Thank you both for responding (digdirt - thanks for responding multiple times on different posts)! I had a few hours of free time Monday night and I transplanted all 10 plants. I may have waited a bit too long as the roots had grown through the bottom of the cut paper towel tubes they were originally planted in. I was able to keep the soil together for 5 of them, the soil fell off the first one I transplanted and the two tubes with the multiple plants. I handled them carefully by the leaves (not the stem) and managed to keep the roots very intact. They seem to be doing well, most have visibly grown since Tuesday morning. Anything else I should do or look out for? Thanks again for helping me out with my new passion.

Kellygirrl, There is no point for me to sow my tomato seeds any earlier than I do because they won't germinate any sooner for me. I live in New England, MA, to be exact. I still have plenty of snow on the ground in March, with plenty of opportunity for snow to fall, some really big storms too. My temps are still well below freezing in March, even into April and we are known to get some freeze warnings on occasion into May as well. We've had blizzards and 3 feet of snow fall on April 1st in 1997, have had 2 foot snow storms in May once as well. Just the past few days my temps where still going below freezing, down as low as 25 degrees and Sunday could be close to 90. My last frost date is in May as well, and the old adage was to plant nothing out till Memorial weekend when I was growing up and spending my summers on my grandparents veggie and flower farm. The first germination I get has been towards the end of the first week in April for the past 6 years of winter sowing. This year, year number 7 has given me my earliest germination every, 3/28 and those where all perennials, the only thing I WS during the winter months and those went out in early Feb. The next time I sowed any seeds was 4/5 and those where all annuals and nothing germinated with those till 4/12. Also, I did WS some tomato seeds in February 3 years ago, just to see how it worked, and sowed the rest of the toms at my usual time in April, including some of the same tomato seeds I sowed in February. The February seeds germinated on the same days as the tomato seeds that where sown in April. That confirmed that there was no need to put them out in February, waiting till most of the show was gone, if not all, was early enough to sow them. That's the fun of WS, though. The basics are all the same, no matter where you live or when you sow the seeds. What one does is adapt the methods, the seeds, the times you sow the seeds, to fit your zone, your area, your climate. There is no cut and dried when to sow them, unless you are talking about seeds that do need a cold stratification. Also remember that one gardener's zone 5 is not the same as someone else's zone 5. If I had already planted out any seedlings like you have, they would have been killed by now with the temps we have had and the drastic cold temp drops we keep getting now. The growing season where I live, in my part of the state especially has not begun yet and won't begin for a few more weeks. Fran

How about planting a clemetis on the pole with the morning glories and black eyed susans on the left of the pole and echinechea(spelling?)on the right, creeping phlox under and where there is room put in some daffodil bulbs for all season color. Some creeping thyme around the stones. All of these are easy care and fill in quick and thick to keep the weeds down. Hope this helps.

@Ralph95 - sorry, I am reading my emails backwards and am responding here that way too! Our backsplash is a standard "in house" subway from KG Tile in Timonium, MD. I was sort of against spending tons of $$ on a subway as I wanted a traditional look and knew I didn't have to break the bank to do it. I went with KG's version vs. Home Depot's / Lowes' as for me it was a slight bit brighter white that seemed to match my cabinets better and it was a bit glossier...which I thought would help bring some life to the white. They also carried end pieces (bullnosed on both sides and regular subway bull noses) vs the bull nose ones at HD/Lowes which reminded me of my bathroom upstairs (where we also did subways). (Hd & Lowes have thinner pieces vs the full sized subway tile with rounded edges that KG had and we needed a double bullnosed corner piece) The sink is an Artisan. It's what the soapstone fabricator sold and we just went with that. It's their largest double bowl - AR3521. We had a 20 gage sink before and although I never noticed a tinny sound to it, I can definitely tell the difference with this. The one negtive with this sink is that the "catcher" for food in the large bowl (we have a disposal in the small bowl) sits low so it's hard to get your fingers into the well to pick out food that may have slipped by the strainer. I don't know if this can be adjusted. You can order online, amazon, etc. www.artisanstyles.com The faucet is a Moen and it was purchased very quickly when my husband and I stopped at home depot one evening. A faucet was not that important to us and we knew we didn't want to drop tons of $$ on it which you can do on some...I will try to find the name of it....but we both like it alot, the soap dispenser works well with it and it doesn't get dirty or fingerprinty!! (a big bonus) The cabinet hardware is from Restoration Hardware. I went to the Columbia, MD store to see it all in person, and then ordered what they didn't have in stock on line in the store so that there was no shipping. We chose the Hanson knobs and the Gilmore pulls...both in the polished nickel. Our recessed lights are just cfl bulbs...they take a while to ligth up but we like them once they are on!! I'd love to see pics of your progress! Exciting times!!