Dear Peter, as ever I bow to greater wisdom and knowledge. Norm

Lynda with a Y, Let me add my congratulations to those of the others! Also, my offer of help in any area where I can be of service. Pressed for time as I'm trying to get ready for vacation starting tomorrow, negotiate the sale of a listing, and start a new buyer who just happened to pop up last night... BUT, I do have to say this. I can tell you from vast experience that it's a rare person who can juggle too many things at once without crashing and burning. I second the advice of the others who have given it--concentrate on one thing at a time and add the others after the first is stabilized. I'd set down a priority list in writing if I were you. In my experience, the ideas that are the most fun involve developing things, followed by implementation, and last are the day to day work involved in bringing in money. It's a bummer, but you have to do the money thing first, lol. Good luck with your new job. When I come back, hope to see this thread still going strong and both Lynda and Art out of the woods. Cheri PS Someone get Martha over here for the tomato discussion, she really helped with mine. And Jennifer, you can always post a new thread with your blogging questions. Linda's usually fine with inviting people to a thread through this forum. As long as it isn't an ad, lol.

Gee! Looks like I've been missing out on a lot here! Congats Lynda with a Y....Hope all works out well with the new job. Make sure to find your way back here though!

Hey, I'm here reading this very interesting thread. Lynda, congratulations on the job. I see Ken has given you some advice to get your tomatoes off to a good start but when exactly do things go bad for the plants? It sounded as if your plants had been growing and then started on a downhill trend. One thing Ken suggested is something I don't use. I prefer the organic route. Bat guano, Seaweed sprays, cow manure. With you being in Texas you would have a different climate than we have so I guess you have to worry about too much sun. My brother in law lives near Houston and he has to get his tomatoes in really early before it gets too hot. We don't have that problem here in PA. Martha

One thing I will add from the get go, that it's probably cheaper to just buy them from the grocery store, however, on the other hand, it sure is luxurious to eat your own produce grown in the conditions and environment that you know is not full of herbicides, pesticides and chemicals that you can't pronounce. When I get focused on my patio garden, the tomatoe seedlings will be buried in a 1 part peat moss, 1 part sand and 1 part potting soil approximately up to atleast the the first leaf. The fertilizer is AGgrand, a liquid organic concentrate which you can see in www.gastown.com/altruenergy The soil must never allowed to go dry and I keep the water off the plant as much as possible to prevent stem rot. Shade is good to keep the strong sun off them until they're climatized. There's a life lesson in growing tomatoes. Good luck.