I've been starting seeds this season in the Bio Domes -- all three sizes. Robust plants seem to do okay in the sponges, but I've had troubles with seedlings that have fragile root systems. They germinate very quickly and then just sit there with two or four leaves. One reason I bought the Bio Domes was that Park described them as a Dutch product, and I know that the Dutch are very enthusiastic gardeners. So, after being disappointed in the sponges, I started prowling around some Dutch websites, looking for any reviews of these systems. There was quite a lot about the trays and the covers, but nothing at all about the floating inserts and the sponges. The search terms are Kweekbak or Kweekbakje. The manufacturer is Nortène. The illustrations show an insert with cells for seed-starting media, with a capillary mat underneath, or just simply a bunch of Jiffy Pots or seed blocks. I didn't search deeply enough to find out whether the floating inserts and sponges were used there in the past versus being a Park innovation. I also tried some British websites and one French one. The British sites do have a system with sponges, but they look different from the ones Park sells. The trays and covers are very well-made and easy to use, and the floating inserts seem like such a good way to keep a consistent water level, but I probably won't buy more sponges. I'll try to make the inserts work with regular seed-starting media, or just use the trays and covers with plastic or bio-degradable pots.

Hi Jo! So sorry I didn't see this. I was vacationing in Florida...traumatic, I know. Sod is in, bed is built and mulched, and I'm ready to plant! I know the timing's all wrong, thank goodness NS is so rainy and my back yard is so shady. I will have to wait until fall for my Fundy Beauties order. But I still have an itchy finger whenever I get to a nursery so have a few hosta to get in the ground - mostly for the back bed. You can see (at a distance) abba dabba do, blue angel, blue arrow and lakeside dragonfly. Blue angel is destined for a dark corner of the yard. Getting ready for a planting party... Speaking of hosta companions, I thought I'd list some of what's going to go in with the hosta - I have some "fern-jacked" (side of the road) ferns, a couple of royal ferns, two densi-gem yews, a rhody nova zembla, dwarf maidengrass, and two h macra aureolaes to be planted in this picture. The back bed (on the right) already has Japanese quince (lovely in early Spring), what I'm assuming is a hicksii yew, a jumbo forsythia and two big burning bushes. It used to have a half dozen very sad junipers, a huge infestation of English ivy, and an even worse goutweed infestation. Needless to say even bare soil looks pretty good right now to me compared to what used to be there! For perennials, what survived the goutweed eradication is some kind of purple spiderwort, lungwort (which if I'm honest I am not in love with) old orange daylilies, some lanky butterfly bush and two very tall clumps of zebra grass. I have my eye on a GORGEOUS JM Inaba Shidare at the local nursery. At $250 for the size it's a steal but I am too miserly to go for it yet. Hoping it lasts until the fall and goes on clearance.

My light set-up is similar to those that others here have described except my shelves are white plastic. I have two shop lights hanging above each shelf, and each fixture holds 2 fluorescent bulbs. They are on chains with hooks so we can raise them and lower them as needed. This is important because plants growing too far from the lights stretch and get leggy. Leggy plants are weaker and harder to harden off to outdoor conditions than shorter, stockier plants. We put hooks in the ceiling above the uppermost shelf so we could hang two fixtures above the top shelf and raise seedlings there too. My shelves easily hold three flats per shelf but with creative placement and squeezing flats in tightly, I can get 4 flats per shelf for a total of 20 flats of seedlings on the shelves at one time. It is really easy to over-think this and to spend way too much money on some fancy and expensive lights that you don't need. That just isn't necessary. Simple shop lights with the cheapest bulbs you can buy have worked just as well for me as more expensive bulbs designed specifically for growing plants indoors under lights. I used those more expensive Grow Lights on one shelf one year and its plants didn't grow as well as the ones growing under cheaper shop light bulbs. All my light fixtures are plugged into power strips so they are easy to turn on and off. You can use a timer to turn them on and off if your schedule is erratic. I used to start seedlings in standard black flats, but several years ago I switched over to aluminum roasting pans....like turkey pans or lasagna pans. Since they are shiny metal, they reflect more light and heat onto the plants. I buy them in packages of anywhere from 12 to 20 at Sam's or CostCo. There really isn't a right or wrong way to set up your seed-starting shelf as long as you have it in an area that doesn't freeze, that has good air flow and that is easily accessible so you can pop in and check on the plants and pop back out again. You just have to figure out what works for you in whatever space you have available. If you have indoor dogs or cats who might enjoy sleeping on your seedlings, eating them, tearing them to shreds, etc., keep that in mind when you chose a place to put your shelf. My cats are totally banned from the room with the light shelf because they like to eat plants, but our large dogs (a Rottweiler mix and a Lab mix) sleep in the room with the light shelf and have for several years and they don't bother the plants at all. Be careful when putting it in a garage. Even if you think there are not any mice in your garage, you might find out you have them the hard way....when you walk into the garage one day and discover your plants have been used as Mice Chow. This is a fairly common issue for folks who start plants in a garage or some other sort of out-of-the-way area where humans spend little time in general. Starting seeds indoors is so very simple despite the fact that we humans sometimes over-think things and make it harder (and fancier and pricier) than it has to be. Just keep it simple and I think you'll be delighted with your set-up and your home-grown seedlings. Dawn

Very nice menu. And totally doable and simple with prepping ahead. I like mixed veggies as it pleases everyone. I usually do a roasted oven tray that has full heads of garlic, sweet and reg potatoes and golden beets and anything that looks good at the market. A small cut up winter squash... As is your menu looks perfect. Burger and dog night and even taco night and gyro night are pretty high end here. Making everything from scratch takes time though i can prep most ahead like grinding the meats for burgers. DH bakes the breads and rolls. I make and the sauces and just made three different mustards...were having DirtyDogs tonight. Burgers tomorrow. With the last of the fresh garden tomatoes. I like my smoky salsa with dogs and burgers. Used fresh tarragon in place of the cilantro. And having a first taste of DH's crock of sauerkraut. -Not so sure about my TomMustard, lol. Used some tomato powder in that one. Fortunately the dogs we like did not go out of business like i thought. I'm guessing my local market may have a sloppy paying schedule that is difficult for such a small company. It is a problem with this market i've heard. Lots of things i want to try making. Hot dogs are not on that list. : )