Hi Carolyn, Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.. Let me start by saying that Elaine Ingham was one of the pioneers of the soil food web so she's always the go to. She didn't write "Teaming with Microbes" but does include it on her web page (soilfoodweb.com) as a resource. To quote a section of the description: "When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains healthy plants, and thus become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of artificial substances, many of them toxic to humans as well as other forms of life. But there is an alternative to this vicious circle: to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than destroys, the soil food web" Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis wrote "Teaming..." and a follow up "Teaming with Nutrients." Now if they're endorsed by Elaine I'm sure we can count their work as empirical or at the very least reliable.. An excerpt from chapter 20 (TWM) pg 172 discusses osmotic shock - describing how the high levels of salts in synthetic ferts literally burst the cell walls of soil microbes due to the higher salt concentration of the fert and the natural osmotic response. It's an excellent read and I'm confident that you'd thoroughly enjoy it.. Be well =) Here is a link that might be useful: Teaming with Microbes

Nighthawk i too grew rutgers up north along with pineapple, roma, thessaloniki, and brandywine. I sure miss them all but pineapple and thessaloniki were my favorites. I'm trying cherokee purple right now because many gardeners in my zone have good success with it. I grow all my vegetables except eggplants in containers. I bought 25-gallon poly half barrels for $5 each and I plant 5 cherry type tomato plants in each or 3 full size tomato plants. I also planted silver queen this year -10 plants to each of two of those half barrels ( you need at least 20 plants for pollination). The plants grew great - 6+ feet tall. They bloomed. And that's when the squirrels reached right through the chicken wire top of my totally fenced veggie garden and ate the "flowers". We were able to save some and sprinkled it over the silk but the ears that formed are only half full. Sigh!!! So we now have an added top above the corn barrels and the #%^* squirrels cant get to them. We're planting corn again for a fall crop but if that one is not successful I give up on corn. I'm very tempted to use my 38 on those squirrels.

Looking for flowers - not fussy! Doreen.

Akhila - still have that tomato and the others listed in the post above if you'd like a larger trade. Or to try different tomatoes! Would love your balsam and zinnia.