You might want to keep an eye on that grasshopper. On some of my whipshoots, the hoppers have eaten most of the emerging leaves (while they're still rolled up). They like the tender stuff I guess.

Another thing to consider when patio growing is the 'heat sink' effect--how much extra hot may be coming from all the concrete, brick, etc? I have a townhome with a small enclosed backyard. The homes are brick, and I can get away with planting my basil a month earlier in containers next to the brick wall than I can out in my garden area. But, then, I have to move them when the heat sets in.

Yes...You did good! I wanted to ask a question. I noticed none of you guys have ever mentioned planting Beefsteaks. Why is this? Is Beefsteak an over hyped 'pop' tomato? While there is a variety of tomato named Beefsteak, there are numerous other beefsteak tomatoes. Beefsteak is a term used to describe the shape of a tomato, just as a lot of little tomatoes varieties are called cherry tomatoes. Though you may not read of many folks growing Beefsteaks, they are indeed growing beefsteak shaped tomatoes. Beefsteak Tomato at Wikipedia If you scan through the list of tomatoes Here you will see that there are many with beefsteak in the description. You will likely recognize some that have been mentioned here as being grown. With maybe 10,000 varieties of tomatoes, many of us have at some time or another grown the named variety Beefsteak, but have since moved on to trying so many more of the 10,000 varieties available. Are there other kinds I should try next year? Undoubtedly there are...just keep reading and you will likely read of numerous ones you might like to try. Then you can mosey over to the Seed Exchange, (or the Exchange page here at this forum) make a post there, and trade off some of your Commercially bought Beefsteak for some other varieties. So many tomatoes...so little time and energy. Sue

Ooh, thank you KMC. That last fabric looks like it'd be perfect, colorwise. I realized after I went to bed last night that I hadn't looked on Smith & Noble for curtains while I was there for the blinds. I am going to check them out. Grommets are not for me, but maybe they'll have them in another style. I like the sofa pillows, too, and they are one of my options for the color scheme. My rug has all of the same colors, plus more, so I also have the option of using some of the rug colors and getting different pillows. The rug has a cherry red, an olive green and a blue that I also like. But since my kitchen is (bright) orange/red and you can see it from the living room, I thought keeping the orange/red going would be nice.