I finally made it out to Cicconi's and it was only a half hour drive from my father's in Colts Neck. I spent 3 hours wandering greenhouses and kept forgetting where I'd left my cart. I had 3 things I needed from their availability list but ended up with more than 3 plants! In one of the back houses was where I found the Hakone Beni Kaze grass whose internet photo grabbed me but the mail order prices for a 3-5 inch pot didn't. It's still a visible plug inside the quart but I'm leaving it in the container sunk in the garden to grow on and baby for the next year. I'm hoping I have it good light condition to achieve the burgundy, red & pink coloration in Fall but with enough shade so it doesn't shrivel up. Cicconi's prices for gallon perennials were almost on par with some other places but they had a great selection and people were extremely patient and helpful. The prices for good size plants compared to mail order, tops-lopped-off little starters were great and you get to actually see a plant in its natural state when you buy and growing the first year. Got more Asclepias Incarnata (they were out of Tuberosa-the Monarchs will have to deal with it), NY Ironweed, Heuchera Amethyst Mist, Pink Jewel Fleabane (after I saw a Spring Azure testing the nectar right in front of me), a huge Sedum Vera Jameson (funky succulent, not like its photos but a facinating stunner) and some Sweet Basil since my little seedlings won't be "Pesto sufficient" for a LONG time. The 2 Lamium Purple Dragon I got from Gasko's are fading quickly without growth or flowers while another $3. Lamium 3 times their size I got at a roadside plant seller on northbound side of Rt. 35 (south of the light at Costco in Hazlet) is flourishing and blooming its head off. I always saw this roadside place too late in zipping traffic to stop in but was keeping an eye out for it last trip up that way to Lowe's & Dearborn. I also got a Eupatorium Rugosum Chocolate (terrific burgundy tinged foliage & can't wait for fall white blooms), Buddleia Red Knight (in huge shrub pot since nowhere really to put 5'x5' plant in full sun), Salvia May Night, unknown electric blue/purple Salvia, Curly Parsley for Swallowtails and a few six packs of annuals for mostly shaded garden. Total only $36. for all that and they're doing very well. I didn't have to make a stop at Dearborn for anything and they wouldn't have any plants I got at roadside plant seller anyway except for Salvia May Night most likely. Early Saturday morning before food shopping I stopped in at Colonial Nursery on West Front Street just east of Middletown-Lincroft Rd. in Middletown. I never knew they existed until finding them listed as retail vendor for some national supplier. They had 2 year old Dwarf Goatsbeard for $9.95 that was 3 times the size of mail order gallon I got last fall and more than a foot tall/wide Astilbe Fanal that was a nicer shade of burgundy/raspberry than I perceived from online photos. It's not a huge place buy neat and clean with a good selection of plants not everyone carries in such pristine shape. The Fanal looked washed out and rangy at Cicconi's and price was the same. Next year I'll have to make it out to Cicconi's earlier in the season to look around when things haven't gone through a withering heat wave. I probably don't "need" much more to fill in what I can at my father's but there's always a chance I'll see some perennial between now and next year for which I could find a place to plant. Used quite a few annuals to fill in where I was too confused or rushed to decide on perennials to fill out a few new beds. Particularly short on spring bloomers. Maybe next year after a full year in the ground I'll have more time to enjoy all these beauties when I don't have to baby them until they get established. I was never so happy to hear thunder and lightening as last night thinking "Yippee...I don't have to worry about watering at 5 AM" expecially before getting started on cooking/straightening house for Father's Day celebration. All in all, I've maxed out on plants for my first year's attempt at gardening. I dread having to transplant the last few containers of annual seedlings I started myself. What was I thinking listening to people who said "It's a snap!" compared to being stretched out on the ground trying to tease apart tiny roots and then getting them placed just right in ground soil...to say nothing of watering with droplets so they don't dissolve into the ground? What a riot but good learning experience. Boy, do I feel lucky to live in Jersey!

I planted 6-8 each of some 50 varieties over a four month period, beginning with the "cool tolerant earlies," in December, and cycling through groups of black, colored, red, patios and the bigs. Fortunately or unfortunately, I had almost a hundred percent germination and very little damping off and was swimming in plants. I kept one or two of each, gave away as many seedlings as I could possibly foist off on friends and still had many many plants left over. The first ones were transplant-ready long before the season started at our 2500 ft. altitude and I had my keepers growing in the hoophouse, the sunporch,and the living room. I advertised the rest in the nearby Palm Springs (Zone 10) Craigslist. For a small (Prius-sized) delivery charge I arrived at a customer's home with a selection of plants; and talked to them about their plans and about the virtues of the different tomatoes. I usually sold more than they had originally thought they wanted, and I always gave away one or two freebies. Now that our high desert gardening season is underway, I have put a sign at each end of the street and when I am going to be home for a stretch of time, I put another sign directly in front of the house and leave the plants on a table in the driveway. Customers stop, look them over and ring a bell or knock on the door if they are interested in buying. I sell them at $3.00 for large styrofoam cups and $2.00 for the small. I also sold a few small Sprites in three-gallon grow bags for $5.00. When the last plant is gone, perhaps I will have earned 4 hundred dollars at a leisurely pace over a several week period. I'm having a wonderful time meeting fellow gardeners, telling heirloom stories, and seeing the delight when i throw in a specially selected extra plant or two.I have also had the great pleasure of teaching newbies about growing vegetables in general and the best reward of all was having a customer say he felt like he had just gotten a hundred dollars worth of gardening advice for the price of 4 tomatoes. Lessens learned: (1)I could have sold more cherries, more romas and many more plants in grow bags, ready to be dropped into decorative pots, if only I had had them. (2) People intending to buy A single tomato plant almost always left with more. At a minimum, they would take an one early-ripening tomato, and something else that was noted for being heat tolerant. (3)Some people seemed to know about heirloom tomatoes in general, but the only specific varieties requested by name were Green Zebra, Purple Cherokee, Super Sioux, and (oddly to me)two requests for a white...Great White, I think. (4) When someone says, "I never have any luck with tomatoes," they are begging for the tomato-growing 101 lecture. A sure sale will follow. (5) Gardeners are the nicest, friendliest people on the face of the earth.

Here's what I did: I always have extra tomato plants even after I give them away to friends and relatives. I used to just drop them off at the local community garden with a sign FREE PLANTS. A few years ago, I started labeling all my plants with plant info, my hobby farmÂs name and email address on each plant. Two years ago, I took all my spare plants to the local community garden and posted a sign FREE on them. The difference is this time I stayed with the plants for a few hours and handed the plants out along with information. Most of what I raise are heirlooms so many of the community gardeners were unfamiliar with them. I received several emails over the course of that season from those gardeners, many were thank you and some were with questions. I saved every one of those email addresses. Then 15th of March of last year, I sent out emails to all those gardeners, plus my entire address book offering tomato plants for sale in time for spring planting which around here is Memorial Day plus or minus a week. I told folks what I was raising and that I would be selling them this year. I gave folks the option of reserving plants or taking their luck first come, first serve on the 2 sale days I would be having at my house. I got a few checks and a lot of emails. Then as the "Sale Days" approached, I posted the dates on Craigs List. I potted all the plants up to 4" pots about 2-3 weeks before the sale, hardened them off and charged $4 each for them, 4 for $15, 7 for $25. The pots were beautiful 4" pots I got 10 for $1 from Christmas Tree Shops. I sold every plant and added to my database with new email addresses from the Guest Book I had out at the sale.

I would suggest it's a bit early to dismiss the supercropping as possible cause of the BER. I agree it's not likely, but one plant without symptoms doesn't necessarily prove the supercropping wasn't at fault. It's possible the control plant had some variable in its favor that made the difference. Of course it's more likely there was some other minor variable that pushed things against the plants with BER. For the aphids I'd say either go biological or get out the big guns. Hardcore pesticides aren't great, but sometimes it's better than a total loss. Oh, and leaving the fruit on can make the BER persist. Each of those fruits represents a major future investment of plant resources. If there isn't enough to go around (a calcium shortage causing BER) the more fruit they're trying to grow the more thinly it's spread and the worse the problem is likely to get. I'd advise removing anything with even a hint of BER. Force the plant to redirect it's resources to areas that aren't already lost causes. It may be time to look for a superior source for nutrition. I've been using Advanced Nutrients for awhile now without trouble. It might work better for you as well.