good for you Jessica! sounds like you are 'off and running'- this will be my 5th year for w/s- I love it! I have so many wonderful plants and am always finding new ones I think I must have- LOL I do about 100-150 containers each year- I always say I am going to cut back, but then I find something I just HAVE to have :)) I have a couple of pics in the gallery of my w/s set up-I use mostly the plastic Solo cups and margarine tubs- Some I am looking forward to this season are: poppy Lauren's grape purple majesty millet holly hocks- Rhett in Red and Cranberry Ice some new autumn colors rudbeckia petunias oh, so many wonderful seeds! I am going to do a few veggies this season- basil peppers tomatoes so glad to hear you are having fun! keep up the good work, best wishes, Linda in Louisville

I don't even LIKE snow, and think that is a beautiful sight. Just think how well your jugs are being insulated, and kept nice and safe! All of the snow around here has melted (thank goodness), and it is killing me that I don't have any sprouts yet. Part of me wishes that I couldn't even see my jugs! It must be extremely bright outside when the sun is out!

My seedlings (started in jug) were frosted to stiffness in 28 degree weather the other night and they LIVED!!! Amazing! Now the temp is above freezing but we have frozen stuff falling out of the sky. I'm assuming everything will be fine. It's been very warm lately for a while and yesterday it was above 60 so I'll bet the soil is very warm and protecting the plants as it radiates heat. At least, I'm hoping. I know some things are not supposed to transplant well, but I'm wondering if transplanting small seedlings negates that. I don't know, this is my first time to wintersow. The roots of these small seedlings are all healthy but small. I wonder if that makes them amiable to trasplanting. It would be nice to hear somebody with knowledge of this chime in. My morning glories all had their true leaves and were 1-2 inches tall. They seem to be happy and growing well. They do germinate fast if nicked, so I would think direct sowing would be nice, as well. My first year to grow them, but the ones I nicked literally showed germination in 2 days in a jug.

Hi Liz - Yes, I'm sort of making my own botanical garden. The two main flower gardens total 3000 square feet. I plan to establish about 150 - 250 different types of flowers there and those will end up being personal nursery stock and seed farm plants to use to expand out to other parts of our land. It should also give me plenty of flowers to fuss over and enjoy. We'll also be using tire gardens as nursery beds for plants that need richer soil or better water retention than they can get in the main garden. Outside of the main garden the next places to colonize with flowers have less hospitable growing conditions, but the tougher plants should be able to grow there if transplants go in at the right time (before seasonal rains) or if direct sown really heavily. Those areas are another 3000 sq ft section of slope along our driveway, a 10,000 sq ft plot of hillside outside of our fenced "goatland" area, and a 1000 x 20 swatch of road frontage and rock outcroppings (also outside of goatland.) But the ultimate master plan is to seed farm enough seed to direct sow heavily in our 15 acre fenced goatland area and have sufficient seed so that there's a chance that at least a couple of plants reach flowering stage before the goats eat them. This year I have an additional 40,000 or so seeds (beyond the 42,000+ WS seeds) that I'll direct sow into goat land. Next winter and in Spring 2010 I want to be able to have buckets and buckets full of flower seed to direct sow out there. I like the idea of the goats and cow strolling through hills full of posies. :) As crazy as it sounds, it's actually going to be cheaper than buying and sowing plain old pasture grass seed. A lot more work, maybe, but that personal botanical garden will make it all worth it. I think that long term my personal botanical garden is going to be made up of lots of perennials and then whatever annuals do really well with WS methods (both January and April/May sowings). Any plant that needs more fuss than that is likely to get replaced with someone who's more agreeable. In upcoming years I expect my WS numbers to drop off quite a bit but my seed saving amounts to go utterly crazy. Confining the sowing and planting out to Winter and early Spring ~should~ leave me time to actually enjoy the flowers. It should be cool if it works! And if it doesn't I'll just fill my garden with four o'clocks, comos, zinnias and white marigolds and enjoy it anyway. I think it's going to work, though. Lynda