Michelle2013, You should very good germination from seeds you get from Rinoa. I have. She is trying very hard to build a good reputation for quality plants and seeds. I believe she has done this already. It is a sad thing for people as you speak of buying all those seeds and getting so few to germinate. This is topic of conversation on a few groups that I frequent. The concern is not just germination rate, it is finding reputable sellers of seed that actually send you seeds from the pod parents that you carefully selected. I am sure most people realize that they are not going to get a clone of pod parents with seeds, but hopefully something similar in one characteristic. One person purchased 2000+ seeds of a few different hybrids and they got a few mixed colors and all the rest "Pink". Rick

Brenda, it is nice when even family members are enablers, eh? LOL!! I actually keep telling my husband "There's this garden in Western NY that someday we have to go visit!" I would love to see your beautiful garden some day. The different areas you have planted and the variety is amazing. I've been lusting for some more photos from you. Would love to see what you have on file for your veggie garden from last year if you have any time to post some. Goodness! I finally cracked open the catalog for my local nursery who I really like to support. She's a true plantswoman who I so enjoy chatting with, etc. I just sent an email over to her with my "list" (is was a long one) of plants to put aside for me for pickup when they open. It's a terrible habit I have of giving her a list each year for pickup. But my birthday is always right around when she opens, so it's a birthday present, right?!?! LOL!

I'm glad you said that MeMo -- We are out of cups and every other little container, too. All - I have been thinking about what kind of contraption I could make that would help me dry the seeds before I pack them. What I would like is to have something totally open on the top where I could continually drop seedpods to finish ripening and drying. Then I could clean a certain kind all at once. I need some mesh yogurt cups. Or little cardboard boxes with coffee filters inside of them (I hate losing all those seeds in the seams of bags and boxes.) I have a bunch of bitty sacks...what kind of box could I put them in to hold them stable I case I overload with snapdragon stems or something? I don't mind cleaning them if I can sit down and do one kind all at once, then bag them. But I like things neat and tidy and things are increasingly perched here and there where I can't find what I need. Just thinking out loud, but if anybody has a seed drying shelf or anything, I'd love to hear about it! Lime

Mitch, You need to drive down for a visit in late May or July. Probably late May is best...because by then everything looks really spectacular and the diseases haven't arrived yet. June is a terrific month to see it too, but we have oodles of family birthdays and other family occasions that month so we're hardly ever home in June.. Of course, if this drought continues (and I cannot let myself believe it will) at the current level, there won't be much to see. I used to plant many more tomato plants than I do now--back in the early 2000s. At that point, the deer had not yet discovered the garden, so I could plant a couple of hundred plants outside the fenced-in garden, and the deer and rabbits hardly touched those unprotected plants. Now that we've been here a while, the deer, rabbits, raccoons and every other wild thing (including bobcats) like to get into the garden and feast. The first three are eating plants, but the bobcat is looking for birds or animals, including my cats. Since the wild animals found the garden, I now have to restrict myself to only what I can plant inside the fenced garden, so I'm only going to grow about 1/4 the number of tomatoes that I grew the first few years here. That's OK, though. I grow far too many anyway (although I don't have any trouble giving the extras away). I have had a great time trying new tomatoes, and I guess I'll never stop. I love many of the heirlooms, but the last couple of years, I've been trying a lot of fantastic hybrids from the Harris-Moran Seed Co. (and others) and I've been impressed with their flavor. I still grow a mix, but in hard years (when I expect drought), I grow a higher percentage of hybrids because they tend to produce more tomatoes per plant in many cases. Dawn