Today I lightly raked it, seems to have helped the seedlings come up out of the dead grass that had smothered them after the rain flattened everything out. I also reseeded some areas, we could get lucky with the weather (although I don't think I'll get germination in 6 days like I did 2 weeks ago when the highs were 80).

I started mine at the beginning of March last year. Plants were 3 to 4 feet tall when I planted at beginning of June. This worked out extremely well for me. Plants flowered fairly quickly, fruit set was very good in the first few weeks. After that time, we had a lot of cold evenings, high humidity, and several period of heatwaves. Fruit set was terrible for 4 to 6 weeks. Everyone who planted 1 to 2 food seedlings at the beginning of June in my area had awful production, because their plants began flowering during the poor weather period. I had masses of tomatoes at the 1.5 foot to 2.5 foot level on my plants, then an almost complete lack of tomatoes for the next 2 feet or so (the sections that flowered during that poor 4 to 6 week period). My wife does not like the jungle of plants in all of our south facing windows, but the tomatoes we get are sure worth it. I would not want plants to be so big that they started setting fruit inside my house (not enough sun inside to support that, I think), but I really believe that having 3 to 4 foot 'seedlings' enhances my production. Unfortunately, I will be on vacation for 8 days in the second weed of March, so will be starting plants on March 17...will need to use bigger pots to ensure that I get them to the size I want by beginning of June.

Thank you everyone, your complements make it worth my while to try to figure out what to do with two weeks worth of leftovers. Posted by hawk307 "------ DC: Talk about Dinners fit for a King !!! Wheeooo ! ---" Be careful Lou, behind every great king, there is a great queen who actually rules the kingdom. Posted by jasdip "----and now you have a year to plan next year's festivities.---" Yes I know, I hate to hear, "Come on dcarch! Not rib roast and duck again!" Posted by mustangs "Amazing!! How does one get on your guest list? Cathy" Marry me? LOL! Posted by jimster "It's the spectacular food we have come to expect of you, dcarch. And the photos too, are mouthwatering, even the blurred ones. ---" Thanks Jim, but truth be told, there are so many folks here cook with great panache, yet my cooking with sous vide, that requires absolutely no skills, nothing can go wrong, no overcooking or undercooking possible. Just flip a switch, "Set it, and forget it." Ann_t and FOAS, regarding Potato Latkes authenticity, what I went by was as defined by Wikipedia, under the section: Hanukkah Tradition - "Latkes need not necessarily be made from potatoes. Prior to the introduction of the potato to the Old World, latkes were, and in some places still are, made from a variety of other vegetables, cheeses, legumes, or starches, depending on the available local ingredients and foodways of the various places where Jews lived." And I did not invent the Mushroom Wild Rice Latkes recipe either, it was adapted from the KosherEye Web site The Wild Rice Latkes tasted very good because I didn't have Schmaltz, so I used the dripping from the roasted duck and rib roast, as it turned out, much tastier than Schmaltz, IMHO. It is always fun to engage your guests to go out of the regular food boxes a little. They really liked the purple Okinawan sweet potatoes, for instance. dcarch

Usually I count at a few local spots as well as from my windows, but I thought twice about it this year. When I thought third, though, I realized I need to start up my car anyway and drive when it gets really cold (I don't have a garage) so I decided to check one of those spots by car (in warmer winters I walk there). I drove to the marsh and took pictures from the side of the road. This is my local marsh where I saw about thirty Mallards and thirty-five Dunlins today in a very cold setting. The mallards did not look happy. Dunlins very far away: Claire