The roses I am growing are still new -- virtually all came as own-root bands last Spring, were grown for a bit in 1- or 2-gallon containers with a nutrient-rich potting mix, and were planted by last August when the beds were ready. The holes I had to dig were thus only large enough to slip 1- or 2-galon rootballs into the "soil" here (which is more like fired red clay smashed into fragments). The beds were prepped by laying cardboard down over existing grass and weeds, then covering that with snipped-up trimmings from a Callery pear tree and several arborvitae I was hacking back to bring sun into the yard. After all were planted, the beds were covered with 4-6" of proper mulch (shredded and composted tree/shrub leftovers from NJMulch.com) last Autumn. This Spring, a whole lot of composted manure was worked in, as well as various organic fertilizers and used coffee grounds from Starbucks. The result is that the roses had a very rich medium for early growth, with various layers of other goodies and fertilizers working their way down and keeping the soil moist as roots explored beyond their original potting medium. I have noticed that the Gallicas, reputed to "take off running", needed a bit of pampering under the arborvitae for their first Summer before the mulch went down -- they seemed to have a hard time competing for water. This year (their second), they did fine on rain alone. That's why I put them there -- they're tough. If you have areas under trees or shrubs that get enough light for roses but would have to deal with root competition, consider the once-blooming OGRs for those spots. There's a frequent poster on the Antiques forum named Mad_Gallica who also gardens in zone 5 and has a nice selection of them (and species) which do well in upstate NY. :-) ~Christopher

A Bing cherry tree growing in southern California will do reasonably well the first several years, just enough to get your hopes up. After that, it will start dwindling away, more & more each year. And will eventually look so sad you'll remove it. If you want a tree that will grow and produce cherries, ask at your nearest independent garden center which cherry will do well where you live. Several will. But only if you obtain the correct kind. Ask when it/they will be available. (In SoCal, bareroot tree fruits are generally available during Jan. & Feb; sometimes in Dec.) As for the flowering cherries and other trees that require substantial amounts of chill -- total hours between 32 and 45 during Dec, Jan & Feb, but subtracting all hours above 65F -- will grow but will bloom erratically & will leaf out erratically. So save yourself a lot of grief and grow "low-chill" fruit tree(s) suited to your region. The large garden centers know which ones they are. But you need to ask. One big problem: Just because a garden center in your region sells a specific fruit tree doesn't mean it will thrive there. Jean, who gardened in Long Beach, CA, for 30-some years.

Sheri, Oh, it is drooling time! I can almost taste the tomatoes now. Sungold, Persimmon, and Cherokee Chocolate: if you get ripe tomatoes from only these three plants, you'll still think it is the best tomato year ever, taste-wise! Dr. Wyche's has always done better for me than Kellogg's Breakfast, but then, I have grown DWY for 5 or 6 years and KB for only 2, so Dr. Wyche's has had more opportunity to excell. Dr. Wyche's is a pretty heavy producer, and quite tasty. It also shows great disease resistance. Black Zebra is a very attractive-looking tomato, but I think Black Pineapple (which isn't really black at all, LOL) tastes much better. I have found that every striped tomato I've ever grown has looked pretty, and tasted no better than average. (sigh) Well, I take that back--the one exception is Indian Stripe. Momotaro is probably better than Carmello, but then, your taste buds and your growing conditions are different from mine, so you might find the opposite to be true. I do not think you'll be disappointed in Momotaro though. I haven't grow Alamo. We love Sweet Million and Black Plum, which is our postal carrier's favorite tomato ever since I started sharing them with her several years ago. You're right--I wasn't wild about Japanese Black Trifele, but lots of people love it, so maybe it was just me. Your Mystery Surprise is probably either a tomato that "lost its label" during the seedling growing process, or is from a new grow-out that DJ is trialing and perhaps hasn't even named yet. (I think mysteries and surprises are fun!) Yellow Platfoot Brandywine is yummy, and so is Black Pear. Brandy Boy is the best. If I could only grow one variety, this might be it. There are a few that taste better, but NONE of them can match BB's heavy production and disease resistance. And, even though there are a few that I think taste better than BB, none of them is loads and loads better, only a little better. I don't think I have grown Black Pearl, but isn't it a smallish tomato, more like Black Cherry? I think it is the Burpee hybrid that is said to taste more like a Concord grape after it has been refrigerated? If it even comes close to tasting like Black Cherry, it will be a real winner. I can tell you are ready to get the plants going. Have fun, but be careful and watch the weather. I feel sure we have another freeze or two to get through before Old Man Winter departs and lets us have Spring. I believe you will have more tomatoes this year than last. Remember that so much of last year.....the excessive rainfall, the continual cloudiness, the cooler-than-usual weather all combined to severely affect tomato production. Conditions like that are beyond our control AND exceptionally rare. This has GOT TO be a better year, right? By the way, my little container-grown Better Bush tomato has now formed a second tomato--it is just about the size of an English pea. I am so worried that a deer or possum will get my first green tomato that I carry this plant inside every single night. (It is a very pampered plant at this point. Today I picked up a lady bug and carried her over to the plant and sat her on a leaf, just so she could cruise around and hunt for any bugs that might be lurking.) I am SO looking forward to the first ripe tomato this year. No matter the size of the tomato, we always make BLT sandwiches out of the first ripe one. I am going to order the world's best bacon from the New Braunsfels Smokehouse just so we'll have it for the first BLT of 2008. (Most of the time we eat healthy and watch our fat intake and cholesterol, but BLT time is special and calls for a total disregard of the healthy eating rules!) Keep me posted on how planting goes. I hope to be out in the garden a lot the next few days if the weather cooperates. We are under all kinds of storm watches today, tonight and tomorrow, but so far everything is going either a couple of counties west of us OR a couple of counties east of us, and that's OK with me. Dawn

Carolyn can it not be tobacco or nicotine related without being TMV? Are you a specialist in the field? ***** Taz, that's a double negative but if you're asking if tobacco products can be the cause of disease with tomatoes without TMV possibly appearing,then the answer is no, I know of no documented disease caused just by smoking products. TMV was originally insected transmitted until TMV tolerant tobacco was grown commercially in the US when now it's different and mechanical transmission is what happens in most cases and especially in commercial greenhouses. I hope one of those two answers is appropriate to your question. Am I a specialist? You can read some of my background at my page. Do I have a Ph.D in plant infectious diseases, no I don't. But I was raised on a farm where we had acres of tomatoes, will be 71 in June, have grown about 2500 hundred varieties myself, have a good understanind of infectious diseases in humans, which I taught, as well as vegetables and fruits, worked with the Cornell Coop Ext in two different counties, have done lots of teaching of Master Gardeners as well as field days re diseases, have been posting online about tomato infectious diseases since 1989 and have done clinics on IDing tomato diseases here and there. And have wrote a book about Heirloom Tomatoes, after being asked to do so. I've been retired since 1999 , from teaching, b'c of mobility problems, severed four quads in 2004, have two new hips and still have to use a walker, and still continue to grow stuff in much less numbers, all my gardening done by someone else. And being retired I have the time to read/post at four online message sites that I chose and as a Moderator at two of them. So it's up to you to decide if I have a good undertanding of tomato diseases and diagnosis of many of them. No one person, even a tomato pathologist, knows it all, but I usually have enough information to help folks looking for answers online to the best of my ability and I don't know ALL the answers either. Carolyn, being also honest but not rude as you posted above.And who also finds this site is sometimes contentious , as do many others, which is why in 2006 many of us moved to a different site but I usually drop in here from time to time anyway as do a few others who also moved elsewhere.