Got the first of my beefsteak tomatoes off the vine today. They came off the plants I staeted in mid Feb. got another 4 plants starting in cups to rotate in during the season. I'm eating two now and the other 3 are going on the dehydrator. Gardening for one is sooooo easy :>)

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 13, 2002

Answers

Oh Shut-Up! My seedlings just broke ground in the house. The grass is just beginning to grow and the lilacs are budding leaves.

-- Susan in MN (nanaboo@apulbunyan.net), May 13, 2002.

Come down south and I'll give you a 'mater :>) and you would like it here for a few days, we got a cold front settin' on us. 65 daytime , 45 night for the next few days :>)

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 13, 2002.

I can not believe you already have tomatoes ripe!!!! You have got to be feeding them a whole slurry of wonderful stuff. I would be jealous, but I know how hard you work at it. I did those Siberian ones one year and had tomatoes all winter inside. I pollinated them with a water color brush.....had cukes too. Must do that again!!!

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), May 13, 2002.

Susan...pssst...Hey Susan! Meet me in Illiois and we'll go down and mug Jay for some tomatoes - then we can sneak up the coast and trade part of 'em to Marcia for fresh clams!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), May 14, 2002.

Can you keep a secret? I cheat. I started my first ones in 5 gallon buckets wrapped in soil and paper , like a tree. They had blooms when I put em in the garden. :>)

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 14, 2002.

Polly good idea, I'll be there as quick as I can! Wouldn't that be fun though!!!? Just show up on his door step some day, wow what a shock!

I am dying for a fresh vine-ripened tomato that taste like the sunshine, ummmmmmmm!

Jay I'll trade you 40/65 for 20/50 anyday! Actually it is supposed to get up to 70 today, maybe! The Oreols came back on Sunday, roumer has it the hummers are here too! I cleaned my feeder and hung it out yesterday.

-- Susan in MN (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), May 14, 2002.

Jay, I have always yearned to have a green thumb. Most of my life one has eluded me but I've noticed in the past couple of years I'm beginning to grow "some" things. Must be hormonal. Or lack thereof.

The tomatoes in the bag is a neat idea. We had such a warm winter and it seemed so similar to last year when spring arrived early I planted my tomato plants very early this year. ( I didn't grow them - I bought them seeing as how nothing I plant grows. . . or grows a long stem, falls over and caput!) So far they've survived a slight freeze and I'm sure several frosts. I'm not sure why they've survived. :)

About the bags. Could you explain again in detail? I might try that next spring. Boy! Do I envy people who can grow stuff.

-- Granny Hen (Cluckin along@cs.com), May 14, 2002.

I read somewhere that if you brush the tops of your seedlings with your hand up to 10 times it keeps the plants from getting too leggy. So far so good. I used a fan though.

-- Cindy Johnson (johnson337@hotmail.com), May 14, 2002.

Think mine are too far gone for hand help. The "legs" are about 3" long, they only have two leaves and are lying down. Don't know if they are sleeping, or dying!

Seriously, this happens with all the seeds I try to start. Veggies, herb. Well, on second thought, I'm getting a little better. I do have two lemon balm plants coming along nicely, ( except one has black spots on the leaves).

It is much easier on my ego to just go to the nursery and buy those beautiful plants they started. ( I've even gone to the nursery, stood and watched them plant seeds and then copied the process precisely, and still. . . . nothing).

Once I get something transplanted, the only problems come from my ill- behaved flocks.

-- Granny Hen (cluckin along@cs.com), May 15, 2002.