I realise the last post was a year ago - but what the heck... Just recently half-finished a major renovation of an old house (circa 1934) in Observatory, Johannesburg, and am now starting to get stuck into the landscaping. This is my third garden of sizeable proportions in the area - except that this time I decided to wipe the slate clean. Oh boy. Got the tree fellers in and ripped out all the old fruit trees, a very old Loquot and a couple of Australian Black Wattles (fiendish water thirsty weeds - good riddance) Anyhow - the terrain is terraced (located on the south side of the koppie) - but not too steep - so the ground is pretty well drained. Soil needs a lot of conditioning as it is mostly shale. Right now I've levelled the terrace closest to the house and in so doing got rid of most of the kikuyu lawn - easier said than done - noxious beast!!!! The big plan is to plant up an entire Highveld-like Savannah. But with a formal twist! And so to that end I've planted 9 Combretum Erythrophyllum trees like little soldiers and underplanted these with Sanseverias, asparagus, aloes (on the north side of the trees) - A. Chaubaudii/A. Forsteri + stunning new A. hybrids, Helichrysum Petiolare, Dierama Pendula, Grass aloes, crassulas, and GRASSES - oh several varieties - I cannot remember them all. One thing we in Johannesburg see a lot of is grasses - and I think that's why we don't pay too much attention. Pity we cannot buy most of these stunning varieties in the nurseries - but right now with the move towards indigenous landscaping, I feel it's about to change. Some of the large estate developments are showing the way with stunning results. Anyway - I'm grass hunting this Saturday, I've got access to a few lots past Fourways where I'll be digging up those yummy specimens for relocation to my backyard...... Piet Oudolf, eat your heart out!!!! Ha, I even rescued some beautiful grasses (it's now winter - so dried out and dormant!) off the top of a compost heap at my favourite indigenous nursery (with their permission of course) - yep - I think I'm totally hooked on grass. ha ha ha. Oh, and in-between the savannah I'm planning gravel footpaths and formal squares of different hedges, each at differing heights, to tame the wild and stand as silent sentinels of the bushveld. The real reason they're there is to pander to my obsession with pruning things - I figured it was better than punching walls - so I cut things. It keeps me calm. And the shrink agrees. On order is two large Aloe bainsii and 10 Cussonias to guard the pool. And more grasses.

Vikingkirkin, your list looks very similar to mine, well except for the Serrano and Cayenne, which are probably too hot for my family. I looked up that Pusztagold, and it looks very similar to the Giant Szegedi, both of which Gourmet Seed Int'l. carries. I'm copying and pasting my list from the other thread: Alma Paprika - this is a definite, love it! Anaheim Beaver Dam Boldog Hungarian Spice Botinecka Zuta Cascabella Chervena Chushka Chinese Giant Keystone Giant Feherozon Giant Szegedi Gourmet Healthy Lipstick Mariachi Poblano Patio Red Marconi Red Cheese Senorita - one of my favorites last year Soroksari TAM Jalapeno Sweet Pickle and maybe Tollie's Sweet Italian Bonnie

2009 Tomato Season Report The season started off with late frosts and leafhoppers delaying the tomato plant out. May was rainy and cold and by the time the plants were in the ground it was the second week of June. The Sweet 100 plant is the only exception as it was planted around May 15th. June was very wet with a record 8" of rain and no days above 80*. July was still wet and cool with only a handful of days over 85*. August was a little drier but still fairly cool. September was much drier and warmer which got a lot of the tomatoes to flower but it was to late for fruiting. October started off dry and cool but then turned wetter with temps dipping down to 31*. Most of the tomatoes got hit with disease and frost damage after the cold spell. The last part of the month was warmer with temps in the 50's and 60's but several inches of rain brought a bad tomato season to an end well almost anyway. The sweet 100 plant still has a couple more tomatoes ripening on the vine. I had no late blight in my garden a little bit of early blight and at the end of the season septoria leaf spot started showing up. Brandy boy: - potato leaf, medium about 5-ft, average disease tolerance. No ripe fruit but it did eventually flower and produce a couple of tiny green fruit. They both Had severe cracking issues. Crack size: all the way in to the middle of the tomato. The cracking was partly do to uneven moisture but this variety was still very crack prone. Brandywine Sudduth's strain: - potato leaf, medium/tall 5-6-ft, had a several disease problems especially later in the season. No flowers or fruit. Overall very disappointing. Cuostralee: - Regular leaf medium/tall 5-6-ft, Not great disease tolerance but it was able to grow out of the disease. No ripe fruit but it did flower. Japanese Black Trifele: - potato leaf, short 3-4-ft, top of the plant broke in a windstorm. good disease tolerance but not great. first ripe fruit october 30th after ripening indoors for two weeks, 1 ripe fruit. Taste: Gel is sweet with a slight tang to it. The meat is very mild and a little bit bland but it has a faint smoky flavor to it. No problems with cracking. I saved seeds. Marianna's peace: - Potato leaf medium/tall 5-6-ft, good disease tolerance until the end of the season when both plants yellowed. No ripe fruit. both plants flowered . Neves Azorean Red: - regular leaf, medium height 4-5-ft. It did get shaded by the brandywine plant next to it. Average disease tolerance but it would probably do better with more sun. No ripe fruit. the plant didn't even flower probably partly do to the weather and partly do to the shade. Sweet 100: - regular leaf, tall 7-8-ft , average disease tolerance first ripe fruit mid August, ~ 45 ripe fruit. Taste: Sweet with good "tomato" flavor. size small about an inch in diameter. Looks. perfect round bright red tomatoes in clusters of 5-10. Only cracks when ripe fruit are left on the vine during rain. Crack size : Just the skin cracks open not the whole tomato.

Several decades ago, I hybridized Poncirus trifoliata and Clementine mandarin using Poncirus as the pollen parent as Clementine is 100 % monoembryonic when used as the seed parent. The only difficulty was the timing of flowering of the 2 parents. Some of the flowers on the progeny were misshapen and not capable of setting fruit. A few of the hybrids were vigorous and fruited in a solar greenhouse without supplemental heat in southeastern Pennsylvania. These trees were planted directly in the soil with the perimeter of the greenhouse base insulated 4' deep using panels of Styrofoam insulation. One of the trees fruited with Clementine-like fruit, deep orange, seedless, not bitter, but tart, about 2 inches in diameter. Regrettably, I discontinued covering the greenhouse and lost the trees to winter cold. I had previously sent 2 scions to an amateur citrus breeder in Tifton, GA. He was an elderly gentleman at that time and they may not have been further propagated. These trees began flowering and fruiting at 5-6 years of age. I did not fertilize these plants and did no pruning as flowering began on the most distal branches, especially on the longer upper branches beginning to bend downwards.