frankrichards16 said: I already wrote several checks dated 2924. No need to worry about cashing them before 328,590 days:)

I'd be happy to just time travel a few months ahead - to spring!

No, no! I can't time travel ahead to spring yet - my tomato seeds are not yet planted, so I don't have seedlings ready to go in the ground! For me, the first day of spring is when I put the seedlings in the ground. Actually, I still need a bit of winter time to regroup my world and get ready for the flurry of spring activity.

Lori, in my time-travel world all that stuff would have gotten taken care of...somehow

I want to live in Sandy's time-travel world!

Since I have to start seeds mid-February, that means NOW is the time to start deciding WHICH and HOW MANY seeds to start. (groan)

Gotta allow time for changing plans at least twice! (Then I ALWAYS change my gardening plans again at Transplant Time! )

I picked two of these gorgeous 'Lemon Boy' this morning. The plant is now over 2ft. up above the protective cage, so it looks like I can't starve the rats any more . . .

The 'Brad's Atomic Grape' are making some pretty little fruits but again it has overwhelmed the cage so I'll not be getting that many more fruits without the rodents doing a lot of damage.

Clusters of huge fruit on 'Chef's Choice Bi-color' but the plant is declining rapidly from some blight or other, unfortunately. Just hoping the few healthy leaves it has left will get these nice maters to ripen a bit, at least. I'm going to have to learn to make fried green tomatoes, I guess.

A nice little bonus tomato that has survived, so far - Thorburn's Terra Cotta seeded itself in a half barrel and has made a couple of fruits despite the lack of sun.

Gorgeous, Elaine!
Who can stick with a plan? Not me I nurture a few extras to make sure I have enough, then can't trash the overflow

I'm going to spend today getting my seed orders ready - looking through the catalogs and websites is so dangerous, even though I have a "plan" for what I want (and have room) to grow, I come across so many things that are just too tempting! Tomatoes may be the worst "problem" - even with canning a lot of salsa, freezing sauce, and whatever else, I really don't "need" more than a dozen plants; but, of course, one must grow extras "in case of a crop failure," and you do have to try new ones to find that special "new favorite."

Yep, I'm taking cuttings off some of my poor imprisoned plants, "just in case" they get blighted by some horrid disease. No idea what I'll do with the extra plants, but they're all in the hoop house keeping warm in my watering can. Then when they root, what next?

I already have 12 plants on the go, but thankfully the cooler weather has slowed them down a bit. What happens when it warms up, though?? Argh..

I stumbled across the tomato seed swap, which said you had to be an active member of the tomato thread, which led me to here. Considering my obsession with tomatoes, I figure I might as well jump in. I found a tomato forum a couple years ago and did their swaps, which resulted in my having about 400 varieties. So this year I'm thinning the seed boxes and have plans to start all seeds that are pre-2020, so I have a list of about 50 varieties to start. Unfortunate because I only have space for twelve plants...maybe 15...unless I do some micros, which will allow about 20...

@okieheart did you get in touch with @critterologist for the invite to swap?

good luck everyone for 2024..

kittriana said: @okieheart did you get in touch with @critterologist for the invite to swap?

No, much as I love swapping I need to thin the collection this year. Maybe I'll join next year and restock.

okieheart said: No, much as I love swapping I need to thin the collection this year. Maybe I'll join next year and restock.

Since the swap is set to start tomorrow @7PM EST, you'd probably be hard pressed to try to get your collection thinned and list all varieties to swap.


This is to be my first swap, so I wonder if it's possible for you to see what all is/was being swapped???

I added okieheart & booterz to the swap invite list. Hitting the join button doesn't obligate them to partiicipate, but it will let them "lurk" if they're interested.

It's possible to continue adding to the list of seeds being swapped as the swap goes along. I will be doing that, myself!

It's also possible to "join" the swap after 8 pm EST tomorrow, as I enabled the "allow latecomers" feature.

That would help me if I was actually literate in programming, or keyboards, but I knew you would know what to do, thanx, chuckl. The 'swappin' is actually almost beyond my tattered brain logistics, I lose continuity too fast, chuckl

Any time you click on the swap, you'll see (at the top) how many tickets you have to spend (1 ticket = 1 "dib" or 1 packet to claim).

Also look at the links at the top of the page under "Your Profile" and under "The Swap." If you need a quick refresher, watch Dave's tutorial again.

By clicking on our swap and then clicking on "access the full tradelist for the swap," you can see everything that people have listed so far. You can also put things on your "wish list" by clicking on the stars.

Your wish list items WILL NOT BE automatically "dibbed" for you or anything, it's just a way for YOU to keep track of your most wanted items, so you know what to try to call dibs on first. After the first few days, that won't be such an issue, as you'll have more and more tickets to spend each day.

dyzzypyxxy said: I picked two of these gorgeous 'Lemon Boy' this morning. The plant is now over 2ft. up above the protective cage, so it looks like I can't starve the rats any more . . .

The 'Brad's Atomic Grape' are making some pretty little fruits but again it has overwhelmed the cage so I'll not be getting that many more fruits without the rodents doing a lot of damage.

Clusters of huge fruit on 'Chef's Choice Bi-color' but the plant is declining rapidly from some blight or other, unfortunately. Just hoping the few healthy leaves it has left will get these nice maters to ripen a bit, at least. I'm going to have to learn to make fried green tomatoes, I guess.

A nice little bonus tomato that has survived, so far - Thorburn's Terra Cotta seeded itself in a half barrel and has made a couple of fruits despite the lack of sun.

Beautiful and yummy!!

Yep, apparently the cardinal thinks so, too. I saw him on the plant this morning, and went out to find a nice neat hole pecked in the Thorburn's Terra Cotta tomato - right through the wire cage!

Anyway, the Lemon Boys are absolutely delicious despite the lack of sun and I had one for dinner last night, and one on my sandwich for lunch today, too.

It's been pretty sunny and warmer today, so I have hopes of a few more to harvest but it's supposed to rain and be stormy all day tomorrow. Darned El Nino sending all this crazy weather to us.

Another bird peck on one of my Chef's Choice Bicolor fruits.

grrr about the bird pecks! I've had some success saving newly pecked or bitten tomatoes, especially if they are starting to turn color... I bring them inside, and I cover the injury with a piece of paper tape or painter's tape so fruit flies cannot get in to lay eggs. If I don't do that, any break in the skin almost inevitably leads to rot.