I am down in the Bay Area, warmer but our nighttime temps can get into the high 20's. I just started my tomato seeds last weekend. I plant the seeds in 6 oz yogurt cups with 4 holes punched in the bottom (about 3mm each). I plant in plain old Supersoil Potting Mix. I put the soil in the cups dry then soak it through really good. Plant a seed in each one then spritz once more with a pump sprayer just to make sure the seed is good and moist. I keep the cups in a plastic tray with a dome, but any kind of loose cover to keep in humidity will work. I've used a plastic Rubbermaid bin that I've drilled holes in the top. That works. I leave them in the house until they sprout. I water them about once a week using a pump sprayer so as not to disturb the soil. Soak them until water starts dripping out the holes in the bottom. In the larger yogurt cups, you don't need to water more often than every 5-7 days, but when you do water, don't be stingy. The split second they sprout (and I mean split second to keep them from bolting for sun), I move them out to my workshop, which is a Tuff Shed unheated. They go under plain old shop lights. I have some reflective insulated panels I place around the seeds. The lights provide enough heat, and the insulated panels holds the heat in well enough even on those cold nights. I leave the lights on a timer about 14 hours a day (5 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and try to keep them about 2 inches above the plants, which means you'll need to be able to adjust the height as the seedlings grow. Below is a link to my gardening blog which shows my seed set-up out in the shop. I've never had a solitary problem, and all the plants I start from seed always outperform the occasional plants I might pick up at a garden store. I buy good seeds though. Johnny's is my choice, but there are other reputable companies. When the tomatoes outgrow the yogurt cups, I move them up to the Solo (keggar cups, I call them). By then, the weather is getting close to planting and I start leaving them in the yard during the day and bringing them in at night. You'll see lots of posts on my blog under the label "Seed Starting" that has plenty of pictures. Hope this helps! Incidentally, it's the folks on this forum who taught me most everything I needed when starting my garden, so you're definitely in the right place! Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Seed Starting

I just find them awkward as bonsai unless theyre really big I suppose.(A fellow bonsai grower as echoed this, with more experience) You prune them and they bud like crazy from where they were cut, then no new growth for ages. Better as shrubs I think. I will also have some mandarin pips to sow, how do these grow? I want indoor plants that will spend a little time outdoors in summer.

Your seedlings are beautiful. I'm sorry to hear about your losses. I have a few shrubs that aren't looking to well this year due to too much rain and will most likely lose them. Fortunately they're common and cheap to replace if I decide to. And one shrub I lost due to the boyfriend not paying any attention, I had a small forsythia and it kind of blended in with the grass (grass is tall because the yard is too wet to mow), and he mowed it over with the mower. I'm waiting to see if it'll come back but not likely. It was given to me by our neighbor. I guess I'm going to have to cut the grass from now on if I don't want anything else killed or damaged, he gets in too much of a hurry to get the mowing done. Karen

I have multiple 3 year old seedlings of Scarlet Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) and multiple 2 year old seedlings of Mexican Buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa)available for trade. These plants are the result of a consignment and are not stray seedlings from the garden. The plants are all 10" or higher with a strong central root and multiple leaves. I am looking for dark-leaved elephant ears such as Black Magic, African Mask, any from the Hawaiian Series of Taro, or any named species or hybrid with unusual characteristics in the leaves.