We have freezing temperatures here, still. Ugh! Should I be covering my tulip sprouts in this weather? They are peeking through the topsoil maybe by 1/4 - 1/2 inch. No, that is not necessary. They will be fine. Spring flowering bulbs know when to emerge, and they are capable of cold or even freezing temps after they have emerged. I have daffs in full bloom and they survived the 24 degree temps last night just fine. I have seen them also survive snow just fine too, with the exception of it sometimes bending and breaking the stems. Sue

Chris, here is a thread about mango from seed from the Tropicals forum...You may find some tips there. Here is a link that might be useful: GW Tropicals Forum, mango

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

Hi Bruce, Welcome to the forum. We have a great time here and all of us learn a great deal from one another. It's quite simple really. In a hill, you start with 4 to 6 sprouts, let's say, and they all are competing with one another for water and nutrients. As you thin the plants and keep only the 3 plants...and then thin to 2, they still are competing for whatever their roots can pull up out of the soil. Since you leave 2 plants in a hill, the competition for nutrients and water never really stops so the two plants will tend to be ever so slightly less productive than a single plant on one hill would be. When you plant single plants in single rows, they do not have to compete with any other plant from Day 1, and really they do not have to compete for a long time.....not until their massive roots are competing with the massive roots from the next closest plants. However, because Squash Vine Borers are so good at taking out plants, it is smart to plant 2 plants together using your in-row spacing so that you'll end up with at least 1. When I do in-row spacing (which I did this year), I don't remove the second plant until I have blooms forming. As far as whether to plant on hills or not, in our climate it is mostly a matter of soil drainage that should drive your decision. --If you have well-drained soil, you should get equal production from plants on hills or in rows. --If you have heavy, slow-draining clay soil, you'll likely get better growth and production from plants on hills, assuming you loosened up the hilled-up soil and amended it with compost or other organic material. Even if the soil is not improved, though, you'll still get better drainage from a hill. In colder climates than ours where the soil stays very cold much later in the spring, the gardeners "need" to hill up the soil because it will warm up faster and that helps get their plants off to a good start. They also usually cover the garden beds with black plastic several weeks before their plant-out date in order to warm up soil, and also start seeds inside and transplant out, so they can start with 2 to 3 week transplants and get "ahead" that way too. In general, gardeners in colder parts of the country have temperature issues in the spring and fall that make it difficult to ripen squash and melons that have long days-to-maturity. For example, if you're in a zone where the last spring freeze falls around Memorial Day, and the first autumn freeze occurs in September, you have to push your melons and squash hard to get edible melons and squash from them. So, planting on a raised mound (hill) gives you slightly warmer soil and that gets you earlier sprouts. I've grown melons and squash both ways. I tended to use hills when my current garden was "young" and the soil (which started out as thick, dense Red River clay) was not as well-amended and, therefore, drained more slowly. Now that we're in our 11th year here, the top 8-10" of our formerly red clay soil is a brown loamy soil that does drain well, so I tend to go with in-row planting. And, I haven't even addressed what I'd do if I had very, very, very fast-draining sandy soil or sandy loam soil in a hot climate. If that were the case, I'd probably do waffle beds to help retain water and reduce wind and slow down moisture loss. I hope that answered your question. With any veggie I grow, I tend to experiment with growing it several different ways, and then "permanently" use whichever method worked best for me. What works best for one person is not always what works best for other people----so much depends on your soil type and climate. Some people on this forum routinely get 50-60" of rain per year, and others are lucky to get 15-20", so we all have to adapt and do what works in our specific locations. Dawn