Yellow indicates ripening. Cucumbers are not good eating when ripe. They should be green and you can eat or pickle them at any size prior to ripening. Jim

I was collecting buckeyes yesterday. The seeds are encased in a pod which is thick-walled green outer covering--this usually drops to ground and either plaits open on the fall, or rots open or critters chew them open to release the seeds. YOu can take any dropped pod and smoosh it on the ground under your sneakered foot and split it open. Inside, depending upon size of the pod, you could have between one and four buckeye seeds. They are brown, shiny, about an inch across and have a dreamy round marking, hence the name buckeye, because they look like deer eyeballs. The seeds need to be sown promptly because if they dry out they will not sprout. Sow the seeds at least two inches deep in a container of moistened soil. Cover the contanier with small gage wire or window screening. This will allow in moisture and light but keep out hungry critters, like squirrels and raccoons, that would view those buckeyes as a meal. Place the container outside, stash it in a more shaded location to lesson soil evaporation. Once a week or so, up until your permanent hard freezes, check for moisture and give the container a drink if needed. Let the container remain outside during the winter where the seed can freeze and thaw repeated and naturally as seeds sown by Mother Nature would. In early to mid Spring, the seed should begin to germinate. You can thin them when they are a few inches tall and place them in a holding bed until they are the desired height you like for transplanting--perhaps a year in the bed is all they need as they can grow fast enough with spaced feedings of 10-10-10.

I start my toms indoor. Did some WS toms previous years, they do not start ripe fruit until late August- Sep, which is ok as I could start some indoors for the beginning of the season and keep it going all the way into late Oct. With super early varieties like Stupice, Siberian, Jetsetter, Glacier I got as early as end of June- no wall-o-water was used. Some toms have better ability to work at cold temps and produce fertile flowers- look for them. Also I transplant my early toms at least twice, every time burying stem all the way up to upper leaves, this way they develop huge rot system as hair on the stem becomes roots. It well worth the effort.

That I will do. What a spectacular tomato year it was/is here, despite drought. That is, if a person irrigated their vegetable garden. Dry conditions meant very little blight and disease. Even those who watered with sprinklers reported very little disease. For those who didn't water, they lost out. I've never had a year where tomato plants are just as green as can be after harvest. I believe these plants would have kept om producing had we not had day after day of 100(+) degrees. 70 - 100 pounds each day for 3 weeks streight off only 22 plants, I'm not complaining one bit! However, I must resist the urge to sneak into people's gardens at night where I see red tomatoes just going to waste. :-)