Iris are generally planted 12 to 24 inches apart. Close planting gives an immediate effect, but closely planted iris will need to be thinned often. Plants spaced further apart will need less frequent thinning. Many people plant them in small groups of say, three or five or seven; to give a massed effect. Newly set iris need moisture to help their root systems become established. Specific watering information depends on your climate and your soil, but remember that deep watering at long intervals is better than more frequent shallow waterings. Once established, iris normally don't need to be watered except in really dry areas. Overwatering is not desirable, but many people make this mistake. Specific fertilizer recommendations depend on your soil type, but generally an all-purpose food or a 6-10-10 are the way to go; just keep it low in nitrogen. A light application in the early spring and another application about a month after bloom is a good idea. Avoid using anything high in nitrogen, as nitrogen encourages rot. You can also give one more light feed after the growing season in order to encourage healthy growth for the next season. You will need to divide your iris before they become overcrowded, generally every 3-4 years. If too crowded the bloom will suffer, some varieties may crowd others out, and disease problems may be occur. Old clumps may be thinned by removing the old divisions at the centers of the clumps and leaving new growth in the ground. Or, you may dig up the entire clump and repalnt wiht the smaller, new, and healthier ones.

Carytoo and Midmented - Great advice, thank you! I am going to get busy this week prepping more containers and start just about EVERYTHINGin the next 2-3 weeks. I'll definitely hold back some pepper and tomato seeds for indoors in case I have failures. I'll also check out the container wars forum (thanks, Carytoo). Do either of you worry about over-heating in the sun? On a warm day in Feb/Mar do you open up the jugs for a few hours or just let them be? It can get super warm in zone 7 on random days. Here is what I am going to WS: (I'll post a follow-up with results - finger's crossed! This feels really ambitious for a first try, but we really are starting the entire garden from scratch) Arugula Wild Rocket Arugula Basil Genovese Basil Thai Sweet Basil Dark Purple Opal Beans - Bush Snap Roma II Bush Bean Beet Detroit Dark Red Borage Calendula Orange King Celery Tendercrisp Celery Chamomile Chives Cilantro Cosmos Cucumber Marketmore 76 Dill Bouquet Eggplant Rosa Bianca Kale Dwarf Siberian Lamb's Ear Lavender Lettuce - Crisphead Big Boston Lettuce - Leaf Rocky Top Mix Marigolds Marjoram Mint Spearmint Oregano Greek Parsley Giant of Italy Pepper Chinese 5 Color Pepper Purple Jalapeno Pepper Golden Cal Wonder Rosemary Scallions Ishikura Spinach Bloomsdale Long Standing Squash (Summer) Early Prolific Straightneck Squash (Summer) Black Beauty Squash (Winter) Butternut - Waltham Swiss Chard 5 color Silverbeet Tarragon Russian Tomato Brandywine Tomato Goldman's Italian American Tomato Yellow Brandywine Tomato Black Cherry Tomato Big Rainbow

Hi, elctj! You will love it here - and with that much land, wintersowing will be perfect for you! Until I got to be an adult with a home of my own, I was an "on and off" gardener. My Dad was really into it, and I pretty much worshipped him, so we did some gardening together when I was a kid. Fell out of it in my teens and early 20s. Mid-20's, with house & kids of my own, I got back into it. When we moved to the southcoast of MA in 96, we bought a house with great windows, and I got back into growing things from seed. Never had a light set-up, but was able to get a goodly amount to grow in the windows; legginess and damp-off loss notwithstanding. The week I learned about the WS Forum (on another garden forum site) coincided with the time DH walked around my transplanted tomatoes, peppers, and flowers that were waiting to be hardened off, and murmured "It's a jungle in here." Once I found out that growing seeds outside works for nearly every seed I can think of, provided you time it right (tropicals, too, you just have to start some of them later), I never looked back. I still start some things in my windows in February, because I have to see green. LOL, they still get leggy (it's too early to start seeds indoors in Feb in MA, they should be started in March!), and I still fight damp off. I've limited myself to two flats, though, and that provides enough transplants to feed my need for early green without turning the whole house into a jungle. I depend on WS for 98% of what I grow.

We're "mapped" as a Zone 5, but it acts more like a Zone 4 here, and early June is our planting-out date. I can put them out sooner if I make a tent for them in the greenhouse and keep it warm at night or during cold snaps. We'll have random cold nights and even a couple snows or frosts through most of June, so we need to keep on our toes. Starting indoors in January or early February, the plants are often so large they need two potting up sessions and it gets to where there is no room to place them where they still get enough light. Leaves begin to drop and I end up deep- or trench-planting 3-foot tall twigs. So I aim for late February germinating and get them out to the gh when room gets too tight indoors, usually sometime in May. I deal with the weather then as it's dealt to us, every season is a little different by a few weeks. Inside the unheated gh, with simple tents or covers for the plants, it only takes some Christmas lights or a small 60-watt bulb and a small fan to keep them happy, even when it dips down to 15 or so outside. Colder than that, I must add a small heater in the gh proper. A remote thermometer and frequent visits keep me advised. We enjoyed our first tom on the 3rd of July last season, that's the earliest ever for us. If I wait till mid-March to germinate, I don't have to deal with heating them in the gh as much, but it's also getting into late July or August for ripeness and late-season types barely squeek in before frost, so I need as early a start as I can manage. Too early comes with its own set of problems. But, if you can pot up adequately and give the whole plant lots of light (not just their tops from an overhead shop light), plus handle the much trickier hardening off and planting out of these overlarge "seedlings," it can work to your advantage. Since you have just the one or a few early starts, maybe just keep it to a large pot and set outdoors when it's a good time. That way, you can always haul it back in if there's a late frost or for hardening off. Just protect it from strong winds so it won't blow over! I also sell a few plants and getting that just-right combo of good size and vigorous health always helps sell them. Spindly, sickly too-early plants or too-late, too-small don't work. Timing your own season is the key, with proper light and space to grow indoors till then. -Ed