Cheryl, Thanks for permission to steal your idea. Who said "Wmitation is the greatest form of flattery."? Also love the Gale Garnett quote. Isn't the next line "We'll dance in the raindrops, we'll dance everyday?" (A must add to our hurricane song list started during Hurricane Frances, if I can find it again, and a nice one to add to the garden.) I loved your yellow bike, too. What a happy garden you created, and thanks for sharing. Goldenpond!! That a gorgeous path. I love the design, both the flow and the materials. Thank you for posting the picture. My property isn't as big as your's, but I'd just love to meander down that path and look at your plants and smile. That installation must have been backbreaking, but the result is absolutely awesome. Unfortunately, my big dog is still too skizzy (at 7 1/2 years) to do the mulch, stone and paver combo. I keep thinking we need to get her into a drug sniffing or victim finding program. Yesterday she started barking like crazy in the back porch. I let her out and she ran like a thoroughbred horse the Belmont to the Powderpuff in the backyard. She started jumping up into the tree (no shrub anymore) and came out with a big old rat, which she killed, left in the yard and came back to look at me with big goofy, "did I do good eyes?". I honestly had no idea there was a rat in the yard, and had spent a few hours working on that spot next to the powderpuff. I'm sorry about all the cleanup you have to do to endure Fay. No fun! You have a lovely garden, and I appreciate your sharing the beauty. marilyn

Missing, here's the rest of the info from the post you quoted from and I sure do believe that 14 oz is large, and some fruits up to one pound. Early in the season and late in the season there are often fruits of smaller size, such as the 5 oz referred to. And elsewhere in the same thread is was said that it was believed to be a more correct strain of Missouri PInk Love Apple, I think by Dell, and I'd heard the same from a couple of PM's sent to me. (("Seek-No-Further Love Apple" is a pink (clear skin) beefsteak on an indeterminate, regular leaf plant. A few years ago, one plant of S-N-F L A was the tallest plant I've ever had in my garden (8 ft). Plant height, though, is as variable as the weather. Some years it only gets to 5 1/2 ft. Branching is narrow, compared to most of the varieties I've tried. Fruit size is 5-14 ounces, a very few to 1 lb, my largest was 20 ounces. I've never seen a fused-blossom fruit, so maybe it can get substantially larger. The shape is a typical beefsteak, an oblate (flattened) spheroid. It is usually fairly smooth. Often there is one ridge/fin running from the shoulders toward the blossom end. Overall, it is the meatiest tomato I've ever trialed, although this varies from tomato to tomato. One tomato in 2011 had heavy stitching. Saved seed from this tomato produced tomatoes mostly with moderate stitching. Therefore, I recommend only saving seed from the smoothest fruit.The interior has the darkest red locules (gel areas) that I've ever seen in any variety. Production, for me, has always been average, never very high, nor very low. About 15-25 tomatoes on a plant. In 2012's heat, it far outproduced all of my very large beefsteak types. 2012 also had the worst tomato splitting I've ever had in my garden. S-N-F L A only had a few 1/4" stem cracks, with no splitting anywhere else on the surface. Flavor (my experience and opinion) is unique among many, many, hundreds (about 1,000) of tomatoes I've tasted, with no other tomato being close to this flavor. I've tasted only a few tomatoes that have a flavor all-their-own. Examples are Prue, Aunt Gertie's Gold, and Sungold. The best way I can describe this tomato is that it is tangy. Now, other tomatoes I put in the tangy category have both a sweetness I can taste, and a tartness I can taste, blending into an overall tanginess. With S-N-F L A , I cannot detect any sweetness, nor any tartness, just the balanced tanginess. I consider it having a full, rich, but not complex, flavor. It was the best tasting tomato in my garden in 2012. I've only given seeds to about 10 people in the past few years. And, I've only had one report back on its flavor. The report was that it was the best tasting in their garden, for that year. It is one, of only two, tomatoes that has never disappointed me with its taste, over many growing seasons. The other tomato is Sungold, but even "Sungold" disappointed me once (when it was an imposter). Every other tomato variety I've tried has been a dud, one time or another. So far, extreme weather (hot, cold, wet, dry) has had no effect on its flavor. I will add that I use the lowest amounts of nitrogen fertilizer, and the longest gaps between watering that I can get away with, and still have relatively healthy plants. Also, my garden soil likely has a pH of about 5.0-5.5. So, as for its taste in other gardens, "your mileage may vary". Part 2 will be on the history/mystery of this tomato. )) Carolyn

Hi Heather, I just wanted to make a couple of comments. It seems most of your questions and concerns were addressed quite well already from other members, inlcuding tips about compost and mulch which I also really reccomend. About the mango. I can't tell you for sure because I live in the American Midwest, a completely different climate from yours! However, I love tropical plants,and especially mangoes as they are my favorite fruit, hence me being on this forum, so I've read as much as I can on them and have tried to grow tropicals in anyway possible, and I've visited Hawaii and South Florida often. Mangoes are grown all over India, and many parts of India are very hot and dry, with temperatures getting into the hundreds(farenheit). Supposedly they fruit better that way. I think the leaves should get used to the sun as it gets older. And as long as you are irrigating it and mulching it,and all of the other plants you plan to plant, I really think it should be ok. I would really try frangipanis again. Three of the four that I grow seem to be VERY drought tolerant and tough. It can get very droughty here in the summer and they are in pots, plus it's very windy too, so they dry out very quickly. I have a book on them and it mentions that frangipani trees grow wild in the Central American deserts, in rock crevices, among cacti. And I've noticed that they grow very well by the ocean. And they cast lots of shade. I would definitly try date palms. They are beautiful, love hot, dry weather, are salt tolerant, and produce delicious fruit. Antother palm that you could try is the pindo palm or jelly palm. They are supposedly very heat, cold, drought, and salt tolerant. And the fruit can be made into jelly. The sea grape is another option that might work. I believe that they are almost as salt-tolerant as coconut palms, and you can eat the fruit too. Autograph trees are also mildy salt tolerant. The sea almond mentioned above is a really good idea. Try a dragon tree, I think that would proabably thrive there. There are tree-like yuccas that you might want to consider. In fact I think a lot of succulents and cacti as well would be the way to go. Apparently Crinums are salt-tolerant too. There is also the sea lettuce. Bromeliads- I believe the species would be hoyas and puyas(I'm not a bromeliad expert). There are cycads that you could grow, and there is one in particular that thrives in hot, dry areas, unfortuneately I cant think of its name right now. Good luck with your gardens. I hope you can create a little paradise!

SPAM PRIMAVERA Serving Size : 8 Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 cn Spam, cut in strips 2 Carrots, thinly sliced 1 Zucchini, thinly sliced 1/4 c Finely chopped onion 1 Garlic clove, minced 6 tb Olive oil, divided 1 9 oz package linguini, -cooked 1/2 c Grated parmesan cheese 2 tb Lemon juice 1/4 ts White pepper In a large skillet, cook Spam, carrots, zucchini, onion and garlic in 3 Tbsps olive oil until vegetables are crisp and tender. Toss together linguini, vegetable mixture, parmesan cheese, 3T olive oil, and lemon juice until well coated. Serve immediately. Source: Geo. A Hormel Co, 1992