October17, The pole beans would be all of the greasy beans, any runner or half runner. There are also several that have pole in their name, making those pretty easy to spot. Bean, Big & Early White Greasy Bean, Blue Coco Bean, Brown Striped Greasy Bean, Brown Tobacco Worm Bean, Haricot Dolique Bean, Ideal Market Bean, Lazy Housewife Pole Bean, Maxibel Bean, Missouri Brown Bean, Mountaineer Half Runner Bean, Pencil Pod Bean, Rattlesnake Pole Bean, Riggins Stick Bean, Small White Greasy Bean, Spartan Runner Bean, Sunset Runner Bean, White Half Runner I think that is about all of the pole beans. What varieties of tomatoes do you have available? I looked at your trade list, but it doesnt have any tomatoes listed as being available.

Noinwi - I'm thinking too much rain was a problem for mine too. But we always seem to get too much, so I think I'm stuck with it, unless I can find a way to control it. I could try high tunnels, but I'd rather not, since it would get pretty expensive. Most of my cherries did really well, so maybe they aren't affected as much? I'm sure soil fertility has something to do with it too. So maybe I'll have better luck this year with the same varieties, if I just work on improving the soil. Edie - I should have said "new to me", instead of "new". I think all the varieties I tried have been around for a long time. And they all do well in certain growing conditions, according to all the reviews I read. Unfortunately, at least half didn't do all that well in mine. I'm not sure if I just chose varieties that aren't suited to my conditions? Or if the big problem was my soil? Or maybe it was just too much rain? But one general thing I noticed that might be a clue, was that cherries, in general, did a lot better than the bigger ones. I'm wondering if that's normally the case for most people? If not, it might help me figure out what I can do to improve things. Sarias - I think your climate is a lot different than mine, so I don't know how well they'd do for you. Last year was warmer than most, but we still got lots of rain like we usually do. I got the seeds for the Italian Tree and San Marzano Redorta from Tomatofest (I don't remember where I got the Anna Russian seeds), and I'm pretty sure they're in a different climate. And they apparently do well for them too. So they could be worth trying. I was really happy that the Italian Tree's worked out, because they're one of the more productive varieties. And I wasn't expecting much from the San Marzano, but the flavor really surprised me.

daninthedirt: I agree about the misleading phrasing. The way it's usually explained, it seems like your plants will die a horrible death if they don't get seven hours of sunlight. In fact, while you got 40 cherry tomatoes, more sunlight might have gotten you 60. Who cares, unless maybe you're selling them to try to pay the rent. I get zillions of cherry tomatoes from plants that grow to a length of ten feet on the west side of a house. They don't get any direct sunlight at all until 1pm. Done this for a decade. I would point out that Lady Luv got 40 cherry tomatoes total from 3 plants. Sweet million is the kind of variety that should pump out hundred of tomatoes per plant, i.e., known for excellent productivity in adequate conditions most of the time. I pick 40 cherry tomatoes every 2 days from one cherry tomato plant and 40 cherry tomatoes every 4 days from another. Neither are hybrid cherries known for great production. I would expect more robust production with more sun, but I put my cherry plants there because I know my larger tomatoes wouldn't do nearly as well there. I do agree that most advice defaults to try to provide for optimal production and also is heavily slanted toward beefsteak types. But I don't know anyone that would claim that tomatoes, especially cherry tomatoes, will die or refuse to produce ANY fruit in lower-light-than-optimal conditions. In fact, I often see people advising those with sunlight issues in their gardens to grow cherry tomatoes precisely because they seem to need less sun to produce a non-disappointing amount of tomatoes. I think if one has the impression that people are saying you can't grow anything in less than optimal conditions, one might not be hearing the advice correctly or may be getting advice from a not very experienced gardener. And I also agree that, if getting a handful of cherry tomatoes is an acceptable outcome, and the fun of growing them is reward enough, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. The same with other practices such as fertilizer, fungicide, pesticide, etc. All of it boils down to being informed enough to have accurate expectations and then accepting the effort vs. outcome ratio. But I think it should be a natural expectation that people will try to direct newbies to optimal practices where possible--not because they're trying to be exclusive or snobby but because they want newbies to get good results.

Here are (clockwise) Mexico, Omar's Lebanese, Cherokee Green, and a red version of Gregori's Altai. The Cherokee Green was 2 lbs 3.1 oz. Mexico won first place last September at the 2008 Buffalo-Niagara Tomato TasteFest... it was over 2lbs... Consistently large ones are Omar's, Cuostralee, Mexico, Kornesevvsije, Lithuainian, Daniels, Tidwell German, Dutchman, Italian Sweet, Olena Ukrainian, Phil's Fantastic, and, for hearts, Oleyar's German, Wes, Nicky Crain, Ukrainian Heart & Kosovo. Large bi-colors are Burracker's Favorite & King Pineapple. I even get some XL-XXL GMG's: I'm sure there are MANY I forgot to mention! Hope this helps.