Nitsua(6b MO) Would love to see a pic of your light stand, Sey. I need to do something different from what I'm doing now.. -------------------------------- Here it is NitsuaIt is about 50" long ( 52" would be better) and about 38" high and 15" wide. From ch horizontal top one set of twin T8 fixture will be hanged. It is made from 3/4" pvc.. The trays will sit on the floor and the lights' height will be adjusted to accommodate the seedling height. In the beginning, when the plants are small ( in 12oz cold drink cups) I might just use 2 sets of lights. But when they are re potted into bigger pots, I'll bring my 3rd set into operation.There will be no load on the stand other than the fixtures hanging. Also I can group my seedlings by height and adjust each light accordingly. PS: It cost me under $20 and I put it together in about one hour, But I had a plan how to do it (size, cuts ..) . With T12 lights it should be made wider. Any more questions, be glad to answer. Sey

Jay, I do grow Black Cherry and really like it. It has a very unique flavor that I've never found in any other cherry tomato. It was released by Vince Sapp of Tomato Grower's Supply Company, and it seems like it hit the market just a few years before he passed away. The flavor is indescribably good. I don't know a lot about Burrell's Special and I'm not sure if they've ever released breeding info on it. I believe that it is a lot like Sioux because it is a good heat setter but may set fruit slightly larger than Sioux if there is good moisture. Daniel, Did you have the whiteflies this year? Last year? I've only had whiteflies twice in my life, with about 20 years in between, so I'm hoping my luck holds. All my tomato plants are outside to stay and the first two dozen plants are in the ground. With all this early heat, I hope to get more in the ground tomorrow. I'd be out there putting them in the ground now, but I just looked at the thermometer and it says 89.6 degrees, so it still is too hot for me to go back out to the garden and put anything in the ground. I am going to put the hot peppers in the ground sometime after 5 pm. I keep waiting for the temperature to start falling, and it hasn't started yet. This abnormal heat is making me crazy. Samantha, That's a great list. I used to plant a lot more than I do now, so I really really have scaled it back. In my best/worst year I had about 600 plants in the ground, representing about 150 varieties. I wanted to trial them all together so I could compare their performance in the same year. I believe that was either 2005 or 2006. Because the deer hadn't yet found our garden, many of those plants were not within the fenced garden. And then the deer found us. That was the end of growing anything that deer will eat outside the fenced garden, so I started cutting back and cutting back and now will have maybe 100 plants in the garden. Maybe less. I'm still workin on that whole 'cutting back to a manageable level' thing. Some years I'm more successful than others. In the years when we had 600 plants, and then about 400 the year after that, about all I did was harvest tomatoes all day every day and give them away. I don't regret it though because I found a lot of varieties that we loved and still like and grow and eat, and I ruled out bunches of others that just weren't for us for one reason or another. Needless to say, our friends all had all the tomatoes that they could eat and that they could give away too back in those days. Now we eat all we are able to eat fresh, and preserve the rest so we can eat tomatoes in many forms year-round. Bon, This early heat is going to drive us all bonkers. I'll be mad if the heat is here to stay because we need to stay cooler for a while to get good fruit set. Kim, Are you planting yet? Dawn

Bringing some more items looking for a good home: regent juneberry bushes (x2) - someone take both for x-pollination please. Aka Saskatoon aka serviceberry bush. rose of Sharon seedlings. These are the lavender colored ones with the darker red throat. sunflower "lemon queen" seedlings. rudbeckia goldsturm "orange coneflower"

Hi everyone. It's been a while! I got a late start planting the Bang Wang seeds from the growout. I finally got them planted this spring, maybe about 5 weeks ago. Germination took 2 weeks or so. My germination rate was 100%. I planted 10 seeds total and all 10 came up. One had a damaged growth tip, so I don't think it's going to be able to form new leaves. The rest are doing ok. I have one that seems to be a bit more vigorous than the rest. They all seem to be very slow growing. How are everyone else's doing? I bought some more seeds from the same gentleman, which I planted at the same time. Emerald Crown and they are getting fat!