Unfortunately Sarah has had to drop out due to some unavoidable problems - she really wanted to come but it just isn't likely to be able to happen :-( I can still get to the mountain by taking the bus up, but I can't take as much up with me that way. Here's a thought if it's going to be just the three of us (Lakshmi, Chi and myself) - I could host a short little tea/lunch/snack thing and we could meet at my place (and my embarrassingly small garden!). I know Chi knows how to find me, and I assume it's as easy for him to get to my place as to the mountain. Lakshmi - If you only have time to zip in and out, it might still be easier for you to come by my place - there is a back alley with very little traffic and you can stop and load up on Chi's/my plants and drop off yours. That way you can have some of everything of mine that you want - I won't be limited by what I can carry (I even have some Monarda I can divide for you and I have some extra chives). So if this is good with you, I'll send you my address and directions on how to get here. If it isn't good, we'll go back to Plan A (the mountain). Those rose cuttings would be great and if 'Overdam' is your grass name, then it's not what I have and I'd like to try it. Your Shasta Daisies and Dahlias are interesting too. And if you're still offering that peony, I'll go out tomorrow and see what I have that's interesting and run it by you to see if you want it and think it's worth it. Chi - everything you wanted you can have - the Clematis, Belamcanda, and Iris pseudacorus. Was there anything else? I would like some of your Honeysuckle and Clematis cuttings. BP

digdirt wrote: There is no need to harden off until 7-10 days before planting out as once hardened off they need to be able to stay out. Can you elaborate on that? Will a hardened off seedling not continue to do well if brought back inside? I've been taking my seedlings outside on warm days, thinking I was helping them along. Is that a mistake? I'm still 2-3 weeks out from planting. Sure. Taking young plants out for an hour or so to get some sun and fresh air is one thing. Is it necessary? No. Is it beneficial? Maybe, if done very carefully. Can it be risky? Yes. But that is not hardening off. The process of hardening off is done to permanently adapt the plants to the totally new and different environment they will now be living in. Take them in and out and in and out over long periods of time and they never adapt because the environment is constantly changing. Think of it as moving. You bought a new house, go through the process of gradually moving all your stuff to it a little at a time, and 1/2 way live in both houses for a week or so with all those frustrations. Finally you settle in to the new house. Are you then going to go back to the old house to live when everything is over at the new house? Nope, once you are moved, you are moved, right? So when it is getting close to planting time they need to adapt to that environment. Gradually they go out into it, learn to live in their new house. Now if you take them back to the old house for any length of time after they have adapted to the new one, they have to re-adapt all over again and again. Make sense? _________________ Daniel - if she needs to repot later on that is fine but she sure doesn't need to do it now. And a 2" seedling would be over-whelmed in a 6" pot. And how much growth the plant has in 1 month all depends on the growing conditions provided. If they are given the proper cool growing conditions with plenty of light then a 4" pot will be fine for a month and the plants will be approx. 7-8". Will it be rootbound? Possibly but plants can survive just fine for a brief period until they can be planted. If they are exceptionally warm conditions with not enough light then yeah they will be taller and lanky. But even transplanting to a larger pot won't prevent that from happening. If you are happy with cow fiber pots that's fine but I have tried them and been sorely disappointed. The issues associated with using them are well documented and have been discussed here may, many times. The search will pull up all sorts of discussions about them as well as Jiffy pots, many with pics of the problems. They do not compost in the soil unless you have lots of clay that will retain water for a long time around them. Folks have posted pics of them in the soil a year later. Roots do not penetrate them as advertised unless the pots are kept overly wet. Folks have posted pictures of pulling up plants with the pot still intact and filled with roots but none outside the pot. To keep the pots wet enough that means the plants have to be kept overly wet since the pots pull the water right out of the soil. That leads to root rot and stunted plants, yellowing leaves, fungus gnats, etc. It's your choice but IMO plastic pots will always outperform any of the fiber pots. If one wants truly direct planted pots of some kind use newspaper pots. Dave This post was edited by digdirt on Mon, Apr 29, 13 at 18:39

thanks bigdaddyj,digdirt and fffgt, the reason I am using stakes this year is because I plant my tomatos with my flowers together. This is a new home and I don't have the strength to do a flower garden and a vegetable garden for the first year, we are new to country living and we have no power tools to make things easier. I end up cleaned all the grass and dig everything myself with a pick Axe, shovel and a small garden cart; I also have to add 6 yard of new soil to my existing clay soil to improve the growing condition, not to mention also have to deal with drainage problem. I currently have 15 plants and they are looking ok so far, I might buy couple of cages to try out, after all, they will not be looking that pretty among my flowers. Also, ffgt, how can I upload pictures? I read the instructions on this site and tried many times without success, maybe I am not as smart as I thought I am. Jing

Another one that I am leaned to is Cherokee Golden" . Again, I love bi colors. There are plenty of plain pinks and reds to go around. &&&&& If you like the gold/red bicolors then do consider Big Rainbow, Lucky Cross,Virginia Sweets and Marizol Gold to name just a few I like. You may think that there are plenty of pinks and reds to go around but not me. When I severed all 4 quads in my right leg in Dec of 2004 which put me permanently in this walker I decided to seek out, for my annual seed offer elsewhere, varieties that would be new to all or most, and I've been very successful at doing that. This past summer the folks who do seed production for me had a choice of: Four new ones from Valerian in Romania Two new ones from the Republic of Georgia Eight new ones from Reinhard in Germany Six new ones from Andrey in Belarus Four new ones from Turkey Two new ones from Bulgaria Four new ones from Slovenia The above I remember but there are more. And too many new ones to list from folks in the US, most new family heirlooms. And all pinks or reds, let alone some so called blacks and green when ripes , golds, oranges as well from US folks. I've been doing these seed offers with ones new to all or most since about 2005 so in the last almost 10 years I've introduced lots of new ones, most listed by Tania now at her superb data base website, It's time for me to turn over to someone else doing these seeds offers and he will start with the 2016 one since he retires as a teacher this next summer. I'll still be in charge of seeking out new ones since I now have many many contacts in other countries, as well as in the US and Canada, but he will do all the seed packing and sending, which is very laborious, The 2014 SSE Yearbook is also the last time I will be listing anything in the SSE Yearbooks. I've been doing large seed offers since about 2000 and at age 75 and now homebound, it really is time to let someone else do all the work, which is a lot since participants from outside the US can e-mail me which ones they want and I pay the postage to all out side the US, which os not cheap, while those in the US send me a SASE/ So no, I do not think there are ones already available of the pinks and reds to go around. Is there a perfect tomato for me? No, and that's what has kept me going all these decades growing so many varieties. Carolyn