No fair..just when I was on step 8 of my 12 step plan for tomato addiction! I actually cut down by 8 plants this year! Now this...and it is at a time and place I can go! drooooolllll.......fast heart beat...calm down....whew!!! Actually picked first red tomato yesterday. It was on my driveway mystery and I am sure it is a Matt's Wild dropped by the birds. Teeny little thing and I asked hubby if it tasted like fabric softner since it is near the dryer vent!I have several driveway mysteries this year!

Congratulations on your new place. Roto-tilling alone can do a number on some grasses, but not all.... especially Bermuda. Much better to remove or kill it first. Since removing is hard without a sod cutter, we solarize when feasible (enough time & right weather) and will use the minimum required dose of grass killer when not. After it's dead, we cut it as short as possible, roto-till, then rake out the roots and debris once the tilled clay has dried out a bit. Not too bad for a typical suburban lawn, but could be tedious for larger spaces. Another step we've found helpful, is to water the cleared space and till it again once the weed seeds have germinated. We try to do this a couple times to deplete the banked seeds before mulching (or sodding) the area. Solarization article mentions using clear plastic, though any color seems to work with our triple-digit heat. We've used whatever has been available (clear, black, orange, blue,...) with good results. Also don't believe we've needed to keep the plastic down for more than three weeks to kill grass in August. Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Solarization for Gardens & Landscapes

Vegjoe - we will miss you. And hope you can attend next year. Photos will be posted. Anyway you can send a neighbor or friend? I am still waiting to sample 4-5 of mine, some are larger varieties planted late so they are really late. piegirl

Ah, the SFA gardens!! Divine!! Don't know which I like best - spring or fall. Fall is alight in golds, reds, yellows of the Japanese maples, just beautiful beyond belief. Then spring - the pinks, whites, reds of the azaleas, and the yellows, oranges of the native azaleas. Just a paradise, am so lucky to live nearby. Am going to a meeting at SFA Thurs. nite where they will discuss what will be selling at the upcoming spring SFA sale - which I NEVER miss. I had to go one year with a broken patella, in a wheelchair, but I got preferential treatment and came home with a bunch of stuff! They have new walking trails which I need to check out. Creech and Greg Grant are great guys. One of my best friends volunteers at the greenhouses on Mondays - I got him a bunch of rose cuttings yesterday to put under the mist system - should be interesting to see how that works out. You should try to make the spring sale, I think its April 11. It is really hilarious - its like the Oklahoma Land Rush! People have all sorts of contraptions to haul their plants in. I bring my golf cart and little wagon - last fall, my friend and I tied both wagons in line to the golf cart to get all our loot back to the truck! They have lots of great things there - don't see many hostas......will talk to Greg about that. He loves roses, so am excited about giving him cuttings of some of my rare ones. If you plan to go - be there right at 9am - stuff goes fast! We usually go the day before and scope things out and mark what we want, and where we need to go first. Re slugs - I don't have enough hostas YET to be worried about them, but I know that sprinkling even a little bit of salt on them melts them. I haven't tried this, but would think that putting rock salt around pots would do them in. I read that slug bait is poisonous to dogs, so cant use it. I know when I sprinkle salt near my outdoor dog food I don't see slugs. They like chicken feed too.....I sprinkle it around the aluminum trash cans that my chicken feed is in and it zaps them. And how right you are about getting mugged by mosquitoes! I keep the OFF handy in spring/summer at all times! Am usually so worn out with taking care of horses and chickens and doing my gardening that picking off slugs at night isn't going to happen. I have a lot to learn about hostas - so far with the ones I have, they are doing well. My Empress Wu is due to ship from Naylor Creek on Monday - I have a little list I want to add to it! Really looking forward to adding to my small collection - and the forum members are so very nice and so willing to help new growers! Judith