Mike - great book. I've read that, too. I took notes, so I could remember her growing tips as well. I live in a clearing in the woods at a camp & conference center, so the deer presence is strong & they're used to people also. Besides gardening around our home we work on gardens around the camp where there is no fencing to keep them out. I don't apply deterrents there, but some staff members stick soap in the soil near the rose bushes. In one area another staff family has a dog that deters them so we can plant edibles for our childrens' gardens. Sounds like you have good experience to deter deer from your newly planted specimens. I hope to scare them before they enter the garden and are just walking on the driveway. Like you I've had them break off stems or sink in rootballs by jumping through in spring when the new growth is out and the wet & soft. Sometimes their feet do tramp through gardens, so I've learned to plant closely & have paths in back of borders that are next to a fence or the house. When the deer can't see over it or can't find a path through it they don't enter, but do attempt to nibble around the front. Barberry prunings from my daughter's place crisscrossed & laying on the path prevented them from getting to seedlings & small plants in the spring. I removed them when the plants were larger. Some root well from cuttings in spring, so you can multiply what you have to make large groupings or repeat in the border. Sedum, Nepeta, Lamium, golden creeping jenny, & vinca minor can cover quite a bit of ground after awhile like a living mulch. The deer eat the tall sedum at our parents' island home, but haven't eaten them here. I was pleasantly surprised with Nepeta cuttings from new spring growth, stripped lower leaves, poked my finger in soft soil directly in the garden where I wanted the plants, & inserted. I moved a few of them further back as they matured as I put them too close to the edge, but other than that they've been easy. Another tip besides starting seeds -- find a free plant swap near you. Those plants are going to transplant well since they've already acclimated to your climate. No heartache if they don't make it because they were free! Just be careful to clean up any stray weeds before you plant them. Sometimes I just wash that soil all away before planting out. I've received rootbound seedings that sprouted in bark on top of plastic in someone's garden. A bit of root prep & they've been great plants. Have you tried some ornamental grasses either stand alone or in groupings? Some can be grown from seed. I've received some of my best ones for part sun at free plant swaps as divisions or seedlings that will mature & reseed again for me. Spring planted starts establish quickly. Some are well behaved clumpers and some are spreaders. Be sure to read up which fit your situation. The spreaders are in sunken pots to keep them as a clump. What ever is new to me becomes my favorite at the time. Hope that helps, Corrine

I am doing a slightly different version. From the different methods I have seen so far, it looks like all the seeds need is humidity, so I am trying a wet-sand method. I took a cup of sand (rinsed before just in case there is any salt content), filled with water, then tilted the cup to the side to drain out extra water, and then I put the seed on top of the sand. So the seeds are not directly floating on the water. Then I covered it with another cup. The has a green house effect, so the seeds are enclosed in a very humid condition. This was started two days ago (3/17/2008). I will report back later. :)

Hi! I think I am using a similar method and it seems to be working. (I have had one batch of seeds that keep getting some kind of bacteria or mold on them but they don't seem to be rotting. They have not sprouted yet although they have been in the coffee filters a couple of weeks.) I clean them off daily and give put them in new filters. I have tried all sorts of things to prevent the mold from reappearing but nothing has worked yet. I may just pitch them but I am just wanting to see if they will sprout. None of the other seeds have had this problem so it just may have been an old or bad batch of seeds. I put the seeds in a covered glass dish with 2 coffee filters on the bottom and one on the top. I then moisten it but not to the point of standing water. Of course I have also pre-soaked the seeds as they were raisin dry. It takes much longer if the seeds are crinkled. I have some that have been taking 3 weeks or more to sprout. once sprouted I put them in plastic sandwich bags with miracle grow seed starter soil. I moisten the soil first then place the seeds inside and close the bag. Making sure not to have any standing water in the bottom of the bag. Soil is very moist but not sopping wet. When the first green shoot appears then I open the bag. I will water the seedlings when the bag is lighter in weight and looking somewhat dry. You can see roots appearing in the bottom of the bag. Always make sure you are not giving them too much water as there are no drainage holes in the baggy. Cheers!

I bought a couple of sprouters a few years back and tried them out. The main problem I had with sprouters was that it limited me to 4 crosses per sprouter. The sprouter had four trays stacked up with a top trap to fill with water and a bottom tray to catch the water after it dripped down from the 4 trays. There was no way of dividing the trays to contain different crosses on the individual tray. The seeds moved around when the water dripped through. I tried to put dividers on the tray but it interfered with the flow of the water. I had alot of crosses with small volumes of seeds per cross, and could only place one cross per tray without mixing the seeds up. They could be effictive if you had large volumes of seeds per cross. The germination rate was good but you have to change the water at least every other day.