Like Kimmsr, I use compost for seed starting, and I also get lots of unplanned volunteers in the compost pile. As long as the compost is finished or mostly-finished, it shouldn't be a big problem. You certainly wouldn't want to use "hot" compost with your seeds. :-) As to the seeds themselves, as mentioned above a lot depends on the type of seed, soil temperature, and the age of the seeds. Many times older seeds take longer to germinate and have a less successful germination rate. It's my understanding that carrot seeds can normally take 2-3 weeks to germinate; longer if the soil is too cold and/or the seeds are old. This is based on info I've read, not on personal experience. Last fall I started a new compost area that was to be turned into a vegetable patch this spring. Having started it late in the autumn, there were only a few inches of organic material applied to the ground and it never got hot enough to fully finish. I turned it once or twice in April as the ground started thawing, and the grass clippings had very little deterioration; they were mostly intact and kind of mucky like grass clippings get when you pile them up. No additional material had been added to the area since last December. But that didn't stop the volunteers of cucumbers, lettuce, and, lastly, tomatoes from germinating -- thanks to those leftover, unpicked fruits that were thrown in from the garden last October. [I'm used to tomato volunteers, but the cukes and lettuce were surprises.] I can't really speak to experience with carrots (maybe I'll grow some next year), but there could be a number of factors that influenced low and slow germination. All the best.

Blossom End Rot is not a plant disease, it is the result of insufficient Calcium available at fruit set and the causes are much more complicated that simply irregular watering, although that is one cause. Compost these, do not trash them, but also check the soil you plants are growing in to be sure the pH is where it should be and the nutrient load is balanced, which can help prevent BER.

I used the Kitchaid strainer for years. It was a big improvement over what I was using before. With constant use the motor heats up. After about thirty minutes of use mine started dripping motor oil into the sauce. I think the screen is a bit too close to the screw. I run the tomatoes through several times and only end up with seeds. The skins also get pushed through the mesh after a few passes. However the final passes are the most work for the machine. I upgraded to a dedicated tomato squeezer. It is much faster than the Kitchenaid and the machine does not struggle. The first pass leaves a wetter waste product than the Kitchenaid. However after several passes the final waste is just about as dry as the Kitchenaid waste after several passes thhrough the Kitchenaid. I have a 1/2 HP model which is a bit big and heavy. I should have opted for one of the 1/4 HP models which run about $300. A google search for tomato squeezer seems to work better than tomato strainer if one is looking for a dedicated machine. I canned a little under thirty quarts (about fifty quarts before boiling down) in my first canning session this year. I'll probably do about eighty by the time the season is over. I have to can more because my son has taken a liking to the sauce. And now I make my own ketchup. I dedicate an entire day to making sauce. Speed in the squeezing process is a big help. Zeuspaul

If your patio is warm and sunny and traps the warmth then you may have what's called a 'microclimate' which can be different/higher than the general local one. This can be really useful for you as a grower. You can maybe start growing earlier and expect plants to carry on growing for longer - just because you have a sunny, warm, and sheltered site. If you have room on your patio for a long table, not too wide - and not too scruffy(!) - you can put your containers up at a height where you can tend them more easily. One with a metal frame would be good. It would be possible to make a small 'tent' frame to go over the containers and sit on the table top, too. If you then covered this with horticultural fleece/frost cloth - or thick, clear glasshouse type plastic - you'd protect your plants from frost and could grow on for longer. Right now, even without having that protection you could plant up fancy lettuces or a mesclun mix (posh name for lots of different leafy plants picked regularly as a mixture) for salad greens and just cover them at night with either bubble wrap or cardboard to protect from early frost. Another plant that will probably tough it out through winter with a bit of shelter - and can be cut a stalk at a time - is Swiss chard. It comes in plain white stem/green leaf - and varieties with coloured stems which lets it double as decoration. What to do with the soil after a crop has finished? Unless you had a diseased crop, you can reuse the mix. Add some slow release fertiliser which looks like little balls, mix it through - and plant something different. If you grew peas - use the mix next time to grow lettuce. If you grew lettuce - move on to carrots. Just don't feed the carrots too much. There'll likely be enough goodness left over after the lettuces have finished. (This is what the books are talking about with 'crop rotation'. It helps to keep bugs and diseases at low levels.) From time to time - add some fresh mix. Say every time you take out plants you've finished with. When you come to grow tomatoes - they are hungry plants and have big root systems - even the little cherry tomatoes. They drink heaps, too, so acquire bigger containers - four gallons is probably useful. Those dear little plants simply shoot up - and down. If there's only you, or just two people in your household - go for the 'baby' varieties unless you love lots of coleslaw, for example. There are plenty of just-for-one varieties now. You can mulch to keep the soil cooler and hold in moisture by using 'dead' things - like pebbles and big glass beads that are about half to one inch wide. Big enough for you to easily take them off the surface to wash in a bucket and reuse on the next crop. (Keeping things clean is more important with containers than in gardens. There aren't so many friendly microbes in a bag of sterile potting mix.) If your local plant supply places are selling strawberry plants now plant them up in a container of their own. Don't buy the cream just yet because they'll need to grow on for a year (unless your local conditions say otherwise) and you'll actually have to take off any young fruit before it ripens. It's worth it, though. And you can use the tent to protect your crop from strawberry-hungry birds if you cover it with some nylon netting.