mrdoitall - I haven't planted yet, but I was hoping to get started this week. My seedling are doing pretty well though. I still have about 850 I haven't killed yet. I'll need to take some cuttings if I'm going to end up with 1000. I was planning to make hills of dirt, compost, pulled weeds, grass clippings, straw, etc. But I won't know for sure how things will go until I actually try it. I thought I had a good supply of dirt right next to my new space, but it turned out to be hard as a rock. So I'm considering my other options. I don't have a working camera setup, so pictures will have to wait. I have more urgent things like fencing, planting, slug barriers and trellising, to deal with first. And I kinda got distracted watching the oil spill. What a mess. loribee - I'm going to do something similar, except I'm planning to make a hill for each plant, instead of covering the entire garden. And I won't be using any framing, since I don't think it's necessary in my case. I may cut down the number of plants, once I see how things are going. I figure I'll get to a certain point, and just call it done. kay-jay - I agree too. 1000 is a number I came up with as the absolute maximum for this year. I'm using it as a goal, and so I have to figure out how to do things on a larger scale. I may only get halfway this year. But next year I'll have worked out enough of the problems, and it should get easier.

You said you wanted to do it quickly but I just think about all those precious perennials, which can also have a cost value attached to them if you end up having to redo. For example, since you don't have a specific list of perennials, it could be something as common as canna lily or something a little more precious like a long-lived peony. Since you still want a garden there, just smaller, I think you can take this season to identify the plants and weeds coming up. For the weeds, take them out when you can. For the small trees, take them out also if you don't want them to be bigger. For the perennials, when you identify one you don't want, take it out. If it is something someone else might want, feel free to ask people if they do. For the remaining perennials in the section that you don't want, see if other people want them. For the perennials that you do end up wanting, but just need them relocated, then determine how you might arrange them in your smaller plot. Another reason to wait is that as the plant comes up, you can actually pull it out, now that you know where it is. If you still want to take them out without waiting this season, but still want to grow this season, then I think you can start digging and anything that is not dirt, put in a pile. You may have to dig as deep as 6-8" depending on the type of perennials you have.

Plantslayer I don't think you are wrong. There are so many things that can affect fruit production. Try muxing 1T of epsom salts in a gallon of water and then watering your plants with this. Epsoms salts really encourages root development and flower production. If you have a lot of flowers and no fruit then I would look at your daytime/nighttime temps. If the temps are too hot or too cold during the day tomatoes will not set fruit. If the temps are too cool or too hot at night fruit will not set. If you don't have any flowers then, more than likely, you need to look at your fertilizer. Afer the plant starts to put on flowers back off the nitrogen fertilzers and go with a 4-5-4 or something like that. Mirical Grow is very high in nitrogen and this can be a problem at times. If you have flowers and your temps are ok then give the plant stem a shake and try to get the pollen to drop inside the flower. Tomatoes are self-pollinating so at times it can he belpful to give them a little nudg. I just give the cage a good shake and the entire plant moves. I am not aware of any viruses, as such, that specifically inhibit fruit set or flower production. Others might shed more light on this if this is not so. But, this year I had so much cool weather and clowdy skies into late June that my production was significantly impacted. Things are really popping right now but for a while there I was getting concerned. Even though tomatoes can be neglected somewhat, they can be very picky about flower production and fruit set/development. For example, I just learned, on this form, that tomatoes do not turn red when the temps get over 85*. So I learn something new all the time. But you just might have to play it by ear and try some differetn things. One of the best suggestions I can give you is to keep a journal. Write down all the particulars of happens during the season: from seed prep, amounts and types of soil ammendment, varieties, transplanting dates, weather conditions and temps, rain, harvest, pests/diseases and the remedy you tried, etc. Over time you will get an idea of what to expect when something happens. One of the more important things to keep track of is the watering schedule and amount. Other than soil quality, I think watering is the most important thing people must learn about if they want to have good tasting tomatoes. Sorry to say that so much of the process of tomato production is out of our hands. All we can do is provide five essential components: adequate sunlight, good soil, proper fertility, the right planting times, and proper watering. The rest is up to the plant. I heard a long-time tomato gardener say once that she always planted a variety of tomatoes in her garded every year. She said that sometimes, for who knows why, one particular variety might not do well, even when other tomatoes right next to them do great. There is no rhym or reason, the variety just does poorly that season. By plantig several varieties she has always had a good number of tomatoes every season. I think anyone who has been growing tomatoes has been in your situation. Tom

Hazel, here is a map of where it has escaped cultivation if you scroll down. https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=3035 It also has a map of states where it is a listed invasive and prohibited to plant by law. It is worst in the SE US, but I know that there are part of the Midwest where it has escaped from cultivation. In Cleveland I found volunteers, courtesy of the birds, and the nearest privet was 5 houses away, so it can spread in parts of the Midwest. Zone 4 is a bit borderline as far as hardiness, so may not be as much of an issue. IMO there are many far more interesting plants, however.