We love beefsteaks over here, we have over 25 tomato plants this year so that's great to keep in mind for the future. Next year I'd love to try something new, and this sounds great! Thanks for telling the story, it's way cool to see something your family was personally involved in being shared around. I'd love to start being a part of a chain like that. Sounds like a great tomato, bet it's a nice sight to see it every summer, like a longtime friend right? - Max

I won't be ordering anything from Pinetree this year. I wish I had inventoried my tomato seeds before I did the order to Baker Creek. They send a ton of seeds in their packets. I still had gobs of Granny Cantrell's left! Blast, now I have another package coming. If any of you all want any, let me know. I have 17 different packets of tomato seeds on hand, some saved and others from companies. I need to carefully reread Dr. Male's book and see if there is something I "need" to try before spending my money needlessly! I saw last year that Hummert's (I think) was carrying Park's Whopper, I may get that for my main crop canning. My sis in Iowa swears by it. I can't say any tomatoes have done great in this garden. We moved in 1992. Maybe I will do tomatoes in flower beds this year and see if that helps. The "sample seed shop" looks interesting. I do get carried away with online companies. I found another one called Ohio Heirloom Seeds that had very reasonable shipping and prices. I finally got all the seeds I saved this year cleaned and packaged. The zinnias look iffy. It stayed so wet that the dried flowers seemed to have melted together. The seeds may not be good. I knew the hyacinth bean vine wouldn't mature and it didn't; I managed to get three seeds that look viable, but that will be enough. I had two plants last year and they were about 20 feet wide. I have lots of older seeds that I know I should just dump.....but I haven't. I found about a half cup of what I am sure is poppy somniferum seeds...should to a seed germination test on those. ceresone, how are you after the trip to Springfield and the vet visit yesterday? Here is a link that might be useful: Heirloom Seeds

Mitch, I was thinking that maybe someone in Oklahoma might have some books geared towards Oklahoma vegetable gardening that I had never heard of. Not many bookstores down here in southern OK, and most of them have books geared towards Texas or the South, which is fine, but I thought there might be some sort of Oklahoma-oriented books I'd never heard of. I do have a couple of books about ornamental gardening in Oklahoma. Jill, You are so welcome. Oh, I am so thrilled you found a copy of the hardback version! After my original one started falling apart, I looked for months and months to find one of the hardbacks, and found plenty if I wanted to spend $80 to $120 or more (the law of supply and demand). I finally found one for $20-something plus shipping and was thrilled. I don't think they'll ever reprint the hardback. Dr. Cotner himself has said that printing costs have risen so high that, if he were writing the book today, there's not a publisher in the world who would publish it because it would have to sell for a ridiculously high price. Isn't it a WONDERFUL book! I encounter very few veggie problems that I can't look up and find a solution for in this book. I'd like to think that if he was writing the book today, maybe he'd include organic rememdies too. Regardless, it is and probably always will be my favorite veggie book--I cannot imagine there ever being a better one written by anyone, anywhere. Not only does Dr. Cotner include so much useful information, but he does it in a casual and relaxed style. When I first bought it, knowing he was a horticultural professor, I was afraid it would be "too academic", but of course, it is not. Dawn

That looks good. Where can I find a few seeds at? I would like to give it a try. ***** Aunt Ginny's Purple is listed almost everywhere. Tomatogrowers.com lists it and their prices are reasonable and service is excellent in terms of shipping and all else. There are many other good sources as well. If I had fresh seeds I'd send you some, but I don't. Brenton, I'm glad that Aunt Ginny's Purple worked out well for you and those pictures were just gorgeous. ( smile) Carolyn