A potential problem with growing Dawn Redwood from seed is that they exhibit what is called inbreeding depression. That means if a tree pollinates itself, the resulting seeds will likely give rise to trees that are not very vigorous. However, if you get several seeds to germinate, there's a good chance some of them will be vigorous. There are some growing tips here: http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/growing.htm Alex

I am not going to quarrel with anything he says because, first of all, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Different strokes for different folks and all that. Secondly, most of what he says is based not only on decades of gardening, but also on his training as a master gardener. Who am I to disagree? He also backs up what he says with research. Having said that, I advocate doing what you have found works best with whatever conditions you face in a given year because everyone has to deal with the conditions they have....which are not often (or maybe not ever in OK) textbook perfect. I have hardened off plants all kinds of ways the last couple of decades, and generally agree with his comments. Having said that, I carefully evaluate our weather conditions and do what works best in the conditions we have, and what works best in one year (like last year when we could plant the first week in March) may not be what works best in another year. We have to know and understand our own individual microclimates and make adjustments as needed in order to get the best possible harvest in the conditions in which we garden. In some parts of the country, you can pretty much take your time and harden off your plants whenever (at dates that seem horrendously late to us Okies) and then put them in the ground and they'll do fine all summer, will set lots of fruit no matter how late they go into the ground, etc. For those of us here in this state, we know from experience that the temperatures that shut down fruit set, which normally arrive in late June or early July for most of the state (maybe in May for Leslie in SW OK)in a so-called normal year, sometimes arrive in May (like in 2011) in an abnormal year, so we have to take some risks and push our plants into the ground as early as possible in order to get fruit set for a summer harvest and not have to wait for a fall harvest. I think people who do not grow in our specific erratic heat-challenged, drought-challenged and sometimes wildly erratic climate may lack I am sure that is true of people in other states too---we likely don't understand what works best for them and why they do the things they do because we've never gardened in their specific conditions. While I respect the experience of gardeners in other states, if they haven't grown tomatoes here, then what they say may be less relevant to our situation than it is to most gardeners who have a milder summer. We have to make a lot of adaptations to standard growing procedures some years because our weather can swing wildly for 90-something degrees to 30-something degrees with snow all in the same week. Sometimes it is a wonder we get tomatoes at all. We all have to do what works in our climate. Our spring weather is so erratic here that we often do start hardening off plants at the "usual" time, only to have winter weather return and blow up our plans to plant at the usual, OSU-recommended times. That doesn't mean we started too early or shouldn't have been hardening off the plants at that time---it just means that the weather threw a money wrench into timing that generally works. Like Robert, I work to toughen up the plants before they even go outside. Most of us here have to deal with ridiculously strong wind at times, and it helps if you prepare your plants for the stress of hardening off by giving them wind exposure indoors. It also helps them form bigger and stronger main stems which makes them less likely to break when you put them outside to harden off and then they get hit by 50 or 60 mph wind gusts.....or even 40 mph wind gusts. Many gardeners do believe bigger is better in terms of tomato transplants, though research does not support that as he explained in the linked thread, and I have noticed that a lot of folks in other states who cannot transplant their plants until May or even June will have plants 2 to 3' tall at transplanting time. I try to keep mine smaller than that because the bigger they are, the more adjustment time they need after being transplanted. It also can be hard to protect taller plants early in the season. Once a plant is too tall for a wall-o-water and freezing nights hit, then what? However, if they like big transplants and it works for them, then more power to them. I'm not going to tell someone not to do what they have found works for them in their specific location and with their weather, climate, soil, etc. I know the standard recommendation for proper transplants is 6-8" tall, but have found that doesn't work well for me with the wind I have. I prefer transplants 12-18" tall, and as long as it keeps working for me, I'm going to keep doing it, no matter what someone else says. : ) There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same. Y'all just aren't going to find me telling people there is only one path or only one best path. Reed, I understand your comment totally on the less-than-cordial part, but I probably have days where I am less than cordial too, and I hope y'all overlook it on days when I am. Dawn

Do y'all see something I don't see? I'm not expecting anything here worth worrying over. We have wind out of the east and light, thin clouds to our east and southeast but nothing that's a rainmaker. I am in central Love County a mile or so west of I-35 in the middle of the state from east to west, though about as far south as you can go without crossing over into Texas. We are not likely to get rain from Isaac's remnants. I'd be more worried if I was 100 miles east of my present location. I think the people who ought to be watching this thing are the ones close to the TX border in extreme SE OK (McCurtain County, maybe), in SW and western Arkansas, and in the OK counties that border Arkansas. Missouri might get rain. I hope the rain from Isaac find's Dorothy's house in Adair County and pours rain down on her dry, parched ground. We have had 3.2" in the last five days, and Dorothy's ground needs some rain so it can catch up with ours. : ) So, let's watch and see who this impacts. My best guess is maybe Larry's area, and Dorothy's and Carol's? Maybe George's if some thunderstorms pop up? What the remnants of Isaac are supposed to give me, according to local forecasters, is hot dry weather with high temps and low humidity. It currently is 97 degrees here with an RH of 29% so the local guys are right on the mark so far. If Isaac moves as expected and as forecasted by the models it should be moving north/northeast away from me, not towards me. I'm not gonna say Isaac will do what they say, because tropical systems are hard to predict with regards to track, but once they come ashore and are moving as slow as he is, there usually are not many surprises. I've linked the current forecast track. It looks to me like Isaac's remnants really want to curve over just enough to maybe go visit Carol, Dorothy and Larry. On the linked map as of 3:30 this afternoon, I am under the "M" in the words 7 AM Friday.....but Larry may be having breakfast tomorrow with Isaac's remnants. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Isaac's Current Forecast Track

I was feeling sorry for the plants more than for myself, but it is so nice today to not have to worry about when to irrigate next, etc. It has been so dry for so long that irrigating just wasn't helping as much as it should, and I'm not exactly a rookie when it comes to getting a garden through a drought year. Even with lots of watering, some plants (notably cucumber, watermelons and squash in the back garden, though the ones out front are fine) just weren't growing and producing well. I guess they were just sort of clinging to life and producing a little here and there but nothing to get excited about. This rainfall will change that. I am glad I had planted them in both gardens so I could compare their performance in the two different areas. Otherwise, it would have been a poor cuke, melon and squash year here so far. The garden plants look ridiculously green and happy this morning. Of course the entire property is a mud pit, and we have an inch or two of water in the pond, though I expect it will soak into the ground by tomorrow. I'm loving the temperatures too. It feels more like October today than late July. I wish the weather wouldn't have to go back to normal summer weather in a couple of days. I'm liking this so much better. Bon, Isn't it sad? Kids know what they see, though, and prolonged drought is what you kids have been seeing for so long. I get it, though, with our cats. We took in a feral (likely dumped in the country while pregnant) mama cat and kittens in the horrific summer of 2011. When we got some heavy rain in 2012, they all totally freaked out. Why wouldn't they, though? The rainfall was so low and so infrequent in 2011 that they probably never experienced a big, raging thunderstorm with heavy rainfall until the kittens were at least a year old in the spring of 2012. They were so scared they stayed indoors for 3 or 4 days as if the rain was some monster to hide from. I'm the opposite---when we get rain after prolonged dry spells, my inner child wants to go out and splash in the puddles. It rained on and off all night. I was so excited that I couldn't even fall asleep. I just listened to the rain falling. For those of you who routinely get a big rainfall day here or there throughout the year, our rainfall amount wouldn't necessary be impressive, but we can go years without having a single-day rainfall over 3", so this was a huge event for us. Most years our rainiest day of the year will be in the upper 2" range, like 2.8 or 2.9. At our house this morning, we had 3.91" in the rain gauge. Much of that fell before midnight but about an inch fell afterwards. At the Burneyville Mesonet station they have had 5.19", with 4.40" falling yesterday and 0.79" since midnight. The 4.40" would be Burneyville's biggest one-day rainfall total since April 29, 2009. It has been cloudy, sort of gloomy, misty, foggy, etc. all day and the air is remarkably cool and moist. For today, at least, we can pretend we live in the Pacific Northwest. I hope that everyone who needed rain got some, and I'd be tickled pink if I could look at next week's U S Drought Monitor and see us moved back from Extreme Drought to Severe Drought. I don't know if the 5.19" recorded at Burneyville is enough to roll back the drought one category, but I think that it might be. Dawn