Question: Alan, I know you grow a lot of varieties of tomatoes. I don't think the newer varieties of tomatoes have as good a flavor as the ones we used to grow years ago. Which tomato do you recommend as having the best flavor?

Answer:  I am not sure that everyone agrees on the definition of "best flavor." Some folks like acid tomatoes and others like sweet tomatoes. However, the large fruited tomato that usually wins taste tests is Brandywine. In my experience, the sweetest tomato of all is the yellow cherry tomato Sun Sugar.

Question: We have an area in our lawn where the soil is really poor and only clover wants to grow. I have planted grass many times and it always dies out. Can I just use clover in that part of the lawn?

Answer: Clover is a legume that fixes nitrogen from the air. In effect, it makes its own fertilizer and it will grow really well in poor soil. "In the olden days", white flowered Dutch clover seed was mixed with grass seed. Now, most people object to the white flowers on the clover and they tend to kill it with the modern lawn weed killers that also kill clover. The negatives of clover as a lawn are the white flowers, the fact that you can't keep it confined and the fact that it almost totally disappears for the winter. This means that in heavily trafficked, moist situations the lawn can become a muddy mess when the soil is unfrozen in early spring.

Question: Our strawberries are about to ripen and every year the birds decimate them. What do you suggest as the best way to keep the birds away?

Answer: I suggest covering them with fine netting held down securely by a row of bricks. In my experience, if you leave even a small opening the birds will get underneath. You can also attempt to frighten the birds away with something shiny that swings back and forth in the breeze. We used to use aluminum pie plates, but Mylar tape or silver CD's hung from strings also work well. I have had some success with plastic predatory birds such as owls. The ones that move seem to work the best, although you can move the stationary birds around on a daily basis to achieve the same effect.

Question: I have had a weeping crabapple tree in a planter for about 4-5 years. It probably could use root pruning, which I didn't do this year, and so is not looking very good. I am wondering if I can transplant it now (late May) into my garden. I would like to put a smoke bush into the planter but am not sure
if it would thrive in a planter. The box is about 3x3x4 feet high.