My local Wal-Mart is selling Shade Cloth, "Coolaroo" Brand, available as either 70% or 90% shade shade factor. Coolaroo claims at least 10 years of UV resistance. I believe that Coolaroo is mostly an Aussie brand (manufactured in China and sold worldwide), so it is usually promoted as protecting people from excessive UV exposure. I really don't understand why Aussies worry about skin cancer; I just thought that Crocadile Dundee would just pull out his 12 inch knife and, all by himself, dig out any funny looking moles saying, "Ah melanoma, no big deal."! The late Crocadile Hunter (may God have mercy on his soul) would just hold out his kid in front of a crock saying "Here crocky, here crocky, bite out that melanoma, that's a good crocky, that' it". And any suburban Aussie, would just rub their pet toxic cane toad above any melanoma. Oops, I digress from the topic of this post. Sorry for the American stereotypes of Aussies. The Coolaroo display box also sells accessories, such as a sewing kit with a roll of black UV-resistant (my assumption) cord plus a special sewing needle. Shade cloth is available in two forms: woven or knitted; the Coolaroo product is knitted and does not fall apart if you cut it. I purchased a roll of green 90% shade. I attempted two methods of fabrication: sewing or silicone glue (caulking). Using the Coolaroo sewing kit with their 90% shade cloth is quite difficult. Both their cord and needle are just too big; in contrast, their needle and cord should be fine for the 70% shade cloth. Sewing the 90% shade with a smaller needle and a more light weight cord, or using an aluminum wire, are alternatives that may work. Using sticks of hot glue melt may work; but the sticks carried by Wal-Mart are not resistant to UV, as far as I know; I have not tried them for that reason. I also fabricated cylinders by pumping 1 or 2 strips of silicone caulking onto a two inch wide strip of the fabric, and pulling the fabric around over the silicone caulking and pushing down to form a 2 inch wide glued seam. There was plastic film underneath the seam to protect the garage floor from silicone. I pushed a seam roller (ie., those used for wall paper) over the glued joint. The pressure from the seam roller causes the caulk to ooze out from both layers of shade cloth- the two strips of plastic film intercept this ooze to form a thin layer of silicone on both outer surfaces of the seam. I soon remove the top plastic film so that air will induce the silicone caulk to cure. Once the silicone caulk cures, I remove the second roll of protective plastic film. Note that silicone does not glue the polyethylene (or polypropylene) shade cloth per se. Rather, as the silicone oozes around the plastic threads, a continuous matrix of cured silicone forms a mechanical layer that physically traps the two layers of shade cloth together. Gee... I'm going to have to photograph this gluing process to explain it. Be careful with the silicone. Some tubes, especially those for bathtubs, contain a biocide to kill mildew; who knows what that will do to plants or those that eat the plants. Silicone, as far as I know, is inherently resistant to mold; but silicone is not inherently toxic to mold, so mold can grow on top of silicone. Nothing prevents mold from growing on top of silicone in a bathtub, unless controlled release biocide is added. Silicone for aquariums would be best, but may be pricey. Since Wal-Mart didn't have the Aquarium Silicone; I bought the "all purpose" tube for $2.65, and a cheap caulking gun. The silicone method is the easiest method of fabricating cylinders of shade cloth from pieces cut from the roll. Now I have to figure out how to fold one end of the cylinder into a bottom of the pot. Either that, I cut out a circle and attach it to one end of the cylinder. Stay tuned for further adventures with shade cloth.

Welcome, clairtx! The swap starts around 10 AM at Trinity Park in FW. From I-30 just at the western edge of downtown, go north on University & take the very first right into the park. Follow the trail around as it winds through the park, & we'll be in a pavillion just north of the big pavillion. Don't go to the big pavillion; it's reserved for someone's family reunion! (You can tell they're not us by the lack of plants in their group!)

"Seriously though, don't people at Goldline have chemists that could take time out to analyze the stuff and give us a fix?' The rep told me no, they don't really care since the product is doing what it claims to do, generate chlorine. Nice, eh? Hi chiefneil, I am not mitch, but have seen the stand used. It just caps the end of the cel and you fill it up with the acid/water mix. The only purpose it to make cel cleaning easier, but the bucket or stand method is effectively the same result. My white stuff goes in the filter(and floats in the pool) but comes out twice as fast from the cel. A perfect filter would not fix the problem. I just spoke with the Jacks Magic chemist and he "claims" that the Purple Stuff makes it so the calcium(and that is what he says it is)does not adhere to the cel, in addition to stain treating which I have no problem with. We shall see, he said I should see some change by 48 hours. He also questioned my TDS numbers as to why my TDS would be 2800 when my salt was 3700, and if my TDS was combined of the two, I had serious TDS issues. Oy vey. KC

Mary, Usually when I carry them out the first week, I do carry the flats back up the stairs to the light shelf as the sun room is full of tropical birds that probably would eat the plants when allowed out of their cages. So, the first week, the plants go up the stairs and back on the light shelf, but then by the second week when are they being allowed to stay outdoors many more hours per day, I generally just put them on a baker's rack placed in the mudroom for just this purpose. The baker's rack sits behind the mudroom door when the door is opened so it isn't in anyone's way. There's a window in the mudroom door so that the plants get afternoon sun when on the baker's rack. I've done this for years and it works really well. The mudroom isn't heated but sits between the house and the sunroom, both of which are heated, so it doesn't drop below 50 degrees at night no matter how cold the outdoor temperature drops. I really don't mind carrying a few flats of plants back up the stairs in Week 1 of hardening off because it is good exercise. In Week 2 and beyond the plants can stay in the mudroom which is good, because by then I'm starting more flats of plants on the light shelf. My general M.O. is that when a flat of plants moves from the light shelf to the mudroom to stay, then I start a new flat of seeds to fill the bare spot left by the migration of plants downstairs. Once the newer plants upstairs are ready to go downstairs and outside for sunlight, the air temperatures generally are warm enough outside at night that the mudroom plants can move to the greenhouse. On nights when the greenhouse might not stay quite warm enough, I could put a heater out there or I could throw a 10-degree frost blanket over them to help hold in the daytime heat. Really, the whole process for the flats of seedlings, from light shelf to outdoors for an hour or to (so a week of in-and-out-and-up) to out all day/in mudroom all and, finally, out all day/in greenhouse all night is like a merry-go-round. As soon as one group of children (plants) gets off the merry-go-round and starts sleeping in the greenhouse, a new group of children advances to the next level. And so it goes through at least April. I'm like the old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do, except the children are plants and I do know what to do with them. I've started 31 varieties of tomatoes, with multiple seeds started of each. I started the seeds in 5-oz. paper cups filled with a sterile, soil-less seed-starting mix. Right now, there are 72 16-oz. red Solo cups with the potted-up plants. Most cups have 2 plants (and will remain that way until they go into the ground). With a few cups there's only 1 plant. These are the varieties I started December 1st in order to have my own transplants hopefully at the same size as the earliest transplants that arrive in stores here around the beginning of February: Azoychka, Beefmaster, Big Daddy, Black From Tula, Black Krim, Black Sea Man, Brandywine-Sudduth's, Caspian Pink, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Early Doll, German Giant, German Johnson, Greek Rose, Halladay's Mortgage Lifter, Indian Stripe, Jumbo Jim Orange, Lucky Cross, Nebraska Wedding, Orange Minsk, Paul Robeson, Pruden's Purple, Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter, Red Brandywine, Soldacki, Sophie's Choice, Speckled Roman, SunGold, Supersonic, Traveler 76, True Black Brandywine, and Vorlon. These are the varieties I will start most likely on Super Bowl Sunday: Aunt Ginny's Purple, Aussie, Big Beef, Black Cherry, BrandyFred Dwarf, Church, Crimson Cushion, Delicious, Dwarf Sweet Sue, Ferris Wheel, Fred's Tie-Dye, German Queen, Heidi, Italian Tree, Kellogg's Breakfast, Maralinga Dwarf, Merrill Schulz Beefsteak, Santiago, Sioux, Summertime Gold, Tennessee Britches, Uralskiy Ranniy, Valenda Pink, Wood's Famous Brimmer and Zogola. Then, there's a third stack of seed packets not yet on any list and they are possible "maybe" varieties that I might add in and start on Super Bowl Sunday, but they also might stay in that stack and be fall tomatoes. If I go that route, I'll start those seeds May 1st for planting out in mid-June. That's a bit early for fall tomatoes, but I like to get them in the ground before the heat gets too insane. I do try to plant the fall tomatoes as far away from the Spring tomatoes as possible to keep them safer from any existing tomato pests and diseases. Is this enough vicarious living for you? (grin) The third pile exists, by the way, because I seem incapable of making a list and sticking to it. It is dangerous for us to even walk into a nursery with tomato plants in Spring because no matter how many plants I have at home, I have to stop and look at them, evaluate how healthy/big the plants are, look at varieties I like and sigh and say "why didn't I grow that one this year? I really like that one?" or "I should buy this one. I've never grown it. I wonder if it is any good?" etc. Tim is a great enabler as he always just says "If you want it, just get it" and so, generally at some point I break down and buy 2 or 3 or 10 plants to add to the ones I grew from seed. Tomato addiction is a severe disease, but it is a joyful disease. Melissa, If you do that, be sure to poke holes in the bottom of the bag for drainage!! I have grown all kinds of things in 10-gallon bags from SunLeaves. I particularly like them because they are black on the inside (to block sun rays from the roots) and white on the outside (to reflect the sun's rays and heat in the summer). All plants in grow bags can suffer from excessive heat, so I like to grow them, when possible, where they get shade in the middle of the day, or at least shade from afternoon onward. I've grown them in places that get sunshine all morning until 10 or 11 a.m., then shade until about 2 or 3 p.m. and then late afternoon sun, and I've grown them where they get sun only during the morning and early afternoon hours and have shade from mid-afternoon onward. In full sun, the unrelenting heat in July and August can be hard on them, and tomato plants in Grow Bags of any size need careful attention to watering or BER can become a huge problem. The bags and soil really do not provide any insulation from the heat, so we have to watch those bags carefully for heat-related issues. Hazel, Slug-Go and similar organic slug baits control snails and slugs easily. I always buy it in the stores when I see it arrive in Spring because once the actual growing season arrives, it often remains sold out and hard to find. Now might be a good time to start cilantro. It is a cool-season herb that needs to be planted in the ground in the Feb-Mar time frame and usually will burn up in the heat in June. Most people who have trouble with cilantro have planted it too late and it burns up in the heat or bolts before they harvest much from it. I usually start it indoors in late Jan/early Feb and put it in the ground in late Feb/early Mar depending on what the temperatures are doing here. I don't have to worry about when to put it in the ground----if the weather is warm up for chamomile volunteers to sprout and not freeze, it is warm enough for me to put cilantro plants in the ground. Dawn