It's official - MAGTAG VII will be held on Saturday, August 18, 2012, at Southwest Area Park, in Baltimore County, MD. Note that we will be in Pavilion 2 this year - our usual spot, Pavilion 1, was already reserved. Pavilion 2 is the one farther away from the parking lot, behind the playground. Stay tuned for more info!

Tomato Folks, I talked to Cecelia and we are thinking that Saturday August the 18th would be a good day for this event. Let us know if the date will work for you. Greg

Lisa, I'm sure you'll get plenty of good info from us MAGTAGers. We all love it when people's eyes don't glaze over at the mention of heirlooms and blossom-end rot and hornworms and compost and seed starting. Usually, people bring in extra seeds to trade or give away, so if you're interested in growing your own seeds under lights, you might be able to get some freebees. Hopefully, your "shadysite" has at least one spot where you get enough sun to grow tomatoes - even in a pot! We've had some folks who live on MD's Eastern Shore attend in the past - they might be familiar with gardening in sandy soil. When my brother lived in Charleston, SC, he had to grow all his 'maters in pots - but that might have been because of nematodes rather than sand. P.S. I LOVE hummus. Yum.

could it be there's no uniform truth to the question? i posted the question elsewhere too and got the following: that's a stain, not a paint. you don't put primer under it, he's right. typically i might put a coat of turp/spirits/etc to make sure there's no mold/mildew/etc that goes unkilled. but with cedar that shouldn't be much of an issue, since cedar is quite resistant to parasites and fungus on its own. however, you could do that. walk around the building and inspect for mold/mildew, you know what it looks like (black or grey spots that seemingly originate from nowhere, thus disregarding black spots around nails from nail deterioration). if there is none, you should be fine with his proposed method. if there is any mold/mildew anywhere, you might point that out and suggest he pre-treat it all with a coat of turp first. note that this is a STAIN not a paint. it will be a roughly 7 or 8 year maintenance cycle, in that you'll need a new coat every that-many years. but the new coat will be fairly simple to apply, just wash dirt away and go, no other prep needed. --- now i'm just totally confused and big time concerned.