This Forum is primarily for IDing sources for heirloom flowers and veggies, etc., and not for culture, growing methods, etc., which occurs in the Forums devoted to them. Is what I wrote above and in no way was I being mean or nasty or contrary, as has been suggested, but not in so many words. I was making a suggestion that I thought would give maximum input to the poster, which I see as being paramount. Those of you who know me know that I spend untold hours answering questions in the tomato forum as well as here and almost alone I answer the disease questions in the tomato pest and disease forum. When I first got to GW I too came here to this Forum since my major interest was heirloom veggies. But when I came here I looked at the kind of threads being posted and saw that none were about culture of heirlooms. I was also told that culture questions were handled in the various forums and I found that to be true. Yes, for discussion of heirloom plants as cited above, as in where can I find seeds for this or that variety, or where can I find plants of this or that Dianthus or whatever. And since I knew there were several threads about staking/supporting tomatoes already in the tomato forum I thought, and still think, it was the place to refer someone to before those threads scrolled off. Any person posting deserves to get the most input possible about questions, and many more toamto growers post in the tomato forum than read/post here, for over time, and before I came to GW, heirloom tomatoes, and now I mean ALL aspects, have been discussed in the main Forum. And maximum input means that when someone e-mails me directly for information I ask them to post publically. That's b/c GW is a public message forum and all questions and answers should be posted publically. No one person knows everything, so the goal is to get as many responses/thread as possible. I haven't felt very good reading the criticism that some of you have directed my way, but so be it. plsgorw, it seems to me I've answered some stuff for you in the Tomato Forum already, or perhaps you did e-mail me at home and I suggested you post publically for greater input. Yes? And I will continue to help you and other folks as I already have when I feel I have something to add that hasn't been already said. After posting here at GW for several years I've been able to transmit a lot of what I know about heirloom tomatoes and I see that others to whom I passed on that info are now using it in answering others. And that's the way it should be. So each year now, I expect to post less and less and let information be continued to be passed on. if growing about 2000 varieties of heirloom tomatoes has taught me anything, it's taught me that the best thing I can do with that info is to continue with my SSE membership to distribute new varieties, I don't know if I'll continue with my seed distributions here at GW where I've already distributed over 300 varieties, and most importantly, to pass along information on all aspects of tomatoes that I've learned from my research and my growing of them. Carolyn, who has been growing tomatoes for about 55 years, was raised on a farm and still grows the majority of her tomatoes by sprawling except when she's waiting for a quad muscle tear to heal and expecting a hip replacement will be necessary for her to walk again. And I'm waiting now and going on month six in the walker with possible surgery in the Fall.

I garden about 1 mile from the Ohio River with zero hills between it and me. So we get big winds but not tornado strength. I walked next door and looked at my neighbors garden at least ten times last yr where he had 175 plants. I also saw his other patch where he has 200 or more. I don't remember seeing any thet were down even tho we had a very very wet summer. He uses five and a half ft stakes. He had one helper last yr so I figure in about three days he staked 150 himself and he is 75 yrs young. I buy 6ft pre-sharpened stakes at the local Southern States for a dollar ea. I store approx. one hundred in a small utility buildind with room left over. Cages are not an option for me.

I'm not sure why anyone would want to spend the kind of money that these places want when you can hire a local company to do the work for you AT THE SAME PRICE! I admit the easyclosets tool is nice, but their prices are way too high. Not familiar with the other system, but they don't have a 14" option? Who offers a closet with only 12" and 16" deep shelving for a 24" closet? We recently did a back door coat closet and a huge reach-in pantry. Everything was custom and our pantry has slide outs and drawers and is awesome. I'm absolutely thrilled with it. And, the company came in and measured, discussed alternate options and then installed it for LESS than easyclosets. So, check first with local companies that offer organizational systems before you order online. This is one case where it pays off big time. We're getting our foyer closet and my sons closet done in the fall and again, the installation will be basically free compared to online systems. Just trying to save everyone a lot of hassle and work! I'm not a spammer but if you live in SE Michigan or NW Ohio, feel free to contact me for the name of the great company I highly recommend.

Steel is up tremendously as well and in short supply. Throw in the fact that most framing crews are not familiar with using steel studs and if you were to have savings on the material the labor would more than likely chew up the savings.