Good luck to you if you're successful. The young ones on our street seem to be more interested in the high-tech stuff. I'm so worried they're going to ruin their hearing. Seriously, I think it's great that you're trying to get your children involved in nature at an early age. They'll be so grateful for it later on in life. Hummmm...My child is grown (mid-30s) & living in CO. He loves the outdoors. I wonder if I could train him by email to collect seeds for me. He actually thanks me today for making him listen to my music when he was younger. (We'd take turns picking the radio station in the car.) Perhaps, he'll thank me when he has kids for teaching him to love plants and seeds. LOL! I was young once and regret that I didn't soak up as much information as I could from my dad and grandparents while I had the chance...all have now passed on to a better place. They could grow anything! Regardless, I, myself will be looking for mushrooms that looks like brains on a stalk. Yes, I'm on a mission. PS The boss thinks that times are going to get really, really bad in the future. I've been passing along info to him that I've learned from the GW. He never considered the fact that we could survive off plants in the woods across the street if we had to do it???? The things I learn on GW. It's amazing!!!

Sheri, Oh, it is drooling time! I can almost taste the tomatoes now. Sungold, Persimmon, and Cherokee Chocolate: if you get ripe tomatoes from only these three plants, you'll still think it is the best tomato year ever, taste-wise! Dr. Wyche's has always done better for me than Kellogg's Breakfast, but then, I have grown DWY for 5 or 6 years and KB for only 2, so Dr. Wyche's has had more opportunity to excell. Dr. Wyche's is a pretty heavy producer, and quite tasty. It also shows great disease resistance. Black Zebra is a very attractive-looking tomato, but I think Black Pineapple (which isn't really black at all, LOL) tastes much better. I have found that every striped tomato I've ever grown has looked pretty, and tasted no better than average. (sigh) Well, I take that back--the one exception is Indian Stripe. Momotaro is probably better than Carmello, but then, your taste buds and your growing conditions are different from mine, so you might find the opposite to be true. I do not think you'll be disappointed in Momotaro though. I haven't grow Alamo. We love Sweet Million and Black Plum, which is our postal carrier's favorite tomato ever since I started sharing them with her several years ago. You're right--I wasn't wild about Japanese Black Trifele, but lots of people love it, so maybe it was just me. Your Mystery Surprise is probably either a tomato that "lost its label" during the seedling growing process, or is from a new grow-out that DJ is trialing and perhaps hasn't even named yet. (I think mysteries and surprises are fun!) Yellow Platfoot Brandywine is yummy, and so is Black Pear. Brandy Boy is the best. If I could only grow one variety, this might be it. There are a few that taste better, but NONE of them can match BB's heavy production and disease resistance. And, even though there are a few that I think taste better than BB, none of them is loads and loads better, only a little better. I don't think I have grown Black Pearl, but isn't it a smallish tomato, more like Black Cherry? I think it is the Burpee hybrid that is said to taste more like a Concord grape after it has been refrigerated? If it even comes close to tasting like Black Cherry, it will be a real winner. I can tell you are ready to get the plants going. Have fun, but be careful and watch the weather. I feel sure we have another freeze or two to get through before Old Man Winter departs and lets us have Spring. I believe you will have more tomatoes this year than last. Remember that so much of last year.....the excessive rainfall, the continual cloudiness, the cooler-than-usual weather all combined to severely affect tomato production. Conditions like that are beyond our control AND exceptionally rare. This has GOT TO be a better year, right? By the way, my little container-grown Better Bush tomato has now formed a second tomato--it is just about the size of an English pea. I am so worried that a deer or possum will get my first green tomato that I carry this plant inside every single night. (It is a very pampered plant at this point. Today I picked up a lady bug and carried her over to the plant and sat her on a leaf, just so she could cruise around and hunt for any bugs that might be lurking.) I am SO looking forward to the first ripe tomato this year. No matter the size of the tomato, we always make BLT sandwiches out of the first ripe one. I am going to order the world's best bacon from the New Braunsfels Smokehouse just so we'll have it for the first BLT of 2008. (Most of the time we eat healthy and watch our fat intake and cholesterol, but BLT time is special and calls for a total disregard of the healthy eating rules!) Keep me posted on how planting goes. I hope to be out in the garden a lot the next few days if the weather cooperates. We are under all kinds of storm watches today, tonight and tomorrow, but so far everything is going either a couple of counties west of us OR a couple of counties east of us, and that's OK with me. Dawn

Thank you so much! Spring migration keeps me so busy taking more photos, I've been getting far behind. Every time we stop by the Minor Clark Fish Hatchery we see something different 4-25-10, Minor Clark Fish Hatchery, Solitary Sandpiper From April 23, 2010 birds plus we spent the weekend camping and birding at the Kentucky Ornithological Society's spring meet at Jenny Wiley State Park, so tons MORE photos to sort, edit

Tricia - I have fiddleheads at the bottom of my hill. I have not checked on them this year because the snow just melted Friday. I moved a clump of 4 (ostrich ferns) from my Mom's farm before she sold it. They multiply like crazy and last year I had at least a couple dozen. Maybe I have another treat in my near future! :-) Unless we get that 4" of snow they say is coming our way. Upper 70's today - winter later in the week. I've got both flip flops and boots at the door. Jim, your post gave me a smile. Goes to show the MOREL of the story - there is no room for strife on a "yay - it's spring!" thread. Even a simple discussion can sometimes MUSHROOM into a big fight. [ pun intended :-) ] My Dad had so many morels on his property that he would dry them and give them away to his co-workers at the airline and the neighbors. I like them as a treat - on occasion. My dad could eat them everyday and often did as he had a never ending supply of dried morels on hand. Dcarch - too bad I did not know you 6 years ago when my Mom still owned the property! You'd be getting boxes of Morels! Teresa This post was edited by teresa_mn on Sun, Apr 28, 13 at 16:00