[From Jerry Parsons] In the 30 years which I have been in San Antonio as a horticulturist for Texas Cooperative Extension, this system of cooperative testing and local marketing has introduced productive hybrid tomatoes (Spring Giant, Big Set, Celebrity, Jack Pot, Bingo, Carnival, Whirlaway, Heatwave, SunMaster, Surefire and Merced Now, most of these tried-and-proven superior varieties are no longer available for home gardeners to enjoy. How and why could something like this happen? The short story is: There are only a few vegetable seed companies left in the world and they are eliminating the older, Texas-proven varieties in favor of new, "improved' hybrids. This elimination includes Merced, Heatwave , Surefire, SunMaster tomatoes and Green Comet broccoli. Remaining supplies will soon be depleted. Dr. Larry Stein and I, reworked the Extension Vegetable Recommendation list and sources after a long period of denial about the non-existence of Porter & Sons Seedmen in Stephenville, Texas, which used to be a major seed supplier for Texas gardeners. The Cooperative Extension Vegetable Recommendation list and sources can be found at: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/PLANTanswers/vegvar.html It has been removed from the market but next year (2010) I will be selling second generation seed of Merced at: http://plantanswers.com/parsons_preferred_seed.htm PARSONS PREFERRED SEED The seed available for sale and use in this listing is available ONLY from PLANTanswers.com and have been selected by Jerry Parsons, Texas A&M University System Professor and Extension Horticulturist-retired, for uniqueness of disease resistance, dependable yields, and quality fruit with special characteristics only found in this listing. Complete growing instructions are Seed of the Texas SuperStar tomato varieties (Merced and Surefire) have been discontinued so those seed will soon be eliminated from the market. SunMaster and Heatwave have also met similar fates. However, the most recent SuperStar tomato named 'Tomato444' can be found in the list as BHN444 and a new tomato named SunLeaper (available from Stoke's Seeds Ltd. http://www.stokeseeds.com/cgi-bin/StokesSeeds.storefront) is showing promise as per our demonstrations at: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/vegetables/2003falltomatotrials/index.html So, we recommend for tomatoes this spring that gardeners use Carnival, Celebrity, SunPride and/or Tomato444 for seed-you-can-find home garden tomatoes. If gardeners will look around the Internet, they may also be able to find seed of Amelia and SunLeaper which have also performed well for San Antonio gardeners. Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Answers

Hi Elaine, I guess you'd say we're sort of east central in Merced - a couple of blocks south of Bear Creek and east of G Street. I'm afraid that we've got that clay soil you describe. I've built raised beds (lasagna garden style over cardboard and lawn) filled with county compost - which I may need to amend some before planting. Once I get the soil worked out, I'm looking forward to growing some great veggies! We moved here from San Jose and I haven't figured out gardening in Merced yet, so I planted my seeds sort of early, hoping to get something going before the heat of summer shuts things down. I don't think I'll be planting anytime soon, but when I do transplant, the tomatoes should be pretty good size. Great to meet you online! Maybe you can give me some Merced-specific tips on things as the season progresses and we can get together one of these days! I called Home Depot today and the garden manager said that Bonnie Plants just sends them plants on their own schedule and HD doesn't have any control over what varieties are sent or when they'll be sent. They just arrive! I can live without growing Merced, but I think it would be fun. I did write Bonnie Plants to see if they were sending out any Merced this year or if they might have a few extra seeds to sell or give away. Not really expecting a reply but doesn't hurt to ask! Anne

Oh! How excited you must be! I used to teach a beginning quilting class and believe me, when you are learning something new, smaller class size is better. You should gain a lot of one-on-one attention which will be invaluable. Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions! You'd be surprised at the kinds of things people will ask in a class. Just know that your instructor does NOT expect you to know everything; that's why you are taking a class, right? To learn something (and perhaps many things) new? Even what seems like a stupid question to you is not stupid if it helps you to understand how to accomplish something or why it's done a certain way. I would also recommend you pay a little visit to the shop between now and your class. Explain that you just signed up for this class and you want to make sure you bring whatever is necessary. They may recommend you bring along some fabrics (or they may want to sell you more! Always a plus for the shop) to work with, and they should be able to give you some kind of handout that will assist you in packing just the right items to take with you. It's great that you've found a place to learn this skill. Good luck, have fun, and show us some progress!

Rosa, yes that is what we're making. I did a little homework last night. No paper and pencil were involved. I thought my machine came with a 1/4th inch foot,but it didn't. It came with the seam guide foot and walking foot but not 1/4th inch. The one from HSN comes with it, but I got mine from Amazon and it wasn't included. I looked in the book and it said for piecing to select piecing stitch 57 and the machine would set itself so that the needle was 1/4th in from the right edge of the presser foot. It also made the stitch much smaller... I usually use a 2mm stitch, but the programmed stitch was only 1.6mm! So glad I realized that before I started piecing last night. I spent about an hour sewing and now need to press seams and piece the pieced pieces together. It was a little stressful because I was trying to do it perfectly! Before sewing, I read the pattern and it was easy to understand. I wish she'd given us a chance to do that in class! I think if I were a teacher I would start by helping the students to set their machines up and having them read the pattern right off the bat. Then I'd go into a brief history of quilting and tell why I love it or how long I've done it for. I'd ask them what they are hoping to learn from the class and what their goals were. Then I'd explain the class objectives and basic quilting terms. Then talk a little about fabrics and colors and have them pic the materials. I'd probably bring in some brownies and punch or something too if it was a long class. I'm sure it's not easy to run a quilt shop and teach though so I don't want to pick her apart too much but I do think that there are better ways.