I would like to offer this recipe. I have been using it for the past several years and it is delicious. This is the recipe from Ellie Topf's Small Batch Preserving, that Dave mentions. My first batch this year I accidentally doubled the Vinegar, and it is still delicious! CHUNKY BASIL PASTA SAUCE 8 cups coarsely chopped peeled tomatoes -- (about 9-12 tomatoes or 4 lb) 1 cup chopped onion 3 cloves garlic, minced 2/3 cup red wine 1/3 cup red wine vinegar 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 1 teaspoon pickling salt 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar 1 6-oz can tomato paste Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, wine, vinegar, basil, parsley, salt, sugar and tomato paste in a very large non-reactive pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until mixture reaches desired consistency, stirring frequently. Remove hot jars from canner and ladle sauce into jars to within 1/2 inch of rim Process 35 minutes for pint jars and 40 minutes for quart jars in a BWB. Makes 8 cups. Steve

As far as I've heard (other than yesilee04 above, which I'm curious to hear more about) eggplants and tomatoes are not known to cross. They are in the Solanum genus, however (so, it's perhaps possible). I wouldn't count on it, though (let alone on it crossing well or easily). You certainly shouldn't have to worry about isolating your eggplants and your tomatoes from each other. If you do happen to get such a cross, you should take a lot of pictures and post them (and definitely save seeds from it to grow again and distribute). I'm doubtful of the mentioned cross between a pepper and an eggplant. Eggplants can be toxic if they are overripe or underripe, and the neurotoxins (which can cause your throat to burn) may have been mistaken for capsaicin. If this happens, please don't eat that eggplant. I did that once, and it made me kind of sick for about a week (though the only symptom the first day was my throat burning). Most of the toxins in eggplants are right under the skin or so, I've read. So, peeling the eggplants is supposed to be a great precaution against ingesting too many toxins. If your eggplant is so ripe that it has changed colors, don't eat it (it's too ripe). Generally, you're supposed to pick them soon after they stop growing (or thereabouts), unless you're saving them for seeds. As for what crosses well with tomatoes, generally the only things I know about are other tomatoes and many species of wild tomatoes (there are some wild tomatoes that don't cross easily, however). There is only one species of domestic tomato (if you don't count the inter-species crosses as other species of domestic tomatoes). If you cross a white beefsteak with a yellow pear tomato, I'm not sure what you would get. I would guess a yellow pear, but I could be wrong. Whatever the case, if you grow out the F2 seeds (enough of them) you should get plants with different combinations of the traits, and you may end up with a white pear plant in the F2 generation.

Hi everyone... I am late checking in today...busy day in the garden, (again). Tis the season! I've been reading through the posts here, absorbing as much info as I can, and in one sitting, that's a lot to take in. Sooo much good advice, and I must say, it's really helpful. Dawn, backing up a bit, I had to laugh about that neighbor of yours, she reminded me of that British woman who played the part of the overbearing wife with the hen pecked husband in the comedy show on OETA, "Keeping up Appearances". I'll bet anything when that lady's husband told her what Dawn said about the tomatoes, she went and ripped them out either in embarressment or anger/or both. Well, I did check out the tomatoe forum, and found a few good tips. One of the problems with that forum, you already gave me a head's up on. For a less experienced gardener, (as self here)one would have to discern what was good advice, and what was not. Still, it was interesting browsing and looking at some of the pics. One of the ideas you gave me was that I have double windows on the front of my house, which faces west. I have just made a rustic trellis and lashed it together. I think it looks pretty cool. This is replacing the one that just wore out after several years. Anyways, I usually grow Purple Hyacinth vines on that trellis, to block that sun and shade those windows,.... and I have some started this year as well. I thought since the Black Cherry tomatoes grow so "viney" and tall, I might plant one or two right in the middle, bordered on each side by the Hyacinth vines. I would never have the space to winter store a bunch of tomatoe cages for as many tomatoes as I'm growing this year, so I generally use fence trellis's for good or bad, they seem to work okay for me. And yes, I like the idea of letting the vines "flop" over. It used to bother me when they'd start doing that, but now I'll just let em do their thing and not worry about it. About cutworm protection. My dad used to put a 16 penny nail just at the edge of each newly planted tomatoe. It must have worked for him. I don't know if other folks do that or not. Jay, your gardening techniques seem really well adapted to your climate out there. It must get pretty challenging at times. There are times when I wish for "few trees", since as I've said before on this forum, my neighbors humongous tree's have roots that sneak over in my garden area because they know there is water and food over here. If I didn't have good sandy loam I'd be done for. I ran into some of those feeder roots today when I was out there digging holes for the fall tomatoes I'll soon be planting. I put extra homemade compost in each hole to at least make sure they get a good start. No "sprawling" for my tomatoes. For several reasons, space, rot,.......and snakes. Ill be growing Old Time Tennesse and Evan's Sweet muskmelons and Blacktail Mountain watermelons on some cattle panels that I have. I have to grow vertically wherever I can, to save space, and I think it looks neater, and keeps you from having to bend over so much. It might discourage pests, I don't know. I have found that snakes like to hang out, (literally) on any kind of vines tho. Weather or not, your still pretty blessed up and over there. I grew some beautiful tomatoes in Wyoming, but we only had three months time to do it in. There is no such thing as spring and fall gardening in Wyoming. I've known it to have an 8 ft snowfall in May, and early snow in August. Sure feels good to be back in Okie again :) All in all, what we are able to grow without being spoon fed genetically modified stuff on the market, makes all the labor intensive work and challenges well worth the effort we put into our gardens. It really does have to be a labor of love, and one has to love doing it. And we do. Shekanahh

Commercial growers worry about things like ease of harvest and uniformity of fruit size, and they tend to have much more intense disease pressures than hobby growers. People who cage generally just let the plant grow as it will. Pruning is reserved for dying or diseased leaves, aside from aggressive removal of leaves from the bottom of the plant to keep foliage away from the soil. Some people will prune off growing tips once the end of the season gets near in order to try to ripen up the fruits already on the plant before frost. Others don't bother and say it doesn't make much of a difference. Some will cut off the tops once the plant grows as tall as the cage, but others will let the vines flop over the top of the cage and continue to grow and hang down. Regardless, the leaves are where the plant produces the sugars and other nutrients that go into making the fruit, so there's some logic to the idea of keeping as much of the foliage as possible. Disease is what you have to weigh against that, so it's a balancing act. Length of growing season is also a consideration. Is there a point in letting a plant get huge and wild and produce a gazillion flowers and set a ton of fruit if you don't have the time for those fruit to mature before frost? Also, if you want to plant a lot of varieties but have insufficient space to let them all grow into huge, caged plants and are OK with a smaller harvest from each plant, you could prune enthusiastically and grow the plants closer together. It's really a matter of what your goals and needs are.