Susan, You're welcome. With your interest in tomatoes, there are two books I highly recommend. I first read them about 7 or 8 years ago when I was trialing large numbers of open-pollinated types and I wanted to know more about where all these tomatoes came from. The first is by Andrew F. Smith and is "The Tomato in America: Early History, Culture and Cookery", University of South Carolina Press, 1994, and my copy is a paperback copy published by the University of Illinois in 2001. I enjoyed every bit of it and have reread it several times. I especially enjoyed the section on the tomato as medicine. Before reading it, I didn't know that "tomato pills" were a form of snake oil medicine touted to cure every ill known to mankind, and there was a great tomato pill war between competing manufacturers/sellers. I kind of giggled my way through that part of the book. There's also a bunch of fascinating very old recipes dating back to at least the 1800s. The other is the book about early tomato breeder and seed seller A. W. Livingston and is called "A. W. Livingston and the Tomato". It was written by A. W. Livingston and his sons and was first published in 1893. After reading it, I went to Victory Seeds, which is the online source for the most varieties of Livingston Seeds you'll find in one place with their authentic history, and bought every variety of Livingston tomatoes they had. I still grow one or two Livingston tomato varieties every year. I bought both of these books "used" for very reasonable prices on Amazon.com long ago and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of them. There are many more 'technical' tomato books out there, but I wanted these for the history. I've read 10 or 15 tomato books in the last decade, and there hasn't been a bad one in the bunch. Dawn

*Can you tell "what is that disease"?* Little bit of Septoria and a previous bird peck? The color looks like a currant I saw while researching original tomatoes. It was a small whitish round currant with that purple colored shoulder, and one had Farrahs hair from that famous poster.

Help  I need the advice from a SWC expert. Last weekend I built two SWC containers. Mind you, IÂm not a talented builder of any sorts. So at any rate  after deciding to try 17 different tomato plants this year, and having had my share of dreaded BLER , I decided to give the SWC a try (funny how things in February when it is rainy and cold seem like a good idea  just like my 50 x 20 lasgane garden idea) At any rate  I had plants I started from seed that absolutely needed to get in the ground. In my area, I could not find the 4 pronged tomato supports, so I decided to invest in the Texas Tomato Cages  Well, I followed the direction pretty much to a tee on the first container  right up to filling the container. Well with the Texas Tomato cages, there is only about a 4 inch gap between the first ring and the top of the container. Needless to say, filling the container was a real PIA!!!!After struggling with filling the first container in 100 degree heat, I realized it would be much easier to fill the container if I simply added the black plastic after I filled the container  Can I remind you it was 100 degree, and those bags get heavier when the temp goes up. O.K. now on to the second container. After building the first container, I learned a few things along the way and the assembly went much faster.. I was able to finish the second container in about half the time as the first (now it is above 100 degrees and of course I need to fill the container in direct sun) o.k.  so now I have proudly planted the rest of my tomato crop only to look up on my porch to see the two 4" PVC support parts that are used to support the aeration bench!!!!!!!! UGHHHHHHH  So now what do I do? Do I dig up the plants, take out all the dirt, undo the whatever type of bolts those are that hold the aeration bench to the container and put the supports in? Or do I risk it and just let it be????

Amazing, with so little direct sun light. Have you had a taste yet? Are these growing in the new and improved EarthTainer? Fall crop has been great here too, weather has been perfect. Cant wait for the release of the new ET, keep us posted. Good luck Raybo. Damon