Tomatoes are the favorite vegetable for home growing. Over the past years, commercial growers have produced tomato varieties that valued shelf-life and unblemished prettiness over taste--and the result has been an almost tasteless tomato at your local stores. You can put taste back on top of the list by growing your own.

• Height and bushiness of the plant are important, particularly for gardeners growing tomatoes in small spaces. Check to see if the variety you select is "determinate" (bush type--produces all at once--best for small spaces) or "indeterminate" (vine type--produces throughout the season and grows in all directions).
• Consider taste, size, shape, color, mildness, (acidity or non-acidity), disease resistance, and cracking resistance.
• Your intended use for the tomato may dictate your selection. For instance, if you want to use your tomato crop for preserving or for making tomato paste, you'll want to select a variety that has a strong tomato flavor and lasts a long time in the refrigerator.
• Depending on when you plant, you may be concerned about the "days to maturity" (the time it takes a transplant to bear ripe fruit.)
• Finally, consider selecting a few unique tomato plants, that you haven't tried before or a novelty variety no one else in the neighborhood grows.

• Choose a spot in full sun, and prepare the soil by digging it deeply with a spade and mixing in a good planting mix.
• Add a good vegetable fertilizer.
• Plant transplants deeply. If they're leggy snip off the lower leaves, make a little trench with the trowel, lay the plant in sideways, and bend the stem up gently. Roots will form all along the buried stem.
• Choose a staking system (such as a tomato cage or trellis).
• Water deeply and continue to irrigate so the soil stays evenly moist.

Grow your own tomatoes! Your taste buds will thank you!

Steamed sponge for dinner? Sounds crazy? We're talking about Luffa cylindrica, an exotic plant that's been around for over a thousand years. It's also known as a dishcloth or rag gourd, and sometimes called Chinese okra (the spelling also varies — luffa, loofa, loufa, or loofah). In varying shades of tan, round and about a foot long, looks like—and works like—a sponge, only it beats any of the synthetics for scrubbing, whether scrubbing dishes, your car, or people. It seems to have just the right texture, leaving skin with a nice clean, tingly feeling.

Luffa plants are less hardy than cucumbers or squash and should not be planted until you are sure there will be no more frost. To gain time, you can soak the small, flat black seeds overnight, then plant two or three in individual 3" or 4" pots. Keep them in a protected place. As soon as they germinate, get them into the light and keep them well-watered. When they have grown to about two inches, thin to the most sturdy-looking plants.

When seedlings are about three inches or so high, you can transplant. Water thoroughly the night before, and plant on a cloudy day or in the evening. Shade them from the sun for a couple of days — don't let them dry out. Like cucumbers, they like a light soil, well supplied with humus and nitrogen.

Plant about a foot apart. Luffa is a vine, growing to 15 feet or more, and needs a trellis or fence or enough space to wander in. It's a pretty plant with lemon-yellow flowers followed by light-green fruits looking something like zucchini. They are edible only when immature, so if you want to try them for eating, pick young ones. Cook them as you would zucchini. Keep the ones you intend to use for sponges off the ground with boards, a trellis, or something else that will keep them dry.

When the stem turns yellow, it's time to harvest the sponges. Dry them for a couple of weeks until the skin hardens and turns brown. Pick off the big end and you can shake out the seeds — like those of a watermelon. Soak the sponges in water overnight and the outer skin will peel off without much trouble. Let them stand in the sun to dry.

Spireas are some of the easiest flowering shrubs to grow in the garden. Once established, they require very little care and reward gardeners with an abundance of showy blooms from early spring through the end of summer. You know that spring has truly arrived once spireas put on their dazzling display of blooms.

There are two distinct kinds of spireas: the bridal wreath type, with clusters of white flowers on arching branches in spring, and the shrubby, mounding, much lower-growing type, which has pink, red or white flowers clustered at the end of upright branches from late spring to fall.

These deciduous plants thrive in full sun locations and also perform well in part shade. The only maintenance needed is a light pruning after their initial bloom cycle is completed, and in early spring before they leaf out to remove any of the previous year's old flowers.

Stop by and see these beautiful shrubs in all of their dazzling color. They're waiting for you to take them home today!

Should I fertilize shrubs before or after rain?

Answer:
That depends on whether the ground is wet before it rains. Fertilizer should never be applied to dry ground or dry plants. Chemical fertilizers can burn plants when the ground is dry, because the salts that are a by-product of the fertilizer will reach the plant cells before the water can replenish them.

Most organic plant foods need moist soil to break down and allow the beneficial microbes in them to proliferate. If the ground is already moist and you know a measurable amount of rain (at least 1/2") is coming, then apply your fertilizer before. If the ground is dry, allow the rain to replenish the soil with moisture and then apply your fertilizer. After you fertilize, make sure to water the fertilizer in so it percolates into the soil.