Laurie, Any small fruited variety is and easy starter. This includes current or cherry tomatoes. Need some seeds? Annebert, I am sending out seeds this week so Emily is on the way! Cecilia, I am not sure what I will plant this year. I kind of gave up on planning ahead because I keep changing my mind :-) I do have some crosses that I am going to try. I crossed Yellow Cookie with Cherokee Green two years back and this is the first year I shall see the F2 results. I was hoping to get a green heart for my efforts! Also, I crossed Cherokee Green with White Current last year. I am hoping some of that works out. I would love to get a good tasting green cherry tomato. Green Grape was not terribly impressive to me. Dr. Carolyn has mentioned that Green Doctor would be a good one to try, maybe I will find some seeds and see for my self! I definitely would like to try some new stuff this year. Someone brought Persimmon one year and I really liked it. Maybe I will get some seeds for that. Greg

I agree. Volunteer tomates have been hardened off naturally and know when the right time is to come up. I do think you should label though. Take a rotton tomato that if freshly fallen and put it somewhere specific. Stick a plant label in the ground and label the variety. If you only have one hybrid, then I assume the rest are heirlooms. In which case, that's even more reason to label. If you don't, that's how varieties become extinct. If you really, really want healthy tomato plants, grafted tomatoes are amazing. There are three plants in the master gardener demonstration vegetable garden that are totally healthy, and MONSTEROUSLY HUGE.

I'm more of a winter gardener - everything takes too much water during the summer, and we are in a severe drought. However, I did notice that my cherimoya pollinating has been at least somewhat successful (see photo below). I counted six fruits that are developing, and I have learned a lot about what techniques are best for this fruit. I bought a cherimoya fruit a couple of weeks ago at a Japanese market ($6.00 for one large fruit), and it was fantastic - froze part of it for later. It was from Santa Barbara, and so I am thinking that now is the season, and I might have to wait until next year for my own fruit to mature. I have a bunch of new pepper plants (Serrano, Jalapeno, Habanero, plus some mild ones), and they are the only other non-citrus food plants I am growing now, not counting herbs, and I've cut back on those. I'm planning to skip tomatoes this year, due to the water situation, and they are just too much hassle. I can buy fantastic tomatoes at the farmers' markets, or have Kevin go to the one in Culver City, even though he won't eat the tomatoes. I do feel the need to keep pepper plants in my yard, however, and they are not demanding, do not need excessive water, and supply me with a constant supply of chilies, which I use almost every day, it seems. If I do not use the chilies themselves, then I use the chili sauces that I make from them every day. Our apple tree is doing fairly well, but it did not lose all its leaves until March or April and then waited until May to put out new leaves, which meant that the orchids and bromeliads that it was supposed to be shading had to be moved temporarily until the tree had more leaves. It has plenty of leaves now and seems to be making a fair amount of fruit, but then the fruit probably won't be ripe until November or so. I feel like I am in some sort of time warp - no wonder that I have trouble remembering what month it is! Lars

I would be interested to trade with you. I am sending you an email.