Thomis: I respond in the same spirit of humility, for which I am well known; well, somewhat known: 1. March 20 is not at all too late to plant a cherry tree, or anything else. I have planted apple trees as late as early May, ordered in from Oregon. I am not proud of that. They were leafing out when I received them, and some were blooming, but they did just fine. 2. A Montmorency cherry purchased from a local nursery at a price of say, $25-30 is, without much doubt, on Mahaleb rootstock, which will eventually grow a tree about 25 feet tall unless kept down by pruning. A dwarf tree on something like Gisela 5 or 6 would be more expensive; maybe $40 locally and always over $30 mailorder. The dwarfing rootstocks have a cost. 3. Nothing wrong whatsoever with a Montmorency cherry on Mahaleb rootstock. I had one here for 25 years before it finally pooped out due to an accumulation of bacterial canker. 4. By about year 8 or 10, you will be producing enough cherries from your single tree to fill your freezer. That is to say, 25 quarts (pitted) or more. After that, you will be inviting the neighbors in to pick, and that is allowing the usual amount for the birds. I would think about it before planting two or more copies of this tree unless you want to make something like a lot of cherry wine. You don't have to pit them for this use. But if you are going to use them for pies and sauce, you will have to buy a plunger type pitter. 5. There is no reason to fiddle much with the soil to plant a cherry tree; even raising the Ph was probably unnecessary, although it probably won't hurt. Do not put peat moss or a lot of organic materials in your planting hole or you could create a bowl effect and drown your roots. Cherry rootstocks are sensitive to boggy, poorly drained conditions. Clay is OK, so long as it is not in a low spot that does not drain well. If I had soil amendments to use up, I would place them on the surface around the tree. 6. The one real enemy of cherry fruit is the cherry fruit fly, which shows up as a small white worm surrounded by black frass, which you see when you pit the cherries. You can deal with this insect by cleaning your tree completely of cherries so the infected cherries do not fall to the ground and pupate. Hoeing or cultivating around the base of the tree in late winter to expose pupae to cold and drying is also helpful. 7. Montmorency is a wonderful tart cherry, but Meteor is a cultivar with some genetic size control. It is available from Gurney's, but seldom seen in local nurseries. Meteor fruit is identical to Montmorency. Absent regular pruning, your Montmorency will require picking from a stable, 3-point orchard ladder from about year 12 on, so you don't fall off and break your neck. 8. We really like tart cherries here, and have been filling the freezer with them for about 25 years. Hardly a week goes by that we do not eat cherries throughout the winter. They are full of nutrition and antioxidants. Perhaps that is why I have not oxidized. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

About 92 percent mineral soil and about 8 percent organic matter does not mean exactly, that is a rough ratio to shoot for. Most soil scientists would say that 5 percent OM is adequate, but I have found over the years that plants simply grow better when the OM is in the 8 percent range. In addition to a soil test from a reputable lab that tells you what the soils pH and major nutrient levels are34 maybe these simple soil tests will be of some help, 1) Soil test for organic matter. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drainsâ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.

That's where mine came from. After looking through books and the internet for so long, I realized that there were so many more than I could fit here, so I narrowed my choices down by fragrance. When this one became available last spring, I added it to my order of "farewell gifts", except that this one was going to be for me. It didn't seem to be available elsewhere, and with Vintage's future still somewhat up in the air, I didn't want to miss out. There were two others similarly "fragrant and hard to find" which I ordered from Vintage but ended up giving as gifts -- knowing that next year I'd get some cuttings mailed to me. These were Monsieur Boncenne (Hybrid Perpetual) and Marie de St. Jean (Portland). They both bloomed before I passed them on, so I did at least get to smell them. But SdVL has just been growing and growing. Maybe I'll see a bloom in the fall. I'm just happy it's happy, at this point. :-) ~Christopher

Although I grow water spinach every year from seed, I transplant the seedlings directly into the garden when the weather has warmed. I did root some cuttings once to over-winter, in a pot just about that size. The plants were healthy; but because they had been outdoors for awhile, they had been infected with aphids. Without insect predators, the aphid infestation became severe, and several attempts with insecticidal soap failed to eliminate them... I had to destroy the plants in mid-winter. So I would recommend that if you intend to grow greens indoors, DO NOT place them outside. I'm not sure how many plants you intend to have in the pot. Although they tolerate close spacing, each plant will get wider as you cut it back & new shoots appear. In the garden, I use clusters of 2-3 plants 8-9" apart each way, and that completely covers the ground. In the container, individual plants 6" apart would probably be reasonable.