Editor, I am so happy to see your great start. Remember to post your container count on the official thread. It truly is addicting, and seeing you excitement brings back memories of my first season. I am very happy for you. I really hate to do this, and I REALLY hope my suspicions are wrong, but I have to ask you something about those lovely containers. Do they say anywhere on them, in tiny print, that they are made of corn? I bought organic greens at Sam's last year and was really excited about the container. It turns out it was made of corn (yeah, corn?) and melted into a shapeless mess when washed in hot water. I set them outside to see what would happen and the sun destroyed them. I really hope that's not the same thing you have, but if it is, better to find out now before the season gets too far along. Hoping to be wrong, Seedmama

Nasturtiums and 4 o'clocks are never a problem for me to WS. I put them out around April 12th-15th and they start germinating around 5/1 and just keep germinating through the end of May. Now sweet peas are another story. Until last year my germination rate on sweet peas, whether they were WS or direct sown is in the zero to 3 seedlings, if I'm lucky. No matter what I did with the seeds, nick them and soak them, soak them and sow them, just sow them, those where my results. BUT Last year I purchased 2 kinds of sweet peas, snoopea and elegant lady and got 2 sets of different instructions from TM seeds. On line it said to surface sow the seeds and on the packets it was cover with 1 inch of soil. Well, the only thing I never tried was surface sow the seeds. So figured, what the heck, one last shot. Soaked the seeds overnight and Surfaced sowed the seeds, just pressed them into the soil and left them on the top and Low and Behold, out of 25 seeds of each kind, I got 25 seedlings. Talk about being shocked. So this year, I sowed more snoopeas, elegant lady and added streamers and high scent and did an experiment. Snoopeas and elegant lady where soaked in water overnight and surfaced sowed, and all the seeds germinated into wonderful seedlings. With the high scent and streamers that say to cover with 1 inch or so of soil, I soaked all the seeds overnight and sowed have the seeds according to the packages and the other half where soaked overnight and surface sowed. 25 high scent seeds soaked and surfaced sowed all germinated, the 25 seeds soaked and sowed as directed with soil on top, only 4 seeds germinated as of this morning. 25 streamer seeds, soaked and surfaced sowed all germinated, the 25 seeds soaked and sowed as directed with soil on top of seeds, only 3 germinated. So from now on, all my sweet pea seeds will be soaked overnight in water, then surfaced sowed. No more soil on top of them. Oh, the sweet peas seeds, all 4 kinds where sowed on 4/12/10 and germinated between 4/25 and 4/29. Fran

Morz8, Good, I’ll hold back the Yarrow. I am sowing an Achillea millefolium mix that I’m planning on growing in a pot. The cimicifuga can wait for the fall. I already have cimicifuga, and it’s collected seed to increase what I have. Guess I should have sowed it when I collected it. The aquilegia are McCanna’s Giant and Black Barlow. I may leave those and sow them next fall. Or I could use the refrigerator? I have five different Violas. A Viola cornuta, Sorbet series. A Viola cornuta Caramel series. A Viola cornuta Penny series. A new Cool Wave series Pansy. And a Viola odorata. I will winter sow the hosta. Caryltoo, I’ve used Saint Patrick’s Day as a goal for the peas for years, but I rarely get them into the ground that early. This year, we have so much snow, I don’t know if I’ll see bare ground until May. [g] I normally direct sow peas, but because of all the snow, I thought if I started them early in pots, I’d get a jump on it. I wonder if I could just use flats and sow a pea seed in each cell? I have plenty of flats, just not enough milk jugs. I could cover them with Agribon? I have used bamboo tripods in the past for peas and beans, and finally this year, I have a 7ft trellis for them, that I’m looking forward to using. I was wondering about the Basil, since that likes the heat, if I should wait for warm weather? The rest of the herbs, I could also use flats like the peas and just put them out in March. Zinnias are so quick to germinate, I can direct sow those if I need to along with the Calendula. I could direct sow Tithonia too? That will take care of all my issues. I will have plenty of containers for what I need now. Thank you both for that very specific help! Just what I needed. Appreciate it.

I mulch my bed heavily over the winter where alyssum grow, but I uncover it in the spring where I want them to come up. And yes, I do just sprinkle seed on the top of the soil and keep them moist until they germinate. I start seed under lights, if I am starting other things under lights. Some seasons, like this year, I won't be growing under lights at all. I start seed under lights, if I am starting other things under lights. Some seasons