010, 6:12 am

You can use Google to search inside the topics.
Using the basil example, type in:

basil site:squarefoot.forumotion.com

That finds 45 posts when I do it.
If you want to get fancy you can add extra words with +in front of them.

basil +chives site:squarefoot.forumotion.com finds 14 posts with both chives and basil in them.

This will only work for posts which have made their way into Google though so it still may not catch everything.

It is best to do this from Google itself. You can use the Google search option from this site but then the topics don't open properly (on my computer at least).

Hope that is clear Substitute for Mels Mix in the south Icon_biggrin

Retired Member 1 6/25/2010, 8:10 am

Icemaiden, thank you for that tip. I don't usually use Google, so didn't realise it would do that.

Boffer -- how about posting this info in the beginners or the FAQ section--or somewhere we non-techie persons would find it? I still think it is ridiculous to have a forum as important as this that doesn't search within posts.

boffer 6/25/2010, 1:59 pm

Over the years, as Google has refined their search/display features, I've quit paying attention to the qualifiers that Icemaiden is using, so I'm not really familiar with them either. Using the Google search feature on the forum, I get the same restricted display that Icemaiden gets. I'll look into that; in the meantime....

Here's the search Icemaiden suggested:
Substitute for Mels Mix in the south 208_ba10

Substitute for Mels Mix in the south 208_ba10

Here's the same search limiting the timeframe to the past year . Why are the results different?
Substitute for Mels Mix in the south 209_ba10

The Google bots are on the forum everyday. Let's see how long it takes for them to pick up 'bofferamus'. Here's the results I got a few minutes ago.
Substitute for Mels Mix in the south 207_bo10

Substitute for Mels Mix in the south 207_bo10

Substitute for Mels Mix in the south 210_bo10

bofferamus without the quotes

Icemaiden 6/25/2010, 4:05 pm

boffer wrote:

Here's the same search limiting the timeframe to the past year . Why are the results different?

Curiouser and curioser, to quote Alice.

The search limited to a particular site is a very new tool so perhaps it isn't working properly yet, wouldn't surprise me.

Bofferamus still not showing Substitute for Mels Mix in the south Icon_smile

Shoda 6/25/2010, 5:57 pm

Sorry this topic has sort of become a "how to search" topic. However, I can't help but note that you are all going to more trouble than you need to. On the SFG search is an option marked Google. If you choose that before you search, it searches for your keywords on Google and defaults to searching only this forum. Much faster then going to Google and typing the entire website thing. Since a picture paints a thousand words, here you go...

Substitute for Mels Mix in the south 6-25-210

Substitute for Mels Mix in the south 6-25-210

And the results... Substitute for Mels Mix in the south 6-25-211

Retired Member 1 6/25/2010, 6:09 pm

OK Shoda, you win the most helpful person prize today. I always figured the difference between "inside" and "Google" would be that one would search this forum while the second would search the WWW on Google, so I never even tried it! Live and learn.

We really do need a tutorial for how to use this site. Searching inside posts is so necessary for this kind of forum since we are all a wealth of information but not so good at writing cogent subject titles. Substitute for Mels Mix in the south Icon_rolleyes

Shoda 6/25/2010, 6:11 pm

Gee, thanks for the prize. Substitute for Mels Mix in the south Icon_redface

And yes... it isn't that clear. Would still be nice if the forums searched content better. Maybe they will improve it in the future.

Wyldflower 6/25/2010, 6:17 pm

Ummmm... maybe I'm just not looking in the right place, but I can't find the "Advanced Search" button....

I only find the simple search near the top of the forum page, the one that only can search topic headings... and on the SFG main website, I can't seem to find search at all.

boffer 6/25/2010, 6:19 pm

This is what I get when I click on one of the links provided by the google search at the top of the latest topics list.

Substitute for Mels Mix in the south 211_se10

Substitute for Mels Mix in the south 211_se10

Wyldflower 6/25/2010, 6:20 pm

Duhhhh!

boffer 6/25/2010, 6:44 pm

Wyldflower wrote:Duhhhh!

TGIF! I wasn't pointing out where the search was! I was trying to point out how nearly half the link is cut off. Google is trying to squeeze the entire HTML page into the width of a post.

Wyldflower 6/25/2010, 6:59 pm

TGIF is right!!! Half hour 'til I get out of work... then home to play in the garden!

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