Hi Carol - This is my first year with WS flowers (or WS anything). Last year was the first year for flowers. Maybe I better double check what I have in my profile not that another year's gone by. :) As for fertilizing, it's rare that we fertilize any of the containers. The compost is so rich that I honestly can't recall us fertilizing anything. Of course, each year we use fresh compost in the containers. We don't even top dress with fresh compost during the growing season or need to use compost tea. We do hand water everything using watering cans - so the container plants always have enough water but they don't have excess that would leach the nutrients out and wash then away. Summers have been so dry that mother nature hasn't washed out nutrients either. If she does give us a rainy year we might need to top dress the containers with additional compost. Five gallon bucket is FANTASTIC for growing all of these. But keep in mind hubby comes from a family that did a lot of container growing and he can grow tomatoes in gallon pots without much problem. We did start with gallons, then went to two gallons, but then we found a source for free five gallon buckets. The biggest thing is that containers dry out fast - but then again so does our ground when we're in drought conditions. With gallon pots there were some days that we'd have to water tomatoes morning and again in the evening. With the five gallon pots, in a drought year we need to water daily during the hottest time, less if we get clouds or cooler weather. We tend to spend a lot of time toodling around the yard carrying watering cans. (And we could spray water - but water here is pricey and hand watering puts the water exactly where we want it in the right amounts. It also keeps us looking at every single plant almost every day so we can give each one proper care.) Then link below goes to all of my photos with the word "buckets" in them. You can see happy tomato, squash, cucumber, grape, bean and gourd plants. Flowers are all in garden beds in soil that just would not cooperate nicely with vegetable growing. My garden currently favors flowers that like lean, dry soil but it should get richer as it gets each year's compost. There's a bunch of photos of last year's flowers up there too. The link on my member page should take you to a bunch of photo sets, including the flower ones and some garden tours. Lynda Here is a link that might be useful: Bucket growing photos

Most people know their backyards better than anyone else, and so they know the weather patterns as well as the patterns of use. In my garden, I had to place the containers up on tables because of a curious puppy that would find and shake-to-death any container that she came across. Later on, the puppy had grown into a sensible and trained dog, but my son had grown into a collegiate and had fellow collegiates with size 13+ shoes visit him--they would walk through the patio or yard to use the downstairs entrance to the house. After dark, nobody could see the flats on the ground and wow! Flats fly far when tripped over by size 13+ collegiate feet. Flats fly in the breeze because they weigh too little. Water equals weight. If you know there are some strong breezes or gusts coming your way then water your flats well. If a severe storm is coming then take the flats to an unheated garage, shed or the trunk of your car. After the storm passes you put the flats back outside where they were. Winter Sowing is highly adaptable, it was written to be that way. People are experts on their own needs and uses of the method, they are experts on their own backyard environment. Keep all that in mind when you plan your own Winter Sowing. What works for someone may not work for someone else because of their personal environment, needs and knowledge. You'll find countless dialogues about containers. Quite honestly, the seeds don't know what they're sown in so choice is not a factor in germination. What matters is good sowing medium--I like fertilizer enhanced potting soil, you need depth--at least three inches otherwise you risk the soil drying out unless you want to water almost daily (ugh), and finally, you need a safe site for the container--someplace animals or humans can't disturb them. T

Ok y'all don't fall over out of your chairs, but I am here! lol Sorry I am rushing (what's new) so just skimmed the posts and am just so thankful that everyone is stopping by to contribute and share a little! Belle! Sister, Wow, is all I can say! Hope you feel better soon! Punk!! Hello long lost friend! Hope to see that project painted up soon and good luck on your re-do! Luvs my friend! Miss you tons!! BB~ I know you will be painting crazy when winter hits. Everyone else...hello and sorry if I missed ya! ha Well, I am about crazy over here! Got the kids back in school and I am painting like crazy for a boutique in October. Do have some completed projects that I will post soon, haven't taken time to download pics yet. We have had end of summer bbq's and parties to attend, festivals and whatnot. Seems like every weekend there is something going on. Hubby went back to work so my mornings are free so that's when I've been doing my painting. The house has gone to heck. ha About 2 the kids start coming back in and from then on it is mayhem of homework, snacks and run me here run me there. Stay up late, get up early and do it all again. My HS reunion is coming up in Oct so just got plane tickets to fly home for that! Kids will stay with my parents so just hubby and I can go visit his family and go to the reunion. Should be fun I hope. Garden is coming in so that means making salsa and zucchini breads! Just not enough time in the days as you all know! Ok, I'm gonna get back to painting so I don't lose my momentum! I'll be back soon with pics! Take care everyone!! Going to check out Belle's boutique pics! ~Anj

Hello to all! New to this forum, and don't mean to hijack, but just read NancyinMich's June 8th post and have to comment that it sounds like we have the same fat disorder. As far as house sizes go, I live by myself in a 1250 sq.ft home, which feels substantially larger than my last which was just a little smaller, but on two floors. Since my bedroom was on the main floor, I seldom went upstairs and basically lived in 450 sq ft.less than now. Too cramped! The LR and kitchen here are in fact substantially bigger and I have a large dining area that didn't exist in the other house. I am content with this size, but if I had a magic wand, I'd make the bedrooms a foot or two bigger, and would have at least a half bath attached to the "master" bedroom. There is only one bathroom in this 50's ranch. However, too much more square footage would just be more to heat, cool, and clean. My utilities are very reasonable. I think anything bigger than what I have is medium sized, and anything more than 2000 is large. From my perspective.