I reckon that any effort to get folks interested in growing stuff is nice ... though I think that the state of our economies may have triggered a great deal of interest. The help in community gardens is appreciated and respected. The terrace above the one in the picture had almost 2 linear miles of corn, 1,800 feet each of bush beans and limas planted. I had just come back in from realizing that total production will be zilch due to the heat and drought. It has to be worked again and planted again. I read "Get Growing which shows how much you can grow in any given plot." and thought ... darn, wish I had that app earlier LOL. I've been planting seed for 35+ years and rarely get it right as to whether I need 50 ft or 1,000 in order to feed the family for the year. Some years 50 ft makes the wife give me those looks that make me want to quit planting. Other years, 500 ft gets me the "What are we going to do?" looks. The boards are full of "What happened?", "What disease is this?", "6 weeks with no rain.", "I'm 2 ft under water!", "My plants are too big and frost is still coming!". So I do not feel too far out of touch with others. Guess that is what I pondered. I'd love an app to predict the growing season ( which dictates how to grow/plant in order to produce x lbs of food to save x miles of transit and x cu ft of carbon dioxide and ...) And a "How big a freezer and number of canning jars you need" app would be handy too. 'Course that would consume energy and offset the footprint ... and then would the produce have come from Israel or FL or CA or Mexico. Way over my head. All I have really learned is that one must sow before they reap so I hope that it helps to get more folks to plant .... and does not get them discouraged if they fail to match the projections of the app.

This pot does have two fairly large holes in the bottom, as most bonsai pots do; so the pot is definitely able to drain as necessary. I do agree with you all though; the soil is inappropriate and keeping and I haven't like it since after the first week of putting the Fujian Tea in it. I just looked through the different bonsai soils I have. I do have a small amount of a tropical/sub-tropical mix leftover that is recommended for Fujian Teas. Do you think I should swap the current soil for this tropical mix now? There's not enough left in the bag to fill the pot (if I'm lucky, it might fill half the pot), so I would have to mix it with whatever potting soil my mom has leftover, which would probably end up being soil like what is currently being used. Though, I do have a bonsai mix that I bought for a couple Junipers I had. Maybe, instead of half tropical bonsai mix--half inappropriate potting soil, I could do a mix of half tropical bonsai mix--quarter conifer bonsai mix--quarter inappropriate potting soil. I kind of want to put some of that potting soil in the mixture to prevent the plant from becoming too dry. As Al mentioned, the Fujian Tea likes to stay at least a little wet; if I forget to check up or am unable to check up on it for a few days and it becomes too dry, I can basically just kiss it goodbye.

Have you though about contacting your local County Agricultural agent? I now there are systems available to give precise measurement of a field as the big farmers use it for plowing, planting and harvesting. My guess is that you are looking for more precision and accuracy than is needed for the job you are trying to do. Yes when you plant a tree, you are talking of about a 2' circle. However the tree at maturity will require a circle about 30 feet in diameter, and a bush depending on what it is, 4' to 10'. Because of this you only need cover your yard with grid with 10' squares and locate each tree and bush with in that grid. If you plant a Maple and a rose bush in the same grid, it will be easy to tell the rose bush from the maple. You could increase the accuracy of the location, by designating the southwest quarter of grid box 10. This would be similar to the Township/Section system surveyors uses to designate property. If you are not familiar with the method of surveying, there are many documents describing the system, as it was codified in the 1780's, and all property in US deeds today are still described by the same system.

I use the basics, pumice, perlite, and cactus mix. Depending on what I’m potting up I will adjust the ratio of everything. If I’m potting up a regular arid type cactus the mix is about 60% pumice, 20% perlite, and 20% cactus mix. I rinse and strain the pumice and perlite first with an old veggie strainer. A lot of the fines come out the bottom of the strainer. Also I premix in the big container above and the fines settle to the bottom with a little mixing. The reason why I don’t use gritty is I think it would dry out way too fast during the dry months, but if I lived in a wetter damper climate I would def use gritty. I think your climate is Mediterranean like mine if I remember correctly. So that’s why I keep a little cactus soil because it keeps moisture for a little longer. Not all that much longer too be honest, in the summer pots don’t stay wet for more than two or three days depending how much shade the plant gets. If I’m potting up something that enjoys a little more water I will put up to 40% cactus mix. When I first discovered pumice I was only using pumice and cactus mix, but I was finding I was going through the pumice super fast. So I decided to try perlite in the mix. I definitely don’t go through the pumice nearly as fast, and the perlite lightens the mix. The perlite particles I get are smaller than the pumice pieces and I like the combo. Don’t ask me why because I couldn’t tell you;). I see you plant succulents in the yard and when I plant in ground I will mix my pumice/perlite/cactus mix in with California;). I’m curious what is your natural soil like? Mine is full of clay. Lastly, I do notice plants take off the second or third year. So sometimes ya gotta be a little patient with them;). If this hoppy has taught me anything it’s to have a little more patience.