This is only my second winter and I honestly don't know what "normal" is for weather in Sarasota. Is anyone else (my husband helped me today and now his back hurts!) getting back spasms carrying pots in and out, rolling earth boxes into the garage and out again, and dragging quilts and clamps outside, back inside and all over again? My back problems began after the last freeze and I had a bit of a gardening temper tantrum tearing out stuff that was mush and putting in some things I had hanging around. I'm ready to plant only cold tolerant plants and give up gardening in Florida. The yard can look like my Cape Cod yard, minus the hydrangea. My neighbors feel the same way. Watch, next year we will have no freezes. Carol B.

Wow, don, I started mine the same weekend and mine aren't anywhere as big as yours though if those are 2" pots not 4" (I don't think I've seen 2" rounds, that's the same size as cells?) maybe not too far behind. Some of mine were really slow to germinate, I had some have 1st pair (or 2) of true leaves while others just starting to shed the seed coats. Only 67*F in my house though and I took them off heat when 1st ones in 6-pack started to emerge. Just potted up most to separate, still in 6-packs but 1 per cell now, have to find more or move to 4" pots (I guess I have some 3" or so tiny square pots) but need to put up more shelves and lights too, getting crowded with tomatoes I just started separating yesterday (seeded 2 weeks after peppers). I do have a dozen 6-packs filled with lettuce, spinach, kale I could wash out and use but I haven't been able to get those transplanted - expecting more rain tomorrow and snow/sleet tomorrow night, Tues - Thurs nights lows are supposed to be below freezing so won't get them out until weekend, they spent last few nights in garage, last night was 1st outside but lows were in the 50's so that wasn't hardening them off any. And I want to plant peas and potatoes but don't know how wet/cold the soil is going to be after tomorrow so have to wait for those too. Pity it's a holiday weekend so I can't spend all my time planting.

My husband was in michigan this week and that was one of the flights he thought about taking on thursday night. He flies a lot and it just hit close to home. Clarence is not far from where we live. We are a little more out in the country. Big sigh of relief. When the news came on at 10pm they announced at the end of the broadcast that a plane had crashed by the airport, but they didn't know anything yet. By the time the 11pm news came on, it was not until after the weather that their news crews made it to the neighborhood and they announced it was a commercial plane. WIVB broadcast without commercial break until I went to bed at 2am. When my husband called to say he was alright i was so grateful. (wipes tears and sniffles) Fran, Could i have the blanket flower, please? BTW, DS#3 watered my keyboard once, its still a little iffy. We set it in from of the blower on the woodstove for a week. Just FYI those of you sowing in the keys LOL! Thank all of you for the prayers. Families here are esp. close knit and things like this are difficult for anyone. Praying for your FIL, too Nichol. Fleethart

Morning all, Raybo, First off, congrats on all your press out there. You've really taken a simple design and "Mona Lisa'd" it!! Actually, the BER really wasn't that bad...maybe twenty tomatoes out of 400 or so. Will see if I can find the C-Tex for next year. And no, no fall garden. Tried it last year with dismal results. All done for this year. Hope you have a great season. Send some PICS!! Cheers! Hi Timmy, I really liked the Big Beef. Nice big tomatoes (10-12oz), perfectly formed, very good production, and no disease problems. They'll be my staple for next year. Hope all is well up North! Cheers! Johnny, You know...after further review I guess I really shouldn't be too disappointed with my results. The production of some varities wasn't what I hoped for but it was still fun trying new ones. Trial and error is how you find the types you like best. So now I know more than I did last year!! Cheers! Sprtsguy, Farkee, and Alley Cat, Thanks so much for your comments...much appreciated!!. I sure learn a lot on this site and it's fun to compare notes with others. I used hydrated lime which I picked up at a farm CO-OP. Next year I'll use Dolomitic lime which tends not to affect PH as much. As I told Raybo above, in hindsite, I really didn't have much of a BER problem after all. I think out of a total of 400 tomatoes or so, I only had to cull about 20 which had BER. Most of these were the Parks Whopper CR, same plants I had trouble with last year. However, I'll continue to grow them next year as they produce a perfectly shaped, tasty and large (10-12 oz) tomato. Their production is really good also...15-20 fruit per plant. It it were me, I'd continue to use the lime. The Black Cherry were good but others liked them better than I did. I was really disappointed with Opalka. Had heard so many great things about it but for me, production was very poor. The Kellogg's Breakfast was really a disappointment. Very bland, almost tasteless. Of course, one year's experience doesn't really mean much as the weather was really not normal this year down here. So...I don't mean to belittle any of these varieties, maybe they just don't do all that well where I live. Or...maybe I don't know what the hell I'm doing!!!! Cheers! Cheers all and happy growing...send PICS!! Bing