I think I found the answer to my first question on the Fedco Seeds site: "Be My Baby Gene Pool Cherry Tomato OG (65 days) Open-pollinated. Ind. This productive cherry is the ongoing result of a cross of three famous tomatoes: an heirloom potato-leaf beefsteak and two cherries, one orange and one red. The crossing and selection process began in 1997. Although it was selected for a red cherry with regular tomato foliage, a few plants will still be potato-leaved. Rogue them out because their flavor is not as desirable as the rest. The grape tomato in its background lends a rich sweet flavor somewhat akin to that of Sweet Baby Girl, which it replaced. Bred by Relentless. 2007. OT, CO-certified." I still don't know if a large tomato can result from crosses involving cherries. Jim

An F2 generation plant is more likely to be outside of the range of the two parents than an F1 generation plant. Very often the F1 generation is less variable than either parent and the variability increases in the F2 generation. Also, it is more probable that the F2 generation will have individuals that are outside of the parental range if the parents are more similar in size. A cross of a 500g fruit weight variety with a 300g fruit weight variety is more likely to produce F2 offspring with fruit weights over 500g or under 300g than a cross of a 500g fruit weight variety with a 1g fruit weight variety is to produce F2 offspring with weights over 500g or under 1g. Even though the frequencies of such offspring would differ among crosses (the frequencies will depend on the genetic, environmental and interaction effects for both the means and variances of fruit weight), if enough F2 offspring are produced one could find some that have weights outside of the parental range.

I haven't grown sungold, but the cherry I grew when I lived in Z7 (Sweet 100s I think), and that monster grew up the 6 foot cage, then down the other side of the 6 foot cage, and then 6 feet out along the line before I said ENOUGH and just cut off the vine. Cherry tomatoes can be voracious little suckers! I'll have to try sungold next year though. My son would love it. I grew yellow pear this year, but its really suffering disease pressure.

Have you posted at the harvest forum? They can give you some great canning tips. They (and I) always recommend the Ball Blue Book of canning - if you don't have a copy, you should pick one up, it's a great resource. These are the steps I always follow, I find that it's a good formula and always works for me. Hopefully it's not too much information - I'm probably being too thorough, but better safe than sorry. 1. Wash jars. Wash rings, rinse new lids. Put lids in a small saucepan with water on "low" so they get warm and the rubber becomes soft for canning. I set up a workstation - basically a kitchen towel spread on the counter next to my stove to set jars on while I fill them, and keep the rings at a corner of the towel, within reach. The rings don't have to be hot. I also dampen a paper towel for wiping the jar rims clean before putting lids on, and keep that handy on one side of the towel. 2. Put jars in a big canning pot**, filled so that the jars are covered with 2 inches of water. The jars will be full of water, which will sterilize them as they heat. Put the lid on the canner (if you have a pressure canner, just set it on, don't tighten). 3. Bring water in canner to a high simmer, while preparing food for canning. I usually crank the heat to high and turn it back when I hear it starting to boil. 4. When food is ready to be canned, the water in the canner should be plenty hot, so it will come back to a boil quickly. If it's not, keep your food at the ready. (You want those jars to be sterile if you're heating them in the water.) 5. Pull a jar out of the canner using a jar lifter, and carefully pour the hot water from it into the sink. I have my own angle technique that works - just be careful when you do this, because you pretty much have to pour the water toward you to keep the jar in hand with the lifter. Practicing with cold water isn't a bad plan if you haven't done the pour before. :) Or if you're more sensible than I am, you might set the jar down for a moment on your towel, then pick it up again from the side with the lifter and empty it that way. 6. Fill the jar with food to be canned, wipe the rim, put a lid on, then put a ring on. Tighten the ring to finger tight - it should be snug but not super tight. (All the ring does is apply a little pressure so that there is good contact between the lid's sealant and the jar rim - it doesn't hold the lid on; the natural vacuum will do that.) 7. Put filled jar back into canner, and pull the next empty jar. Repeat steps 5-6 until all jars are full. I do these steps as quickly (but carefully) as possible so that the first jar sitting in the hot water doesn't end up with soft pickles. 8. Put lid on canner when all jars are filled. Bring back up to a boil (should only take a few minutes, since the water has been simmering the whole time). Start timing when the boil starts, and pull the jars when the timer goes off. If pressure canning, you would wait 5 minutes (possibly more) after the timer goes off to pull out the jars. **If you're lucky enough to have a dishwasher, you can put the jars in there on sani-cycle and it will keep them hot as long as it's closed. Still, you'll have to be sure to get the canner simmering with enough water to cover the filled jars by 2 inches, and starting the heating while you're prepping food is good timing. With a dishwasher you won't have to deal with pouring hot water down the sink. That's how my mom always canned. I wish my husband would hitch up our dishwasher. Someday...