[From Jerry Parsons] In the 30 years which I have been in San Antonio as a horticulturist for Texas Cooperative Extension, this system of cooperative testing and local marketing has introduced productive hybrid tomatoes (Spring Giant, Big Set, Celebrity, Jack Pot, Bingo, Carnival, Whirlaway, Heatwave, SunMaster, Surefire and Merced Now, most of these tried-and-proven superior varieties are no longer available for home gardeners to enjoy. How and why could something like this happen? The short story is: There are only a few vegetable seed companies left in the world and they are eliminating the older, Texas-proven varieties in favor of new, "improved' hybrids. This elimination includes Merced, Heatwave , Surefire, SunMaster tomatoes and Green Comet broccoli. Remaining supplies will soon be depleted. Dr. Larry Stein and I, reworked the Extension Vegetable Recommendation list and sources after a long period of denial about the non-existence of Porter & Sons Seedmen in Stephenville, Texas, which used to be a major seed supplier for Texas gardeners. The Cooperative Extension Vegetable Recommendation list and sources can be found at: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/PLANTanswers/vegvar.html It has been removed from the market but next year (2010) I will be selling second generation seed of Merced at: http://plantanswers.com/parsons_preferred_seed.htm PARSONS PREFERRED SEED The seed available for sale and use in this listing is available ONLY from PLANTanswers.com and have been selected by Jerry Parsons, Texas A&M University System Professor and Extension Horticulturist-retired, for uniqueness of disease resistance, dependable yields, and quality fruit with special characteristics only found in this listing. Complete growing instructions are Seed of the Texas SuperStar tomato varieties (Merced and Surefire) have been discontinued so those seed will soon be eliminated from the market. SunMaster and Heatwave have also met similar fates. However, the most recent SuperStar tomato named 'Tomato444' can be found in the list as BHN444 and a new tomato named SunLeaper (available from Stoke's Seeds Ltd. http://www.stokeseeds.com/cgi-bin/StokesSeeds.storefront) is showing promise as per our demonstrations at: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/vegetables/2003falltomatotrials/index.html So, we recommend for tomatoes this spring that gardeners use Carnival, Celebrity, SunPride and/or Tomato444 for seed-you-can-find home garden tomatoes. If gardeners will look around the Internet, they may also be able to find seed of Amelia and SunLeaper which have also performed well for San Antonio gardeners. Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Answers

Hi Elaine, I guess you'd say we're sort of east central in Merced - a couple of blocks south of Bear Creek and east of G Street. I'm afraid that we've got that clay soil you describe. I've built raised beds (lasagna garden style over cardboard and lawn) filled with county compost - which I may need to amend some before planting. Once I get the soil worked out, I'm looking forward to growing some great veggies! We moved here from San Jose and I haven't figured out gardening in Merced yet, so I planted my seeds sort of early, hoping to get something going before the heat of summer shuts things down. I don't think I'll be planting anytime soon, but when I do transplant, the tomatoes should be pretty good size. Great to meet you online! Maybe you can give me some Merced-specific tips on things as the season progresses and we can get together one of these days! I called Home Depot today and the garden manager said that Bonnie Plants just sends them plants on their own schedule and HD doesn't have any control over what varieties are sent or when they'll be sent. They just arrive! I can live without growing Merced, but I think it would be fun. I did write Bonnie Plants to see if they were sending out any Merced this year or if they might have a few extra seeds to sell or give away. Not really expecting a reply but doesn't hurt to ask! Anne

I just discovered this forum and then I clicked on this post because I wanted to see how you taught a class on the kaleidoscope blocks. This is a very exciting block and I know because I have made quite a few of them. I just want to assure those that use this class will find it exciting to see the various blocks develope. I learned this method several years ago from Bethany Reynolds book Magic Stack-n-Whack Quilts. After awhile I didn't like following her method of joining the blocks but just appliqued a block onto a square block and joined them adjoining or alternating with a solid block. I had never tried joining them as you have shown. I'll be interested in seeing how you determine the way to join them. So I'll drop in every once in awhile. ferrellee5

There are articles that give a lot of detail on building a rain garden. HERE is one. The size of a rain garden depends on two things the square footage of roof drainage and your soil type. You need a larger rain garden if your soil is clay than if it is silt or sand. For instance, one downspout contains runoff from 200 sq ft of roof and the soil is clay. Multiply 200 x .43 to get the rain garden size of 86 sq ft. Of course, a larger rain garden gives more containment during heavy or prolonged rain, and also allows greater plant diversity. Many sites recommend 150 sq ft. Note that many sites recommend digging deeper and generously mixing compost with the soil so it will hold more water. Ultimately, a rain garden is a shallow depression or a bermed area that catches runoff and allows it to soak in. After a heavy or prolonged rain event check to see if water flowed out anywhere. As long as the flow spreads out over lawn everything is OK. It's only if the overflow cuts into a berm or forms a runnel that you would add rocks or gravel to alleviate the erosion.