If you are going to take the trees out right away, you can cut those grapes down and they will survive. I wouldn't take them to the ground. If you leave a couple of feet of vine, that short a bit will be pretty easy to untangle. If you aren't taking the trees down right away, leave the vines and see what they produce. Whether or not you like the grapes is going to make a difference in how you treat the vines. It sounds to me like the first step is to get the ivy under control. The trees might possibly be something to save. You won't know until you get them unburied and determine what they are and give them some pruning and care. Who knows, maybe those are fruit trees. I wouldn't automatically assume that grapes in a once cultivated garden gone out of control would be wild grapes. They could very easily have been deliberately planted back in the days when the garden was tended. I bought a place that had been abandoned for 6 years. The surviving plants were in bad shape, but I babied them just to see what I had. They looked like garbage, but some time in the past, someone was a pretty good gardener and most of the plants turned out to be excellent. It took some serious work to bring them back, but it was worth it. 2 completely "dead" bushes turned out to be gorgeous hardy hibiscus that have flowers for 6 months solid. 3 "dead" fruit trees are bearing fruit for me. An unidentifiable tangled mess of dead twigs is now a sweet-smelling honeysuckle. Clean up first, then stand back and take stock.

My fig tree (third year) had a single fig even before the leaves all opened this year. Its the brown turkey type. I find that a foliar spray of fertilizer on the leaves every two weeks helps to get more figs to grow. No bugs seem to bother figs or leaves, which I like. The tree is in a heavy pot on wheels, that I take indoors during winter. It started to leaf out even before all the rest of the spring plants did.

My mother's in her 80s now, but when she was first married in 1946, she used the Joy of Cooking, War Edition, cookbook. I inherited it, although it's kind of in pieces now, but I found this recipe. If this isn't it, it certainly sounds similar. Tomato Preserves Scald and skin: 1 pound tomatoes If red tomatoes are used, slice them. Cover the tomatoes with: An equal amount of sugar Permit them to stand for 12 hours. Put the juice through a strainer. Boil it until the sirup (sic) falls from a spoon in heavy drops. Add the tomatoes and: Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon or 2 lemons, thinly sliced (seeds removed) 2 ounces ginger root or preserved ginger** Cook the preserves until they are thick. **Four inches of stick cinnamon may be substituted. So much is lost when older folk pass on. My grandmother was a wonderful gardener and a great baker as well. Everything of hers was sold at garage sales: all of her quilts and crocheted items, her Singer treadle sewing machine, her silverware...so many things that would probably have been classed as antique was just considered to be junk because it was old. And none of her gardening or cooking lore was passed down. My mother wasn't interested, and no one asked me. I wish I could get a copy of the War Edition Joy of Cooking that wasn't falling apart.

Melly - Citrus is one thing that likes the soil, water and weather here. Right now I have a bumper crop of mandarin oranges, growing on a dwarf tree that is probably 30 years old. Each year it does the same thing - great producer. They are a bit pesky to peel and get the strings off - but I find a nice sunny spot in the yard - make a comfortable spot, and peel away. Do macadamias the same way. About that microplane - I intend to have one - as subjecting my knuckles to the "ol fashioned" grater - is a bummer. After saving some of the juice with zest and freezing for later use - drinks, pies, etc., I also decided to try some lime/salt/pepper seasoning. As I make garlic and onion salt, I decided to try the zest the same way. So - mixed zest with iodized salt and ground pepper corns, also added a bit of lime juice, put the mash in a pie pan and slow dried in the oven. When it dried, I ground it in the food processor until it passed through a shaker. Actually, it tastes as good as the store bought variety. Another use for my citrus - Wow! Readinglady - how I can identify with things that break down. Because of the high cost of hiring someone, my son and I have learned to repair a lot of stuff - good thing - as this old house was ancient in "69" when we bought it, and perhaps it should have been torn down a long time ago, but you know the saying, "you can't beat the location." So - an education it has been. Son has just replaced some rotten galvanized plumbing - that was just waiting for an excuse to give out. I have to admire him for being able to cope with these little things, because labor is sooo expensive. Anyway, glad your back in business. I know how I would feel if my kitchen were non-functioning. Guess, I'd have to take a vacation. It has been interesting - the posts on outdoor canning with propane stoves. It has never been noted before, that natural gas is slow - by comparison. In other words, it takes a long time to get that jelly to a rolling boil with our local gas, but propane can get it there in much less time. Maybe I will consider that option next summer, also keeps the kitchen cooler and neater. P.S. I asked Santa to bring me a stainless steel canning rack to fit inside my pots. If it helps the rust problem, then perhaps I can avoid buying bottled water. Whee - kind of long - sorry. Bejay