During these difficult fiscal times, we can choose to throw our hands up in despair, or we can embrace the creativity, imagination, and determination of our predecessors who came together in adversity, and in so doing, made this country the great land that it is. During wartimes and depressions, Americans re-assessed their priorities and realized that so much of what makes life easier, also strips it of the very qualities that make it worth living.

Victory gardens are not a new concept, but have come back into favor as grocery store prices have skyrocketed. Ironically, the food that we grow in our own backyards has a richer, fuller flavor, with aromas that have been bred out of the pre-dried, pre-packaged foods to which so many of us have turned. This is particularly true of fruits and vegetables; tomatoes have been hybridized to make them symmetrical and red, with a long shelf life, and a durability to survive the rigors of automated harvesting and long-distance shipping.

But heirlooms, or heritage tomatoes, have become increasingly popular and available. Prized for their outstanding flavor, their unusual shapes and vast range of colors add to the plate as well as the palate. They range in color from purple to orange, green, white and even black, and many are every bit as hardy as hybrid varieties.

By definition, an heirloom tomato's seeds can be traced back at least a century, and reproduce through an open, or natural, pollination process. You may choose to grow your heirlooms from seed, but a quick visit to your garden center will probably yield starter plants such as the popular Brandywine tomato, or other varieties that are local favorites. Pick out healthy looking plants with no yellowing or speckling on the leaves. Check the tag, looking for a string of letters; these denote resistance to the following diseases:

• A--Alternaria leaf spot
• F--Fusarium wilt
• FF--Race 1 and Race 2 Fusarium
• L--Septoria leaf spot
• N--Nematodes
• T--Tobacco mosaic virus (never smoke around your tomatoes!!)
• V--Verticilium wilt.

Thus, a tag with the code of FFLT means that the plant is resistant to both common strains of fusarium wilt, septoria leaf spot, and tobacco mosaic virus.

There are two different types of tomato growth types, determinate and indeterminate. Which you go with will depend on where you plan to grow them (they love the sun!) and how much room you have. Determinates are compact and bushy, tend to be early growers, and are best suited for small gardens and container gardens. Indeterminates are vinier and will need support. They tend to fruit up later, so why not plant both for a constant supply?

Plant tomatoes approximately 2 to 3 feet apart from each other or in rows 3 feet apart with the plants spaced at a foot. You may plant when the temperature is a consistent 50 degrees F, but the plants won't begin to set fruit until the overnight low is regularly above 55 degrees F. Use soil amendment, and add water evenly for best results.

When your plants begin to need staking, consider twig or bamboo tripods, or trellising; your garden will not only prove delicious tasting, it will also look good!

Spring is around the corner. The cool season grasses such as fescue, ryegrass, and bluegrass are those lawns over which people have exclaimed, "You look marvelous!" (Can't you just hear Billy Crystal?) They have been bright green all winter. They are still growing fast; mow them weekly with a rotary mower (to 1 1/2 inches in height).

You should be feeding all established lawns now with a complete lawn fertilizer--containing phosphorus and potassium as well as nitrogen--to get warm-season grasses off to a good start and keep cool-season grasses going longer. A healthy, well-fed lawn is better able to withstand pests and diseases and choke out weeds

Warm-season grasses, such as Bermuda, dichondra, and zoysia, are waking up from winter dormancy. As they start growing, begin mowing weekly with a reel mower to the correct height for each. Mow common Bermuda to 1 inch, hybrid Bermuda to 1/2 or 1/4 inch, St. Augustine to between 3/4 and 1 1/4 inches, and zoysia to 3/4 to 1 inch height.

We have mentioned two different kinds of lawn mowers: rotary and reel. A rotary mower is one in which one blade spins horizontally and uses a sucking and tearing action to cut the blades of grass. A reel mower is one in which the blades spin vertically and use a scissoring action to cut the blades of grass.

You notice that we recommend fertilizing with a complete fertilizer (we recommend Dr. Earth Super Natural Lawn Food for most lawns). While nitrogen gives your lawn top growth and a healthy green color you can see, phosphorus and potassium feed the roots and growth systems of the plant that are unseen but just as important. Phosphorus and potassium are longer lasting in soil than nitrogen, so one feeding a season with them is often adequate. After this complete feeding, you can switch to a less expensive, pure nitrogen fertilizer if desired, and feed warm-season grasses with it once a month for the rest of the growing season.

Before applying your complete fertilizer, be sure to read the instructions for your lawn type. Apply fertilizer when the ground is damp and grass blades dry, and follow up by watering deeply. Otherwise, you risk burning your lawn. As an alternative fertilizer for the cool season lawn, add coated slow-release fertilizer. Cool-season grasses need little or no fertilizer during the warmer months of the year. Slow release fertilizer will work perfectly for this type of lawn.

Irrigate all lawns now, according to their individual needs, if rains have not been adequate.

Both warm- and cool-season grasses may be bought as sod, and cool-season grasses can be planted from sod any month year-round. Although you can plant both warm- and cool-season grasses from seed this month, fall is actually a better time to plant cool-season grass seed. This is because fall planting gives cool-season grasses planted from seed more time to establish a root system before summer heat arrives. When planting warm-season grasses, wait until the weather has warmed up in your area. (If you plan to plant zoysia, it's best to wait until June.)

There are numerous lawn types and you should investigate each of them before choosing and planting one. How do you choose which grass is right for you? There are many considerations: sun, shade, foot traffic, pets, children, hardiness, style, color, and simply the "look" that you like.

When planting a new lawn, regardless of the type of grass and method of planting you choose, be sure to prepare the site thoroughly. If you're planting an invasive grass, such as Bermuda or an invasive variety of zoysia, first install edging to keep it from creeping into borders.

For all lawns, roto-till deeply, add plenty of soil amendment (we recommend using Paydirt), then level and roll this amended ground. "Level" might mean rolling the area completely flat or it may mean compacting the soil but adding mounded areas of interest. The point is to level out soil so that your new lawn is not filled with hundreds of hills and valleys that would make walking on it (and mowing it) difficult.

If you have chosen to put in a seed lawn, sprinkle seeds evenly. This is most efficiently done using a hand-held fertilizer spreader or a seed spreader and covering the seeds with mulch or a lawn topper product.

Apply a starter fertilizer (we recommend Master Nursery Master Start) before laying down your sod or seed. Keep your freshly planted lawn damp until established. Sprinkle it two or three times daily, and avoid watering late in the day.

Just water and watch. In a few months--voilà--your new lawn!

Is rainwater really better than faucet water for my plants?

Answer:

Yes.

Many municipal water systems put chlorine and other chemicals in the water. Chlorine is bad for soil bacteria, not to mention our air. Rainwater is oxygenated, un-chlorinated and warmer than tap water, qualities that make it a better source for plants and safer for the environment. Cold tap water can also "shock" your plants.

There is a growing movement to conserve water by collecting rainwater in plastic barrels. The water collected this way is better for plants, plus you don't have to pay for it. It also reduces energy consumption--every 1,000 gallons of tap water requires about one kilowatt hour of energy to be treated and pumped. Reducing such water use also slows the need to expand municipal water treatment and sewage plants.

If you decide to use a rain barrel, make sure it's childproof. To be safe for kids (and inquisitive animals), it should have a secure lid that can't be opened easily. You don't want anyone using your rain barrel as a swimming pool!

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