dgbeig If people start jumping up and down and yelling about that "book", it's because it contains many suggestions about growing maters that are nothing if not controversial and most would say violate the science of tomato growing (stripping off leaves, etc.)! IOW, the hornets aren't after you! The guy even came to this forum to defend his growing methods, and while I personally thought he was a nice enough guy, he didn't convince many people that it would work. I think a couple of people said they were going to test it but I don't recall any reporting back. So, just so you know, there isn't much on the internet about tomatoes that the regular tomato posters haven't seen or heard about, though some links may be of interest to newbies. Some new reports get discussed when people are interested, some don't. Some, such as the link you posted, make some people go all googly-eyed! [I just didn't want you to feel bad about posting that link, and maybe you don't! All to the good.] You will get good advice about tomatoes that do well in your area. My problem is the opposite -- tomatoes don't do very well in midsummer Southern heat.

I buy my seed envelopes at Staples - they're not cheap, but I find the plastic baggies hard to work with. The upside of the plastic bags is that you can see the seeds right away - the downside is that if seeds go into them that are the slightest bit moist, the mold probability is much higher than in the paper envelopes. When I was at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London this summer, there were at least as many people (okay, women LOL) getting their picture taken with JD as there were people of both sexes getting their snapshot with the Queen. It's good to be gorgeous.

Spike! Spike! Are you there? Are you alive! Yeah - enjoying the fruits of his former labours! Have a happy week, everyone. ole joyful P.S. Hey I can offer some good financial advice. I might like a bit of a tip, if you find it useful .. .. in a couple of years ... ... maybe?(;^o) (Tongue planted firmly in cheek). o j

This year was sort of sad for us, and it seems like the economy has taken the fun out of Halloween too. My daughter's neighborhood is one of the only subdivisions in a semi rural area. Until recent years, they'd get a good 800 - 1000 kids easy and everyone was dressed in cool cosutmes. Several houses had parties and almost every house would give out candy. We like to go every year to help and enjoy the experience, but last year we noticed a sharp decline in traffic and only got about 600 people. This year we were lucky to get even half of that. Alot of the homes weren't participating at all, no parties, a lot of the teens weren't dressed and they were so rude (no thank you, no response when my daughter would wish them happy halloween, nothing). There were families of young kids not dressed too which I've never seen before. It was obvious some of them didn't seem comfortable trick or treating without a costume but the parents waiting at the end of the drive didn't seem to mind. I know the economy is bad, but couldn't they have shown some interest in their kids and come up with something for them to wear? There were other kids dressed in costumes that were made from stuff the parents already had and they looked great. And the kids looked so happy and excited. I just felt bad that the kids without costumes were missing out on that part of the experience. Personally, I think that trick or treating is for all ages young and old, but manners should be manditory and costumes are supposed to be part of the fun.