Hi, I guess I would take into consideration the size the plants will be by spring. You might have some growing up over your lights and some not close enough to the lights. You probably don't want to start tomatoes right now but there are probably other plants that would be nice to have inside over the winter.

unless you know what you doing it is not easy to keep plants alive over such long time till next spring. Plants that normally shade tolerant little bit easier to grow under lights but sun loving will get too tall and too lanky- it is very difficult to stimulate normal daylight/ sunlight requirements. Few plants are very slow growing and you can get away with starting them now, but not many.
Unless you specifically want plant to bloom for certain date- let say you want pansy to bloom for Valentine Day- it is really not worth time and effort.

thanks both of you for the information!!
Karen

Starting plants too early is a common problem that often leads to a very poor performance once planted in the garden. In my experience I am better off being a little late than a little early. Al

You might want to go over to the Winter Sowing forum for some excellent info. It's amazing how many plants do very well when sown in winter and left outdoors in the open, exposed to rain, snow and freezing temperatures. And they don't have to be hardened off in spring. Be sure to check out the FAQs.

Sue

thanks Sue and Al.

I think I am going to do a combo of winter sow, start indoors and some maybe just plant in the ground somewhere. I have a lot of seeds from trades so I have plenty to experiment with.

Karen

Im playing with propagating the Kalanchoe's this winter. I found a big old hunk of leaf that actually sprouted about and inch of roots.

Karen
I have started heucheras, bergenia, some indoor plants- calceolaria. I have also started several primulas which I love. Primulas will be under lights until late Feb and then go into sunroom. Sunroom is not heated so plants that can not tolerate occasional dip in temperature will not be moved there. Heuchera and bergenia are very slow growing so I will not have problems with them till spring. there are some rare plants that I am looking forward to growing I might start now, mostly because I have time now and won't have time in the spring. I do several columbines now, not the common ones but those that I really want and cost me $$$. For germination of columbines and primulas I use GA-3/ read more on JL Hudson, seedsman website/ so I do not use cold stratification.
I also started some cyclamen hederifolium, I like to start it early and feed bulbs till they nice and plump when they planted into spring.
If you have seeds of begonias, tuberous or other kind you can start them now. They are slow growing and take indoor light well. I brought mine in from last year sowing so am not planning to grow new ones this year.
I will start couple of trays of pansies in a couple of weeks, I usually get them to start blooming in April and have full containers until early summer when I replace them with other plants.

thanks both of you. I have a few seeds started just for fun in the basement. I have a large window there with good light. Some have sprouted so maybe I can keep them alive long enough :)

karen