I have no idea about the pics, though blog.com has a reputation for a lot of down-time. Thanks for letting me know! If you click again another time, hopefully it will work better. Hard to complain much about a free thingie, so I won't. Sorry it frustrated you! The pics here are of a diff plant, but the very same principle. " I am wondering if there's a way to have loose airy soil that that also have enough nutrients without frequent fertilizing." Generally yes, a bigger pot/more volume of soil mix. I would forego the styro & compost. The styro will just cause you to need to water (and repot) more often. Fertilizer is much more efficient at delivering nutrients in a pot which is not a large enough environment for the natural decomposition process to appropriately sustain/fortify plants. Also, as decomposition happens, the result is tiny, water-logged, airless particles (mud.) More about soil/watering. A Dracaena grows so slowly, an occasional dose of weak fertilizer should be more than enough even in the leanest (nutritionally) mix. The mix you described, or any with 30% compost would be too dense for my confidence. The goal of a coarser, grittier mix is to eliminate tiny particles of any type, peat, sand, clay, silt. Think moist particles that have some tiny air spaces between them so there is also oxygen, even when saturated to capacity. It's going way beyond my area of experience to give you a specific recipe since I break the rules I espouse but there are a glut of discussion here about this. I would follow the advice established in those. It gets perpetuated because it works well for so many people/plants. There is a pic of such a mix here, in post dated Wed, Oct 20, 10 at 9:45.

You didn't mention what location you are in? You can plant strawberries just about any time of the year (though yes, fall is the "best") - though waiting this late in the season is probably not going to give you very much fruit, if any. The good news is strawberries if you take care of them last for many planting seasons to come (and produce more roots to plant) - so even if you don't see anything this year, you will likely see some nice berries next year. Most important is to make sure they get enough water, lots of sun, and if need be if it's too hot move them inside near a window (they don't like hot weather too much). Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Strawberry Tips

Well, to my surprise some more of those home depot bare roots bloomed this year for the first time. No idea what they are but here are some pics from this year and the blooms are better than last year. Just wish I could find another deal like this one again. First year blooming of this one and I just love it. second year bloom First year bloom of this one Second year bloom on this one. Beautiful large goldish yellow flower and very tall. second year blooming on this one. Very tall and large flower, lots and lots of buds, and colors much more vivid this year. This beauty is more salmon pink than the pic shows. huge flower with tons of blooms, second year bloom and it just keeps on blooming. The other daylily is in the pic is siloam bo peep. (I think that's how you spell it.) First year bloom of this one and I know it is Catherine Woodbury as it is identical to the one my mother had that we transplanted from her garden after she passed away a few years ago. A beautiful daylily and changes color shade from a pinkish color to a lavender color depending on the amount of sunlight it is getting when you look at it. On cloudy days it is more lavender color, the same in the early morning and late in the day. Not bad results for 25 cents and hopes that some of the bare roots would grow. Would love to know if anyone can identify them.

Cherry can certainly be rooted, but you should be aware there is a reason cherry is almost always grafted onto rootstock. A cherry (and this goes for many different types of fruit trees like apples and pears also) growing on its own roots can grow to be quite big, and will take a long time before it begins fruiting. There's a reason that it's called a "cherry picker". Because in older times very big cherry trees were common and you would need a cherry picker crane to be able to go up there and harvest them all. If you want a cherry tree that will grow to be the size of an oak tree (and cherry trees are pretty fast growing trees in the right climate), then go ahead. Have you seen the cherry tree in Owen Rose Garden? That's in the neighborhood of what you're asking for if you grow these rooted cuttings. (Eugene, Oregon) If you want to be able to harvest cherries in 3 to 4 years, you might consider grafting them onto the appropriate rootstock. Otherwise you're looking at 8 years. And the tree will be pretty big by the time it begins fruiting. Rootstock creates a degree of incompatibility which restricts growth and diverts the tree's energy towards fruit production earlier on in its lifespan. (This is true of sweet cherry, other cherry species may not naturally grow as big)