Thanks Mskee and Gfult for the compliments on the hydrangeas. Gfult, I wish I could give you info on it. I don't know what kind it is. I purchased them around easter time 25 years ago at the local market. Planted them outside in the shade and was told they wouldn't come back because they where hothouse forced and wouldn't be hardy for New England zones. I was lucky as both of them have been there every year blooming like you saw. Except for 2 years ago when we had that bitter cold January and no snow protection. they didn't bloom that year. The smaller one is a 3 year old from root cutings of one of the 2 original ones. Some one on the hydrangea forum suggested it might be one called Mathilda Gutges. The pic looks like it but I can't be sure. I can tell you that the stems and new leaves come directly from the ground and new growth on old stems. Some of the old stems suffer winter kill and I remove them. The flowers bloom on the new growth from the ground and from new stems that come off old stems and on old stems too. I prune them to keep them from getting to large because of where I have them planted. Also they are a very deep blue color and if you have too much light on your computer screen you may not be seeing how really deep blue they are. I have never seen another hydrangea with this deep blue before I got these or since. they are acid lovers and the blue usually need at the very least, partial shade. These used to get almost all shade, but since I originally got them, many trees have been cut down so they get partial sun in the morning and then in the late afternoon, which has not affected their color. Fran

Hi Bill, It is so nice to hear from you today. I hope y'all got some rain this week. We did! I agree with you that over-loving one's tomato plants is counter-productive because it gives you lots of watery, underflavored tomatoes. A term commonly used to refer to overwatering and overfeeding is "loving your plants to death". I am really careful about not overwatering (which, considering our droughts here, is not that hard as long as I don't turn on the soaker hoses too often) and not overfeeding. I've also noticed that plants that are overfed and overwatered have incredible pest problems and more disease issues as well. Bill, my absolute worst tomato year ever in my whole life was here in southern OK in 2004. I remember that I got the plants into mostly raised beds (two rows were at grade level in only slightly amended soil) with well-amended soil and I got them planted pretty early. By the end of May I had nice, tall sturdy plants covered with ripening fruit. In June, 12" of rain fell. Twelve inches. That was the end of what had seemed to be a promising tomato year. All the tomatoes had poor flavor and texture and most were spitters. I hope we never have 12" of rain in one month again during tomato growing season. The rain finally stopped falling sometime in July, but I didn't have tomatoes with good flavor until late August or early September. The next two years were drought years also plagued by wildfire, and in 2005 and 2006 we had really, really good-flavored tomatoes and a pretty decent harvest considering the drought and heat. For us, as for most of OK, 2007's spring and early summer was excessively wet and the tomatoes were late and poorly-flavored. Once again the rain stopped in July, and we got decently flavored tomatoes a month or so later. Last year's drought gave us tomatoes with great flavor, even after I completely stopped watering the garden when the water bills became unbearably high. So, I don't really want to "hope for drought", but it does give us our best-flavored tomatoes (and our hottest peppers too). Even though we had over an inch of rain this week here (1.7" to be exact), that only brings 2009's rainfall up to about 50% of normal, and the drought is forecast to persist or improve only slightly, so I am expecting a good tomato year here. This year I am going to grow about 30 plants in containers so I can control the moisure a little more for them than I can for in-the-ground plantings. I can't wait to see how you like SunGold. The only people I've ever known who didn't like SunGold were, perhaps, picking them too early or maybe overwatering them. You have to let them get a deep golden-orange. Sadly, the SunGolds split pretty easily and don't hold for a long time after being harvested which is why you don't see them for sale often in grocery stores or farmer's markets. If you like SunGold, though, and want to grow it to sell, there is a very similar improved variety called SunSugar that doesn't crack and holds for a longer period of time. The flavor of SunSugar (at least to my tastebuds) is identical to the flavor of SunGold. I get the best tomatoes when I give them only organic tomato food that is low in the necessary macronutrients. I like Espoma Tomato Tone which is a 4-7-10. (For anyone newer to gardening, that's 4% nitogen, 7% phosphate, and 10% potash.) What I really like about it is that it contains all the micronutrients tomatoes need: calcium, magnesium, sulfur, boron, chlorine, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, sodium, and zinc. I give each plant a handful of Tomato Tone at planting time and then I don't necessarily feed them again unless they are showing signs of nutritional deficiency. I don't water any more often than I have to in order to get the plants to a decent size by the time flowering begins, and I water as little as possible once they are setting fruit, especially as fruit begins to ripen. I like to describe the effect of stress on tomato plants to new gardeners this way: The purpose of a tomato plant is to produce seeds to perpetuate itself. If the plant is living a cushy life and is not in danger of dying, it doesn't get in a big hurry to make seeds and, if it is an indeterminate tomato, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Why shouldn't it? The plant, after all, is living the good life and has reason to think that life will end any time soon. On the other hand, if a tomato plant is a little dry, a little hot, and a little thirsty and hungry, it tends to produce more seed, and earlier, because it is hurrying up to make seed to replace itself in case it dies. So, stress (up to a point) is good since it gives us more seeds (inside our fruit). For most of us here in Oklahoma, it isn't too hard to see to it that our plants get the stress they need--Mother Nature sort of takes care of that for us! LOL Dawn

Conditioners/enhancers/rye sours/flavors. I stay away from the list of trendy things you'll find in King Arthur's Baker's Catalogue or Lora Brody items. Many of these products came to the fore when people started using the QUICK CYCLE in bread machines. You just can't get the same type of bread in one hour that an all day method takes. You miss the complex flavors that only time can achieve. Adding flavorings is neither right or wrong, just a choice. But if you use different methods, your bread will develop many of the "flavors" naturally. Since I rarely make French- or Italian-style breads (flour, yeast, water, salt) most of my breads are "enhanced" and I commonly use these enhancers. Ascorbic Acid- (also found in yeast) I use 1/8-t. ascorbic acid per loaf anytime I use 100% whole wheat flour or wheat germ. There's a substance in wheat germ called Glutathione and this substance breaks down the gluten. Ascorbic acid in your dough will help to counteract the negative effects of Glutathione and will help the gluten bonds from breaking down. Ascorbic acid helps sustain the leavening of loaves during baking and promotes yeast growth so the yeast will work longer and faster. Ascorbic acid promotes an acidic dough in which yeast grows best. I don't use ascorbic acid in sourdough breads using whole wheat flour because it's already acidic enough. Vital Wheat Gluten- I add vital wheat gluten when a recipe uses a large amount of low-gluten flour. Dry Milk Powder, milk or other dairy product. I use homemade kefir in my breads. The fermented product contributes some acid that helps bread stay fresher longer and deters mold as well as a great amount of flavor. Fats added to dough are enhancers. They add taste and contribute to the texture and moisture of the bread. Eggs - also an enhancer. They add to the rise, color, texture and taste. The naturally-occuring lecithin in eggs also contributes. Chia seed goop - This helps maintain moisture in the crumb rather than moisture wicking to the crust, increases fiber and other nutrients. The chemical bleaches in bleached flour is also considered a dough improver. When flour was bromated, the bromites aided in giving the gluten more extensibility. I never use bleached flour and bromated flour is no longer available. Non-Diastatic Malt - When I use it I make my own. It's supposed to give the bread better structure and make it softer and more tender. The live enzymes help yeast to grow. It contributes to the flavor as well. I don't know that it made all that much difference to use it or not. Spices such as ginger, ground caraway, cardamom, cinnamom, mace, nutmeg, and thyme all improve yeast activity. Many bakers add a pinch of ginger to dough for this reason. I never use dough relaxer. The gluten strands in dough will "relax" if you allow it to - it's called resting it 10-20 minutes before you form it. If you have a problem with pizza dough being difficult to form or roll out even after a rest, try using a small amount of a lower-gluten flour in the mix. Rye Sour is another mixture of ingredients that quickly adds a taste and acidity that normally develops in dough if allowed enough time. One of the ingredients in it is rye flour - DUH! The taste most people associate with rye bread is actually nothing more than the caraway seeds. Try adding crushed caraway seeds to white bread and you'll assume it's rye bread. The deep dark coloring associated with dark rye is because of the additions of molasses, cocoa, or coffee to the recipe. Rye flour has very little flavor on its own until it's allowed some fermentation time. Rye flour ferments very quickly, which is why it's a good flour to use when you begin a starter. I often use freshly-milled rye flour in quick breads and cookies. Those are some that come to mind... -Grainlady

Homepro, I am a coffeegeek! ... but I don't roast my own beans yet. We have Miss Sylvia that we take on road trips and to the cabin. Which La Spaziale did you get??? When I get my Neorest installed, my plumber says I can charge people to use it! Just another gizmo to bring in my friends and family. (I am not proud!) I'm trying for a set up where no one will be able to even come near the side of town I live near without driving on down to visit! Seriously, this AM I got a call from a friend saying she was close and had to pee. Could she drop by? "... and you thought you had to ask first??" Yes, I'm a senior member of the Death before Decaf club.