spedigrees: Limestone varies in magnesium content. If you go to your local agricultural store--I am not sure what you have up there--and ask for “high mag limestone“--crushed or pulverized--they should be able to direct you. The analysis is always posted on the bag. Dolomitic limestone is generally “high-mag,” but perhaps other types of limestone have a high magnesium content. Our soils here in the northern Shenandoah Valley are very high in magnesium, and high mag limestone underlies a good portion of our soils, and high mag limestone is readily available. And, almost all the NS in this area look very nice, in spite of our hot, dry climate. As for soil acidity--that should not be a problem for Norway spruce, unless the soil is extremely acidic, maybe in the low 4’s. At my timberland, where the soils are a bit below 5, Norway spruce does very well. I am not sure what an optimum pH would be, and it would probably vary with soil type. Maybe somewhere in the 5.5 range is "safe." As for magnesium for Norway spruce--this has been fairly well documented. I titled my original post “a hypothesis,” but there is substantial evidence. A site factors study done at SUNY Syracuse some years ago now, noted that “at least 75 kg per hectare” is needed for good NS growth. Studies in Europe, where there has been extensive decline in NS forests, has shown that the acid rain causes a reduction in the availability of magnesium, and supplementing magnesium often solves the problem. And, I have made some personal observations--not scientific, and without all the facts--that magnesium supplementation can make a dramatic difference. But, the main effect of magnesium may not be in height growth, but in the fullness, density, and lushness of the foliage. I have seen many poor looking, thin foliaged NS trees growing reasonably fast in height. Also, the thin foliage on some Norway spruce trees has causes other than a lack of an optimum supply of magnesium. And, I know, some of that is genetic, and not correctable. As for your experiment: Yes, 5 years should be long enough to show some results, but no sooner. The limestone has to dissolve into the soil, get down to the roots, and, because NS hold their needles for several years, the "thickening" of the foliage may not be vis1ble for several years. BUT, and this is a big "but," the effect may not really show up on very young trees. It may help the growth rate, but as for foliage density, that is never really noticeable until trees are somewhat older and larger--maybe not until they are 20 feet tall or more will any difference be really clear. As for the growth rate: white pine usually starts growing faster than NS. How old are your trees? How tall? NS trees don't begin to grow fast until they are about 4.5 feet high, and that could be only after 6 to 8 years. At that point, they should "take off." On the best soils, and in the right climate, an average of 28 inches is possible, with some years the new shoots elongating up to 4 feet or more. But growth averaging 20 to 24 inches is good for many sites. Norway spruce and white pine, assuming equally good strains, should grow equally well over the first 50 years. The white pine up to about 18 years should outgrow the NS, but after that NS should catch up a bit. After 50 years NS should outgrow the white pine for some years. SUNY Syracuse did a growth curves study for NS, and found that for the first 60 years--after the trees reach 4.5 feet in height, there is no "curve" as such, but a straight line. White pine growth curves bend sharply over to the right after the first 18 years or so, and at 50 years the growth averages about 1 foot, while at the same age, NS trees can still be growing 28 inches per year. But this rate does begin to decline not too long after the 60-year mark. On the best sites both should eventually make 150 feet or more in forest stands. Open grown NS should make 120 feet or more on better sites. As for the blue spruce and magnesium, I really don't know. Tom may be right about this. --spruce

It's good to go through and work out how you see the addition working for you, but you will definitely want to get an architect involved at some point. I am preparing for an addition also. Like you, I spent a lot of time figuring how I wanted the space to work for me. I came up with a plan and the architect tweaked it based on what I wanted. I didn't know how much my addition would run, so I paid the architect to draw the initial design. I had a contractor in mind who I wanted to work with. He gave me an estimate of what he thought it would cost to build looking at the design. When I saw it was in my budget, I then paid the architect to do the construction plans, which we submitted to the city. An architect should be able to tell you if there is much savings with your last plan. I thought it would save me money to expand one of the back bedrooms into a master - i.e. Tear out part of the exterior block wall of a back room and enlarge it. The architect told me it would be cheaper and easier to just add a new structure to my current house, connected by a door. I was happy to hear this, because it was what I really wanted to do anyway. One thing is that although that half bath costs a lot to put in, I would think it would be nice to have for guests.

Thank you for the kind words. Oladon, I think I mentioned somewhere before that I managed to catch the Townsend guys while they were trimming trees along the power lines and asked them to dump the mulch by my garden. They were happy to do so. 3 years of mulch for free, if it doesn't all rot before then. I can't say what it will do to the pH of my soil, but I have more clay than I'd like so I'm willing to make some pH amendments if it will help it break up the clay once I till it in after the garden has run its course this year. And I suspect that my garden is quite high in nitrogen because while I do have tons of veggies coming, the tomatoes are a little leafier than expected. But I'd attribute that to the truckload of goat manure I shoveled onto the garden before I planted. This is my first year growing in that area so I'm trying to build up the soil with mulch and manure, even if it means that soil conditions aren't yet ideal. I'll have it where I want it in another year or so. Also, the main idea was to not have to till the garden for the whole summer, as I don't own a tiller and have to borrow one. The mulch has been doing a great job of keeping most of the weeds down. I adopted an 'as much as I can' approach for application, meaning there are spots around certain plants where I do have to pull weeds, but at least they aren't out of control and hey, no tilling. As for the fill crops, I didn't do radishes but I do have basil, carrots and onions. I ended up planting them in short, compact rows near the center of the garden and mulched around the rows. weeds have overtaken my onions but I'm to blame for that, as I should have been more proactive in pulling them. I would highly recommend mulching the garden if you can manage it. It's kept things neater and more manageable so far. Just do some research beforehand to find out if it will throw you pH out of whack later on. And this is off-topic, but Leila, one of the figs you sent me is currently planted on the South side of my house and is doing great. A few weeks ago it started to put more branches off of the main stem so I will be taking cuttings from it later this year. If you remember, you also sent me a half dozen wild strawberries. I currently have them in a corner of my herb bed and they're putting out runners and spreading exponentially. They have produced quite a few tiny berries. Not enough to be considered a crop but wow are they ever delicious.

brilliant denise ... that is the suggestion i usually make when peeps ask about great grandma's precious semi dying heritage plant ... start some new ones asap ... most outdoor trees grown indoors.. do not root easily ... so it never crossed my mind that it would work with citrus ... go figure .. if in fact you do get a couple cuttings rooted ... just get rid of this old huge headache ... as many large plants like this will be quite a challenge for an inexperienced newb at the process .... in the alternative.. after you are done .. you will agree with me.. lol ... also ... in the future.. you might bone up on proper pruning techniques ... historically ... you did some real interpretational pruning ... lol ... mostly it looks like you just lopped chunks off the top .... which obviously served the purpose.. but it can be done much more artistically ... so that you end up with a much better looking tree .... im sure we could google potted citrus trees to see examples ... finally ... once you get a smaller version .. you will be able to get it outside for summer... so it can get the light levels it really needs ... and if you do.. understand.. when you take it outside after winters indoors... it goes in full bright shade until you can harden it off to direct sunshine ... full bright shade is a lot more light than sun thru windows ... but this is a topic for another post .... good luck ... ken https://duckduckgo.com/?q=potted+citrus+trees&t=ffcm&iax=images&ia=images