great topic! this year i had a mislabeling mishap with my seeds. long story short to figure out whick was which (i knew which plants were the same because they were side by side) i had several pairs of plants. i would let one of the plants flower and pluck the others flowers. did this across the board with them all. anyway the ones i let fruit i only let a few pods set (2-6) and picked the rest. what i saw after plucking flowers about 3 times. the plucked plants were much bigger and brachier. the unplucked plants seemsed to stall in comparison. not much growth after the pods set. imo it takes time to pluck flowers and more time each time you do it. i simply refused to pluck my lemon drop after the 2nd time. to friggin many to pluck. i also did this with 2 savina cuttings and the difference there was crazy. i will add with the savinas the plucked got lots of nitrogen as well. i dont know about tomatoes but with peppers it will give you bigger yeilds from what i have seen. Michael

at the right time of year... small stripped branches.. can smell of black cherry pop .. for a very short time ... i never tried to smell them in winter.. so its not winter.. lol ... though i see flowers in your pix.. so you arent really in what i call winter .... ken

First of all: What a cool house!! The shade needs to be re-lined. Judging from the photographs, I’d say it’s silk, and once silk starts to tear, that’s it. I have a pair of monumental Frederick Cooper lamps, ca. 1997, and the lining on one shade has already begun disintegrating due to sunlight. As far as proximity to restoration specialists is concerned, I don’t think you could live in better spot! And speaking of NJ: I and at least one other participant in this thread, lindac, are from (found that out just yesterday on a different thread). Though I no longer live there, the home my mother grew up in, which was built around the turn of the century, is still in the family. The current occupant, a retired art educator and artist himself, has done extensive work on the home.

I believe it's for flax not wool.