It is such a nice surprise to have you back to the blog. I discovered it last year a few months after I started my own first garden. I have read most of your archives - for the gardening info and because your blog is a very enjoyable read. Glad to know you'll be adding to it. :)

I enjoyed reading your insights on making Grandma's Apple Pie. I will have to try the recipe this weekend!!! :D I just love reading about 10 top anything and everything under the sun. Thank you for sharing and I am looking forward to reading your newest and most recent blogs on 10 top!!! - 10top

My daughter (7) and I enjoyed reading this post. I hope you start blogging again soon. I enjoy your entries. Hope you have been enjoying gardening - your grandfather I'm sure would be proud.

Came across your blog today & enjoy it :) I especially like this beautiful poem! Your tomato plants look amazingly healthy! Keep up the great work - look forward to following your blog.

We grew some last year in the back yard at my friends empty house. Best damn tomato I've had plain well with salt and pepper. See here in West Virginia the weather is not too bad in the summer. We had conssistant rain that year and they got huge. I do agree that they get too big for themsleves to hold up. I grew other tomatoes that year too but the Mr. Stripey was my favorite meaty tomato.

http://roostershamblin.wordpress.com/ would you please spend a few minutes and check out my blog. I am a farmer who has been raising over fifty breeds of chickens for forty years.

That's so weird..I haven't seen anything like it before..And the tomatoe is so red..I don't like tomatoes that much.

I potted even the littlest, sickliest looking ones (especially them). They are remarkably different even at this state.

That was so hilarious :D Most people do not like spiders in their homes. These spiders are not harmful though it is safe to give them freesom to roam and explore your cool house. :D Thank you. - Pinoy

Thank you for sharing such an interesting and informative article. - Pinoy

Thank you for sharing such an interesting and informative article. - Pinoy

There is something so wonderful and worryingly addictive about waking up in the morning and rushing to see if anything has grown taller.

Im still upset over this years chillie harvest...I got ONE

Posts like this really make me wonder if plants really do have personalities. I do enjoy reading though. I hope you get to grow a really big one!

I just stumbled on your blog while looking for pictures to identify what I thought must be a pumpkin. It is! I thought I'd lost all of them to blight this year.

I see this is from 2007, so am hoping Big Pumpkin came out for you that year. Our kids are watching our Big P - it's going to be a race to see if it ripens before it freezes. We're also rooting for the chickens to take care of the squash borers for us. So far the vine looks really healthy, but also a majority of male flowers and just one fruit.

good luck with harvest. Rene

Try using beer, as they love beer (think they might be alcoholics or something xD) The best way to exterminate them would be to have liquid bait, like beer or red wine... then put in a few drops of detergent or soap to break the surface tension and they will all sink to the bottom instantly and drown!

Also a good idea would be to have some kind of paper cone on top of a jar or a glass where the bait is to trap them inside if they decide not to go swimming... These flies are quite stupid and doesn't find their way out again if the hole is small enough.

Also one important thing, get rid of any food source for thees bastards, the best way would be to clean the whole house, as they can live on as little as one crumb. Also make sure to seal of the sink, because they lay 500 eggs / female ones a week in places like this, also you could poor boiling water into the sink as this will kill any fly babies :)

I am in the midst of growing one of these. I live in the puget sound area (Washington) and started them in topsyturvy facing south attached to wall of house. We have had record heat and this beast already has popped out several tomatoes, one the size of a softball. The fruit is less acidy than normal and they are super juicy and sweet. However they are freakish looking and get quite viney. I used veggie food and alfalfa meal for feeding and diluted milk. Also mine don't seem to be as yellow inside as other Mr Stripeys I've seen, so maybe mine are 2009 version of plant.

hello, just cruising by, could ur mystery plant be a hollyhock?

I really enjoyed your blog...thanks!

Happy gardening from North Idaho.

I find apple cider vinegar works great.

I live in the south of Spain and this looks like a wild malva plant to me. I think soon lovely mauve / pinkish flowers will appear!
Richelle