pnbrown What is planting fabric? Landscape fabric? I don't have to worry about weeds in my containers since they're on a high deck. Well, not many, mostly little trees that sprout from those airborne helicopters and whirligigs that I miss when they land. As for spacing them, I think you could go blind with the seeds! Peggy, I've occasionally made seed tapes too, though not for such small seeds! But, to my main question, PNB. You're saying that vendors of onion transplants OR commercial onion growers just plant them close together and then they can be separated and spaced after reaching transplant size? So you seem to be saying that if I plant them at the right time and have some kind of reasonable spacing, I could leave them there to grow in the spring -- is that right?

Ed, I think I way underestimated my seed number. I have been having a great time the last week or so getting them going. I write down what I plant, and so far as of this evening, I have 87. I have some soaking in cotton pads, some still in the fridge......so I bet I will have about 350. Luckily I have plenty of room and a greenhouse - plus can put on shelves in my south facing garage if I need to. I am really pleased with the results I am getting. The peroxide/distilled water moistened cotton pads seem to spur growth better than the paper towels - I tried the same cross in one of each - the one in the cotton pad is putting out roots and tiny green leaves while the ones in the paper towel are still just showing the radicle. I label each small plastic bag and put the bags in a clear plastic cup and place in a west facing window that gets bright sunlight. I found ones that had been there 9 days had amazing roots and green leaves. I figured out something else tonight. I have some tiny stick on dots [who knows what I got them for] and when I check a bag and there are roots and green leaves, I put a dot on the bag telling me it is time to pot them up - I put another color dot on the ones that are almost ready to pot up. This saves me from having to open the bags every day. I am seeing changes every day - taking the ones that are soaking and showing a radicle and putting them in the plastic bag with a cotton pad. This may be more work than most people would want to do, but it is fun and I enjoy it. Have planted 11 crosses so far and starting to see green tips. The cross of Pat Soileau x Freedom's Triumph amazed me when I opened it - have included a photo - its not too clear as was taken indoors at night, but you can see the long roots and the little green tips. When I put the cotton pad in the baggie, I fold it over in half so the seeds are covered. Am hoping to get a bunch of seedlings up and growing before we get our first freeze in November. We normally have cold weather thru December but not too many freezes. Is anyone else starting seeds? If so, how are they coming along? Judith

1. they need light, so press the seeds into the soil but do not cover. make sure the soil is very moist. avoid using growing media with fertilizer. impatiens germinate poorly and seedlings may be mis-shaped if high levels of fertilizer. try to use one without fertilizer. 2. I doubt the hybrid seeds will come true to type, but they should do great anyway 3. normally I say 10 weeks from planting to flowering, but a few hybrid seeds which has been preparred by the growers may flower in 8 weeks. During seed germination try to maintain an even temperature just above 70 deg F for best results. One way to do this is to keep a heat mat under the flats. Another way is to keep a fluorescent lights 8-12" above the top of a plastic covered flat. The temperatures inside the plastic cover will rise because of the light. keep the light on 24/7 to keep the temperatures steady and germination should happen within 10 days. Note: avoid too strong light. we found that very strong lights (such as HID light) and too many fluorescent types at one time, combined with high temperatures, prevented germination. Keeping a single fluorscent fixture on 12" above the dome is usually sufficient until germination.

I get sprouting seeds from Sprout People.com. I think they carry cat stuff. Their website is really nice and chock full of information. Their prices are fine and customer service is excellent. Check out the site and see if it's for you. I sprout seeds for me to eat, but I think there's a cat grass section. My cats go outside some (half and half here) and get their greens in the garden.