JumboJimmy, my Heritage does not have an upright, bushy form either. It has nicely arching canes, and they are balanced all the way around the plant. I would call it an "open" plant, rather than a "bushy" plant. I'm growing mine against a fence, and its growth habit has been very easy to train in that spot. Carla, this year I was taking a break from rooting, but I thought what the heck, I'll just stick a few 'Heritage' cuttings in the ground and leave them alone ... it they root good, if not okay too. To my surprise, they are rooting. It has to be this weird, constantly wet weather we're having this year. Pam, we are on track to have the wettest June on record this year. It's raining out there right now. Randy

Thanks again Tara, the swap is always something I look forward to. Your gardens were gorgeous. I hope you can create something just as wonderful at the new house. I was adventurous and decided to take the back roads home, only to learn the Wruck Road bridge was out when I prepared to turn. Oops. I bravely went one more road, finally learned to keep my internal compass straight, and made it home without directions, map, or a single wrong turn. Definitely a miracle, considering I'd never heard of most of those roads, let alone been on them. None of them ever hooked up to my old route, but it was just as fast. Once home, I scurried to plant as much as I could before the rain... and failed. At 5 we got really, really, really hard rain. A true soaker. I waited it out and eventually ducked back out when it stopped or was misty. In the end, I got everything planted except for two lupine, a salvia, a few dahlias and four tomatoes. Not bad. And I certainly didn't have to water. Thanks everyone for a great time and some super plants. I ended up with lots of nice bearded iris, a candy lily, a blackberry lily, a salvia, two lupine, four tomatoes of different varieties, a few dahlias, solomon's seal, wood hyacinth,corydalis, and pre-trade agastache, siberian iris, japanese iris, japanese primrose, and bearded iris.

Thank you so much everyone! Chris: My tomatoes usually stay in them but before this year my tomatoes truly were horrible. Last yearr out of 16 plants i got a grand total of 5 tomatoes. Yeah, that bad. I am not expecting them to stay in the cages though. As far as bug control, nothing at this point other than hand killing :) The flea beetles aren't out of control at this point so I'm not going to fret about them yet. I only know they are there based on minor damage and the fact that I actually seen them. I need to go out one night and look for my culprit. I think some hot pepper mix or BT is in my future. Tuamor1628 and simmran1: Thank you for the nice comments and suggestions! KCKook: Thank you! Yeah, my 'maters are a little close, but at the same time I was going into this season with very low expectations based on last year. My plants (indet) topped out at MAYBE 4-5 ft and were very pathetic and I gave them lots of room. This year I planted closer with the new beds (the beds are brand new for this yr) figuring I will prune if I need to. As far as the cages, based on what I've read, everyone agrees with you :) I pretty much figured I would eventually have to stake them as well with the wooden stakes you see for the tomatoes without cages. I figured it would help them stay contained at least somewhat lol. The tomatoes in the first half of the first bed (pic 2) ended up WAY closer than I intended. But most of the others are about 2 ft apart lengthwise and 18-24" diagonally. Like I said, I will learn to prune if I need to and I think I probably will as they are growing like weeds now. It is incredible compared to last yr. This is more of an experimental year for me than anything. Learning what works, what doesn't and IF raised beds really do make a difference where I live and so far the answer is yes :) Oh, and starting your own seeds can make an impact to. Out of all the plants above only 1 tomato, 4 peppers and 2 eggplants are store bought. Everything else is from seed, which was a whole new world for me as well!

We are on a well and we have a Grohe Relexa Five with the head tilted from the arm on the wall. It's working really well for us - no garden hose effect. No problem rinsing hair. Of course, we don't have as much water pressure as someone with city water.