Glad you enjoyed it. I just updated the landscaping project slide show with a little more work that was done this year. I just had to rip out part of my "north fence border" garden so the the well digger's could get in to get my dried up well going again. So, no good pictures of that in the late season. They are almost done so hopefully I can get all the daylily & iris, etc back in with enough time to root good before winter. When I dug them I left the roots as undisturbed as possible and just put them all in big pots so hopefully they will adjust quickly.

Every year my tomatoes have a theme. One year it was oranges, last year it was whites and container varieties. This year it's blacks and a few others, including the return of a couple kinds. Black Pepper- new this year, a paste Black Prince- new this year, 5 oz fruits Black Krim- new this year- beefsteak Black from Tula- new this year, saucer Dwarf Wild Fred- a return from last year. One of the best tomatoes of last year, the others being White Queen and Snow White Cherry. A nice container plant, and a tasty black getting compared to the other blacks this year. Jaune Flamme- a return from 2014. Hands down the best tomato of the year, great fresh, canned, and dehydrated. 2-4 oz fruits, compact growth habit topping off around 5', suitable container plant. Pink Bumblebee cherry- new this year. I try to have an interesting bicolor every year, last year was Copper River. I plan on doing a cherry/tiny eats compare year in a couple years, and need to test out a couple of little ones every year too. Sweet Pea Currant- new this year. Just another little eats, but container growable. I also have clones going from some of the indoor/overwintered plants I took in because I had seed stock failures last year, or because I wanted to test out their limits, lol. So a couple of these might stick around through the summer if I need seed stock off of them, but it's more likely that either they will get sold off come spring. Totem- a super hearty container plant. Sets seed well indoors and out, takes cuttings/cloning very well, and overwinters in the kitchen window nicely. Germination rate is high, and early growth stays small. Silvery Fir Tree- not so suitable for indoor overwintering, it likes a bigger pot. And it gets leggy. Will grow out for seed stock if I can coax the clones along till spring. It's a pretty ornamental I want to revisit in the future, so I want to save seed for the sake of saving seed. Beaver Lodge Slicer- Healthy plants, decent in containers. Taking cloning pretty well. I have a half dozen seed stock tomatoes growing and ripening right now, may or may not keep cuttings. A right nice and early setting red, it grows well around here and sells well. Copper River- really a lovely plant with nice flesh, I want to save this seed for the sake of saving it more than anything else. I have one mother plant that is a long vine, very leggy in the kitchen window. It is finally producing a nice sucker I can cut for cloning, and two small flower clusters forming.

The above discussion about when, or when not to spray copper fungicide on a healthy mango tree has intrigued me and caused me to re-study my strategy. After that dismal ordeal 5 years ago when my 10 ft tall Nam Doc Mai got this fungus, - I had no idea what to do. So after 2 yrs of constant fungus, I cut that tree down ( was getting too big for it's location anyway ) and replanted a Pickering. From my investigating then it was apparent that there are differing opinions, some say start in Dec and continue every 2 weeks till harvest, others say only spray once or twice early on. After a brief investigation I opted for 2 sprays early in yr, 2 + weeks apart & never looked back. Until now. Just came across a University of Florida site about the care of mango trees. Very informative, especially about this particular subject. UF says if you are spraying copper fungicide, spray only in the following months. Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb, but only if you feel it's necessary,..and that's it ! That's when the pannicles are new and the blossoms not yet open ! Common sense advise for the backyard grower, just what I was looking for ! Now I am a rabid Florida Gator fan, if they said the sun really rises in the west and sets in the east, I'd believe them ! ( smile ) So I have decided to change my mango spraying habits starting next year. One spray max in late January and none if there's no evidence it's necessary. The site that I found so interesting is : Mango Growing in the Florida Home Landscape My blooms now all look healthy, - many flies, bees & misc guys flitting about, so am confident I did no damage by my 2nd spray. An interesting subject for a mango farmer like me. I must thank Nancy for causing me to rethink this important subject. Hope the above site helps a few more mango "aficianado's. " ( smile )

WOO - HOO! I harvested two black beefsteaks yesterday, 5/29. Which is normally when I plant out. So, a 60 day large beefsteak. The first time I have harvested before mid June. And the first time my first tomato was not a grape or cherry. This variety is an unknown that a friend of mine and myself bought as a Watermelon Beefsteak, but turned out to be a purple/black. It has been the best overall plant of mine ever since... 4 years running. It is early, produces until frost, is my most disease resistant plant and is a nice dark green color. But, disease showed up last week... septoria and a little of early blight. Some of the septoria is high up on the young growth. So, I have to stop that sh__ now! So far, no sign of the fusarium that I had bad last year. Any guesses as to the type of tomato?