I'm in the Black Hills which might be similar to your area. There's nice days in April and May, but still a few freezes and late snows, plus strings of cold, cloudy and wet days in between. I started indoors in late March and have been taking the toms and other tender veggies out for some daytime sun in the gh but bring them indoors before sunset. The only plants living out there full time are peas, lettuce and radishes. Oh, and a few experimental broccoli! A small electric heater keeps it above freezing without running constantly. I also keep a small desktop fan running all the time. A simple upturned pot put over the broccoli has helped them survive the cold nights, but they are behind the ones that are kept indoors at night. I've also tried the GH in a GH idea. this is just making smaller covers or shelters to help reduce the space you're actually trying to heat. With this method, short strings of the big-bulbed style of Christmas lights will provide plenty of heat. Others use pool covers to go over the entire GH. As far as starting 'maters and veggies in a northern gh in March, you'll need one or more of these methods and possibly more serious additional heat when needed. It may make more sense to wait for things to warm up naturally. An early start is great, but the setbacks caused by less-than-optimum conditions is usually more than enough to put these early plants behind the plants that are simply started later on. OTOH, I know a guy with a big GH who starts his in December and has fruits when everyone else is just setting out their plants! Ok, so he's a logger, and heats his gh with "free" wood. There are certain advantages to having your own log truck, I guess! ;-) -Ed

"What is the merrit of container WSing? Why wouldn't you just WS in the ground vs container. I think that in the ground(garden) the seeds will germinate and sprout quicker, since heat is always coming from down below and they will be kept warmer than containers." Cyrus, the answer to your question is simple and one word "control". When you direct sow, which is what you are thinking of in terms of WS in the ground, you are at the mercy of mother nature. That is, you sow the seeds in the ground and then mother nature is totally in charge and so are the critters for that matter. Birds love your seeds, so if they are ones that are tiny and need to be surface sown, (poppies, rose campion come to immediate mind), the birds will have fun with them. Mother Nature will do you in with weather. Rain, snow melt, sleet, etc. will move those seeds to who knows where. One thing for sure though, is they will not stay where you want them to, at least many of them will travel all over from downpours etc. Those that don't travel have to fight with the birds for survival and the rest of the elements that mother nature will throw at you. If they are larger seeds, the birds will find those too, and the chipmunks, squirrels etc. Now, take those same seeds and put them inside containers with covers. The birds and critters can't get them, and Mother Nature and all her curves of weather, will move the seeds around in the containers, sometimes and sometimes not, but they aren't going anywhere. They are "stuck" in their protected container, in their nice little "home and greenhouse". Also, the soil will be warmer in the containers than in the ground, and will also warm up more quickly than in the ground. Ground soil warms up from the top down. So the direct sown seeds may possibly germinate a little more quickly and grow above the ground more quickly than in the containers, but their roots are slow to grow and form good solid root systems, because the soil below the seeds is still cold and thawing down. In the containers, the soil is warm all the way through. It heats up more quickly because of the greenhouse environment that we have made. The seeds grow more slowly above the soil, the stems and leaves because they are far too busy growing good, strong root systems because the soil is warm all the way through the container. When seeds are allowed to germinate naturally on their own in the perfect environment of warm soil all the way through, natural light and natural temps that mother nature intended them to have, you get strong healthy root systems and plants that she intended. WS provides all of the natural germination requirements with just a little helping hand from "us", those covered containers to keep the seeds exactly where we want them to grow and give them that little bit of extra boost in warm soil that the "mini greenhouses" we created provide. We are giving our seeds every natural advantage humanly possible, yet we still let mother nature do her job. I hope that helps explain why WS if far better than direct sowing. ROSELOVER, there are really very, very few, if any, seedlings that I plant out as an individual plant. Most plants look far better when they are planted in mass clumps. Even if I have some that are growing as a single plant, I put them in a wide hole all together when I plant them. Mother nature has a way of weeding out the less viable seedlings and leaving the healthy one in the hunks to keep growing. The few plants that are individually planted are 4 o'clocks and I still put 3 seedlings in a 12 inch pot, morning glory that are going to grow in a hanging pot, dahlias I grow from seed, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, snowpeas, and that's about it. Karen, I sure do remember you as a newbie. That's seems so long ago, doesn't it? Bonnie, sounds like you should keep your seedlings in part shade and let them get a bit larger and use the old rule of thumb that my farmer grandpa taught us. Nothing gets planted in the ground before Labor Day, Labor day being the original date of May 31st, unless its something like peas that need the cooler temps. I've gone by that date all my years of gardening and that's more than 30 and it's never failed me. We get those late frosts into may as well and can get some horrible spring flooding rain as well. May 31st is my date except for my peas and everything is fine. I always so a few extra seeds whenever possible of everything that I sow. Just have to be safe and in reality, not all seeds will germinate. Fran

I got hooked on this forum in the Summer too because of all of the sprout and flower photos. I peeked in at the forum a number of times in the years before that, but until I saw the summer photos I sort of thought that they all must be a bunch of crackpots with their milk jugs out in the snow banks. But those Summer postings on the forum - Wow! So many people having so much success with so many different kinds of seeds. Summer is a good time to enjoy all of the flower photos and keep some notes on who you are going to want to trade seeds with. There is an amazing abundance of garden variety on this forum. Nice people too - there must be something about having an abundant garden that really mellows people out. Mich nicer than the forums where people are in a panic over every seedling. :) Lynda

Carol, in your zone, quite a few people have trouble with the montanas blooming and it has nothing to do with fertilization. Montanas bloom on old wood and in some zone 5 locations, the flower buds freeze out during the course of the winter or they start coming out and then are frozen during later than normal freezes. Sometimes, the entire vines will freeze out only to emerge again the next spring, but since montanas bloom on old wood, they won't have any or as many blooms the subsequent year. Fertilization won't hurt your plants but at this time of the year and in your zone, I don't think I would be fertilizing now since this could stimulate new growth which may or may not have time to harden off prior to the first fall freezes in your zone. In my opinion, fertilization in late winter prior to your montanas blooming and then sometime again after your montanas finish blooming thru mid-summer would be better. In my zone 7a, I haven't ever fertilized my clematis after sometime in late July/early August.