Audrey - Seeds that need cold strat - perennials and hardy annuals - go out in January - February. Hardy annuals, perennials that don't need cold strat go out in March; tomatoes and peppers get sown in March too. Everything else gets done from March on. This year, I'll be trying more food plants, so I'm figuring on starting beans/peas, spinach, lettuce in March; carrots and other stuff probably in April. Hope it all works. All that being said, I garden on a balcony with a "roof", right outside my windows, so I do have a bit of a micro-climate up here. But I think you can put stuff out at basically the same time I do. PV

I think the goat is kinda cute, goats have pretty eyes. Does he whine or mew or bleat or whatever sound goats make when you're paying more attention to the dog? Many years ago I wanted to increase my columbines, so I took the dried stems of the few I had in the garden and shook them around here and there. It took over a year before I saw all the blooms, but I had an array petal count, some with or without spurs, and a range of blues, pinks, purple, plum, white and an odd grey color--well, the grey wasn't bad and actually was lovely--you just don't expect grey for a flower bloom. Open-pollinated columbine seedlings are like a mixed litter of kittens, you never know what you'll get but you'll love everyone. I do a lot of seed packing here and as expected some of it hits the floor :-O but waste not want not--I have a new bagless vacuum with a catcher cup which I dump over the side of the porch behind a shrub. I don't know all that will sprout there but it will amaze. Yesterday I finished packing out a large bag of mixed wildflowers--once you get to the bottom there's more chaff than seed, though it is still loaded with a lot of very small seeds. Well, it doesn't look right for sharing so I dumped the remainder over the other side of the porch railing--that's gonna be a sight when those sprout and grow too. Direct sowing can be a hazardous thing--not to the sower but to the seeds. Seeds are food! and Mother Nature will take as many as she can. So, when you're direct sowing you must sow heavily to avoid disappointment, you must be realistic and expect less than a ten percent of the seeds you sow will survive long enough to bloom--ten percent might actually be a high number. But if you're sowing 40,000 poppy seeds then 400 plants is still 400 plants. Obviously results will vary based on predator, climate, and skill and tools of the gardener; but when it comes down to it direct sown seed survival is mostly dependant on luck--you either get eaten or you don't. Mother Nature is very hungry.

Alison...I didn't keep track of dates last year. I have quite a few things germinating now - gaillardias, diff. rudbeckias, poppies, sunnies, flax, bachelor buttons, lavateras, stocks, sweet william, cosmos, poached egg plant... Yesterday I planted the blind-eyed susie seeds(thunbergia elata - white with NO black eyes) from your plants at the spring swap. I haven't done the millet grass yet. Have you? I have done a great deal of my winter sowing in late Feb. and sporatically in March. Only the hyacinth beans and millet grass to go. Good question..what do the other Ohio Valley WSers have sprouting now. Beverly

I was looking over my germination records, since it's too cold to go outside and do any gardening this morning, and thought I would post what has germinated for me so far, so here goes: (32 containers out of 68 sown) PERENNIALS Alyssum 'Golden Queen'- WS 1/11 and 2/5, germ 3/1 and 3/8 Dianthus knappii - WS 1/11, germ 3/8 Lychnis 'Lumina Bronzeleaf Red' - WS 1/19, germ 3/8 Penstemon pinifolius 'Compactum' - WS 1/11, germ 3/28 (1st seeds harvested from my own garden to germinate, YIPPEE!) Scabiosa 'Moon Dance' - WS 2/25, germ 4/8 ANNUALS African Daisy 'Buff Beauty' - WS 2/18, germ 3/18 Alyssum 'Apricot Shades' - WS 2/5, germ 3/8 Amaranth 'Pygmy Torch' - WS 2/18, germ 3/14 Calendula 'Pink Surprise' - WS 2/18, germ 2/28 Calendula 'Apricot Daisy' - WS 2/25, germ 3/14 Dianthus 'Ideal Select Red' - WS 2/5, germ 3/8 Gazania 'Daybreak Hyb. Mix' - WS 3/12, germ 3/24 Gazania Daybreak Bronze' - WS 3/12, germ 3/21 Gomphrena 'QIS Carmine' - WS 3/15, germ 4/8 Millet 'Jester' - WS 3/28, germ 4/8 Petunia 'Prism Sunshine Hyb.' - WS 2/25, germ 3/22 Verbena 'Amarillo' - WS 3/12, germ 4/2 VEGGIES & HERBS Cilantro - WS 2/18, germ 3/18 Dill - WS 2/18, germ 3/18 Lavender - WS 1/27, germ. 3/16 Marjoram - WS 2/5, germ 3/8 Oregano - WS 1/19, germ 3/14 Sage - WS 2/25, germ 3/27 Spearmint - WS 1/15, germ 3/23 Broccoli 'Early Purple Sprouting' - WS 2/5 (2 cont.), germ 2/28 and 3/5 Lettuce 'Black Seeded Simpson' - WS 2/18, germ 3/1 Lettuce 'Buttercrunch' - WS 1/30, germ 3/8 Lettuce 'Jericho' - WS 1/30, germ 2/28 Lettuce 'New Red Fire' - WS 1/30, germ 3/8 Lettuce 'Parris Island Cos' - WS 2/18, germ 3/1 I noticed a lot of folks have poppies up, and realize that I hadn't sown those, so I did them this past week. Hopefully, they will pop up soon. I sowed the golden one that you sent me, Steve, and a cream colored one called 'Milkmaid'. The other thing I noticed that other folks have germination on is chives. This is my second year to WS them, and I did the regular kind, and the garlic chives. Neither one is up so far. Maybe someone can bring an established clump to the plant swap, if I don't get any germination. Most of the things I'm waiting on are perennials, with a few annuals that were just recently sown. Oh, and my wintersown tomatoes. I'm going to wait another week or two, then sow my zinnias and basils, and then I will be officially done wintersowing. From there on out, everything else will get direct sown into the veggie garden. Anyone else finished? Or just getting started? Bonnie