Tomato blossoms, seed collecting and snail vengance

I have blossoms finally on 2 of my tomato plants. Hopefully all goes well and they don't act silly and fall off or anything. but if i ever get any problems i can match it up with nice pictures here at the A&M website to try to remedy them.

i went ahead and mulched around them and took off the bottom few stems that were coming off the main shoot. it's said that all the stems beneath the first set of blooms should be removed, but i did the majority of them instead of all b/c it just seemed like the blossoms were so high up. they say doing so will promote a thicker basal stem to support heavy tomato growth.

I should also probably fertilize them sometime in the very near future. I looked up the N-P-K values and what is good for what and this is what i get out of it...
     N (nitrogen) is good for leafy growth
     P (phosphorus) is good for flower and fruit development
     K (potassium) is good for strong root development
so i'm thinking i'm gonna get something high in P and K value when i buy some new fertilizer. I think i'm gonna go granual or powder soluble feed as opposed to the slow release that i have now.

As for fertilizing the roses: I saw a guy that fertilizes in early spring with a "rose fertilizer" although he didn't give the values of it but just said that it's better to have a higher number in P and K values. Says to fertilize 3 times: first early spring, flowering time, then again in mid summer. Mg is supposed to encourage basal breaks (vigirous growth from the bottom of the stem) and can be found in Epsom salt that you can buy in drug stores. He applied both fertilizer and the salt (about 1/2 cup of each for a large bush) in the early spring and then mulched. Since i used that miracle grow garden soil i don't know if i should fertilize this time.

Collected some seeds from one of the columbine plants, a pink one. i was always worried about when to take seeds from a plant but this one was unmistakeable. the long, bean-like pods were already brown and lightly crispy and starting to split themselves. i simply rubbed them around a bit and they all fell delicatly into my hand. i read it's best to use a regular brown paper bag and store them in a dry, dark place, but i used an envelope instead and labeled it with the plant, color of bloom and date. Just one plant yielded what seems like a lot of seed! i wish i knew someone who would want some, as i'll have a bunch of access.



I found another culprit eating my plants today, well evidence of i should say. Snail shells. Those slimy little punks. I have a solution to them though...inebriation. I told my dad to bring me a beer on his way home from his friend's house. I don't see how snails like it, that stuff is disgusting to me. There will be slug and snail carcasses floating in barley and hops by tomorrow. drink up you slimy plant eating devils! : )