Last year here in Berkeley near University and San Pablo - a couple miles from the bay - my Sungolds and Candy Isis and Cherokee Purples were prolific. Black Krim, Early Girl and Better Boy did fine. No diseases, one hornworm *creepy*. This year I'm only doing heirlooms *except* I can't imagine life without Sungolds and Candy Isis so will do those again! I plan to grow from starts and this is my list IF I can find all these varieties as starts.... Aunt Gertie Gold Aunt Ruby's German Green Berkeley Tie-Dye (have to - I live in Berkeley!) Black Krim Brandywine (black, pink..whatever I can get) Cherokee Purple Dr. Wyche's Yellow German Giant Green Zebra Marianna's Peace Mexico Neves Azorean Red Old German Paul Robeson Persimmon Royal Hillbilly (my name is Royal - have to!) Sunset's Red Horizon White Wonder Cherries: Candy Isis Riesentraube Sungold Snow White Sugar Lump I will expand my garden this year and the new spot gets much more sun! Plan on planting first week of April... Good luck all! P.S. if anyone knows any places to get these starts, I would much appreciate the info!

Thanks a lot PanamaJack! Hopefully spring will bring lots of things back to life. I'm seeing a bit more damage on the frostproof gardenia today so I think I'll at least be seeing leaf drop on it. I cannot wait until warmer days. 45 more days until Meteorological spring and by then all the plants I have outside are usually in the clear from damaging cold! Glad to hear everything is looking good for you NJ! The little spanish moss that I have outside is looking okay for me too. The duration of cold hasn't been as bad this year as it could have been so maybe it will surprise me and survive until spring! That would be very cool considering how cold our minimal temperatures were this year. As far as the southern magnolia, I know it's definitely a tight squeeze there. I wish I had a better place to put it, but that's probably the most spacious part of my entire property. I wish I had more land so I could have the southern magnolia grow to it's fullest potential. The house you see in the pic is actually my nieghbors. It's about 10 feet away from their house from the outermost branches which I know is not going to be enough in the future. I'm hoping to keep it pruned to be as pyramidal as possible. The roots are a bit confined because it's in a raised bed so that could help slow down it's growth for a while. I'm hoping to get 5 years out of it before having to prune it a bit and hopefully it won't be a problem for at least 10 years (and hopefully I'll be living someplace warm 10 years from now!) Thanks for looking everyone! -Alex

Before the year's officially over, I thought I'd share two pics of my wintering peppers. I actually took both plants outdoors this morning, blasted the aphids off the Chocolate Hab, gave them both a mild fertigation, and then left them outside on the deck all day. Chocolate Hab, after a good rinsing of the aphids..... And my three year-old Hungarian wax. Slowly but surely it's greening up and regaining vitality. By March, I'll have it pruned down to force back-budding and branching lower on the trunk, making for a stronger plant capable of supporting more fruit. You can also compare how aggressively I pruned my Chocolate Hab....I don't just talk the talk, I whack the peppers, too ;) Josh

I finally have my list together now. This list is in order of my preference starting at the top of the list. 1. Marianna' Peace - I have heard so many good things about this one. 2. Cherokee Purple - This is a classic staple. Never go a year without this one. 3. Mortgage Lifter - Lots of great talk abou it. 4. Neves Azorean Red - Many good comments about this large beefsteak. 5. Brandywine OTV - A classic like this cannot go unplanted. Not so great yields but great taste. 6. Goose Creek - Laurel' Heirloom Tomato plants says it is just fabulous. 7. Giant Green - I like the beefsteak's. Thought I would try one of the big green varieties. 8. Aunt Ruby's German Green - Gonna give it a try. Lots of great comments about it. 9. Mule Team - One of my neighbors tried it this year and says it is great. Paul Robeson - This is Laurel's favorite tomato of all time. I'll try it next season and see for myself. Black Krim - One of my alltime favoites. Never have a veg garden without it. Brown Derby - Gonna try it for the first time. Stupize - My neighbor grows this one and loves it but says it is more tempermental from year to year. Box Car Willie - Heard lots of great things. Gonna finally give it a try. Hillbilly - Those who grow it say they love it, so I will give it a try. Mexico - What a great huge beefsteak (what I hear anyway). We will see. Omar's Lebanese - I have heard so many great things about this one. I just gotta try it. Big Zac - Gotta try a really HUGE beefsteak sometime. Might as well be next year.This is purely novelty. Heart of Compassion - One of Laurel's choices. Gonna give it a try. Opalka - It seems a lot of people used to talk about this one a lot. Not so much now. Just the same gonna give it a try next year. That is my 20. If I plant three of each that will give me 60 plants. Did I say 60?!?!?!?! Man, that will be my biggest tomato undertaking ever. And I still have to find some room for some peppers, and a couple of squash. We will see if my eyes are bigger than my brain. That is a lot of tomato's. Maybe two of each plant - lol. Maybe three of some,two of some and one of some others - lol. Well, I have plenty of time to think about it. I'll be trying my neighbors variety's and seeing if any of them make a particular impression on me. Later. Tom