My husband used to mow down the NOID salvia in the backyard everytime he mowed. I had to train him not to mow over it, especially when it was blooming! Believe it or not, the plant survived the occasional mowings and even flourished.

Yeah those guys sure do like their riding mowers! And some things do better with cutting, making them bigger and fuller! I checked into it and read that the peony will survive occasional cutting, which was a relief!

Other peony facts:
Peonies prefer to grow solo and are not fond of being moved so, it is best to plant them where you want them to grow. There are many references that the peony needs the Ant to flower, but this is apparently a myth.

I bet your husband got a sore ear for hitting that Peony! So hopefully it wont happen again! They are looking great though Christine regardless of the bronken leaf. I don't think I have ever seen a single red one before so please show it when they bloom! Sorry for forgetting who said it but on another thread someone said they planted Tansy with their Peonies to keep the ants away and their Peonies bloomed fine.

I don't know how to post pictures from my digital camera online and no one to teach me. I don't why I even have a digital camera. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Zabrina Althea is varied here because of the bees. Basically tho the bloom is like a very small hollyhock and is striped shades of lavender and white. The blooms are all up and down the stem all season. I'll try to remember to save seeds this year & can send them out in the fall.

I put close mesh wire rings around my smallest plants and white metal or fiberglass electric fence posts by the larger ones.

GOD bless and keep each of you. BBL

Leaflady, do you know how to transfer your pics from your camera to your computer? If so, that's all you need to post them here. We can walk you through it if you'd like.

what Stephanie said!

Also, thank you for the good ideas about protecting the plants...I was just thinking about how to keep the dogs out of the garden! They don't seem to care about walking around stuff!! Electric fence sounds good about now! Like Pavlov's dogs, it wouldn't take too long for them to learn!

My favorite heirloom plants are 'Brandywine' tomatoes. Huge growers, and oh, so yummy!

Oh Chelle, that is a beauty!!!

I love the heirloom tomatoes too.

This one's called Amana Orange.... I wish they would ripen already! !

Ooh! I haven't tried that one yet! It looks like they get pretty big too.
Are they in any way similar to the Brandywines? (I'm kinda hooked on those big boys , although I'm open to try another great tomato.)

We've had about a half dozen ripe ones so far.....I'm hoping the rest hold off for a week or so til we get back from New York.

Have you had any fresh tomatoes at all yet? We have some cherry tomatoes that volunteer in one of the flower beds every year and some of those are ripening....and very sweet!

My son could live on our tomatoes I think! Tomatoes, cucumbers and broccoli are my 4 year-old's favorite foods! Can ya tell he's a garden kid?

I think the Amana is considered a beefsteak tomato since it's so large?? This is my first year growing it, so I will let you know how the flavor is and save seeds if it's a good one!

Yes, we've been eating the yummy Stupice that have been fruiting quite a bit and a small one called White Currant that we have every year ~ it's small but full of flavor & produces well... love that one!! Have you tried it? It's tangy on the inside and the skin is sweet, great poppers!

It sounds like your son is learning what good food is! That's great!

My forays into good tomato trials are about what you've seen here.
It wasn't long ago, (2 years) that I tried my first tomatoes from seed. Before that I just bought plants off the rack. I'm not so fond of those anymore, although I had a good roma then whose seeds must still be germinating since I have volunteer romas again this year. Somehow I got lucky and have volunteers, (I kept the right ones ) of cherries and romas. I have no idea what cultivar they are any longer.

How do you know when your saved seed is ready, (dry enough (?) to store for the winter? I pulled some last year with the thought of saving some, but they looked like they would be difficult to dry properly so I just bought more from the seed supplier.

When saving tomato seeds, after scooping them out and letting them sit for about a week in their own juices, I will rinse them and put them on either a paper plate or towel to dry on the sink or wherever. That usually takes about another week but sometimes I just forget them for a couple of weeks and they are stuck to the plate/towel... sometimes, if they still feel slightly moist, I'll just toss them around and leave them for a couple more days. I can tell if they are dry when I toss them - they are light and sound like flakes when they hit the paper plate. Then I put them in a paper envelope ... that way if there is a slight bit more moisture, it won't mold. It's always worked. and then I label them so I'll know what's in there for next year or trading! I've stuck seeds in envelopes before thinking, "Oh I'll remember," oh no I won't especially these days when I'm saving various kinds!

I have a forum here somewhere about seed saving.... I guess I haven't included tomatoes. I'm gonna add that thanks for asking!!!

Thank you for the hints and tips! I'll likely save some this year since I have a clue now! I usually scoop out most of the seeds if I'm canning salsa. I'll have to see how many fruits I'm going to have before I can decide if this will be a salsa year or not. So far....probably not, but Mother Nature might surprise me with some rain and cooler temps to allow more fruits to set. Ya never know.

Oh that would be nice, I'm hoping too!

When removing the seeds for canning is a perfect time to save your seeds!!

Here Chelle, this website for wintersowing is where much of my heirloom tomato adventure began. Check out this, with seed
http://www.wintersown.org/wseo...

Just follow the "Next clean scene" for some step by step instructions. I always use the fermentation method, but much of the rest of the instructions are the same.

They also have free seeds that you can order from a large list of heirloom varieties:
http://www.wintersown.org/wseo...

Let me know what you think. I'll get my info together for fermenting seeds, it's much the same except after squeezing the seeds from your tomato, you just let them sit and ferment for a couple of weeks, then rinse and all the rest.

*Edited today so that the links work again.

Oh cool! Thanks Christine!

I'll take a look at those soonest.

We're all packed up and driving out in the early am. Hope to have connection there, but I'm not sure since we'll be in the mountains.

This is what I feel like after packing up what seems like half the house!

Talk to ya again soon!

Hope you are having a great time on you vacation! The mountains sound like a nice place to be... probably cooler up there!

One of my 'Black Cherry' tomatoes is almost ripe, the only thing is that it is only the size of a cherry! But more are on the way.

Here is 'Cupani's' Sweet Pea. It just keeps flowering through all the humid and hot weather we've been having. Smells nice too.

The Cupani sweet pea is so beautiful... I love the colors!!

And "Yay" on the cherry tomato...I doubt it will even make it to the table being just ONE little ol' cherry sized

This year I'm growing some heirloom sunflowers called 'Velvet Queen' and they are just now starting to open. I thought they were supposed to be red but I guess the colors can vary because so far they are yellow.



A smaller one has a little red running through it, as if it had been colored with a paintbrush.

Thanks Christine, the sweet peas smell wonderful too! These ones remind me of green tea, maybe that sounds odd but it really is a nice fragrance. Not really strong and perfumy like some other ones.

The black cherry did make it inside, I felt like I should share it since it was the first tomato of the season and there probably won't be too many this year So I sliced it down the middle and shared the other half and It was delicous!!! That one little cherry is enough to make me try it again next summer! Hopefully there will be some good late season production.

I'm really liking your sunnies! I always thought 'velvet queen' was red too so maybe it got crossed with something else? It and the orange one are both really pretty!

Heres a picture of the 'Japanese Black Trifel' you sent! It has a really good crop coming!

Now I'm sorry I didn't grow those this year! But I had some new ones to try so maybe again next year! If I remember right, the JBT's have a nice tangy flavor. I can't find a pic but when they're ripe, they go from a green at the top to a brick color on the bottom...

The scent of your sweet peas sound very nice! and the colors are so 'Victorian' I think!

Yeah, I think you're right, it looks like my sunnies did get crossed