I've got the Burpee book and it's pretty good as a beginner guide goes though I'd ignore their estimates for how many plants per family. For the herb side, I also use "the Ultimate Herb Book" by Antony Atha since it has reasonably good info and it was on sale at Barnes and Noble. Since you're growing mostly the basic stuff, I think that just reading some of the info and back posts on this site will give you a lot of great info on many of the herbs and if you hop over to the hot pepper forum, they have lots of good info on most of what you are growing. From what I see on your blog site, the basil is looking really good and it's going to get pretty big, rather fast as the weather stays warm. The window box pots are a little small for some of what you are growing but it's a great start just to get things going. I'm trying patio tomatoes for the first time this year so I don't know for sure but I'd bet that they are going to way outgrow the rosemary (and they have different fertilizer / water requirements) so if you have a spare pot, I'd move the rosemary to another home. Aside from that, just experiment and have fun.

Okieladybug, To start tomato seeds indoors, first figure out your targeted transplanting date when you'll be putting the tomato plants in the ground. For most of Oklahoma, that would be about the first or second week in April, although some people with warm microclimates could plant them a week or two earlier, especially if they can cover them up adequately on cold nights to prevent the plants from freezing. A few folks in the most northwestern parts of the state might transplant their tomatoes a bit later. Count backwards six to eight weeks (and for those who are new to seed-starting, I'd go with the eight weeks) and that's the time to start your seeds. To raise tomato and other vegetable, flower and herb seedlings indoors, even in a bright room you will need a light source you can suspend above them. Lots of us make inexpensive seed-starting shelves using free-standing plastic shelving units from a big box store and ordinary shop lights suspended above each shelves with chains that allow us to raise and lower the lights as needed. You always start seeds indoors in a purchased, sterile, soil-less seed-starting mix. These mixes have a high peat or coir component which makes them light and fluffy, and because they are sterile, the incidence of disease is lowered. You can purchase small bags of seed starting mix like Jiffy Mix right there at your local Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. Folks who start very large quantities of seedlings often go to a nursery or a nursery/greenhouse supply store to purchase large bales of Pro-Mix or Metro Mix, and there are many other brands as well. You never start seedlings in ordinary outdoor soil because it is potentially full of disease and packs down hard when watered. You also can use compressed peat pellets, but they can be difficult to use, particularly for folks newer to seed starting as they tend to hold excess water early in the process and that can lead to a lot of issues with damping off, which is a collection of diseases that kill tiny seedlings. The easiest way to start seedlings indoors is to buy a rectangular shaped seed-starting flat. Most of them are about 10" x 20" and have 72 cells. You don't have to have a heat mat to provide bottom heat, although many gardeners like to use them with certain seeds like pepper seeds that start a bit more slowly without bottom heat. Often, placing a flat of seeds on top of a refrigerator provides enough bottom heat, but you need to move the flat to the light shelf as soon as the first seedlings pop up out of the soil, or they'll get leggy in only a day or two. With the light shelf, you put your flat on the shelf and have the lights as close to the shelf as possible without it touching any part of the flat, its germination dome, etc. I try to keep my lights about 1-2" above the plants at all times, raising the lights with chains/hooks as the plant grow. Be sure you label each cell. I cut small plastic labels from an old mini-blin, but you can cut them from any plastic you have handy...like a laundry detergent bottle, for example. Or, you can use popsicle sticks. On plastic, be sure to use a permanent marker like a Sharpie for your labeling. With popsicle sticks, I have found an ink pen works fine. You also can buy little packages of plastic labels in the area where seed-starting flats are sold, but they can be pricey. To start the seeds, put your soil-less mix in the flat, wet the mix (but you don't want it sopping wet, only moist). Plant your seeds in the individual cells, labeling each cell as you go. I also draw a "map" of the flat on graph paper and label each cell on the map so that if disaster strikes (at my house, most seedling disasters are caused by cats), I can replace the labels in the proper cells. (My cats like to pull out plastic plant labels and bat them around on the floor.) After planting your seeds in each cell, labeling, and then watering gently, you cover the flat with the germination dome that came with it, put it on the shelf under the lights and check daily. Water lighting as needed to ensure the soilless mix never dries out completely. You will have seedlings in a few days. When the seedlings sprout, remove the dome. Leaving the dome on holds in moisture and humidity which can lead to damping off. It is possible to raise seedlings indoors without a light suspended above them, but even in a bright room with lots of windows, the winter sun is not as intense as they need and the seedlings quickly will become too leggy. Legginess is bad as it gives you week plants that tend to fall over prostrate on the flat and surrounding plants. I've linked a previous thread from a few days back where we discussed many aspects of seed-starting and various methods we use with various types of seeds. Good luck, Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Previous Thread on Seed Starting Issues

I also noticed this in San Antonio! It's the Bonnie herbs and veggies. They also had one brand of potting soil with slashed price...I believe it was 1/2 off also! This is very unusual for San Antonio HD's. They are not exactly known for good sales on gardening stuff in SA. One employee came out to help me load up my car...I didn't even ask for help. Gold Star for HD! I think this sales runs through Sunday.

I would use something to hold the most water. A soil less mix usually contains a ton of peat. So I feel I have good results from a soil mix for a raised bed. Topsoil or garden soil mixed with lots of compost and vermiculite and bio char and greensand, whatever else you like to add. Your compost should be very diverse made up of several types of manures, and leaf and veg wastes. If you have cottonseed meal and alfalfa meals that's good to add. A bit of pine bark mulch may also help to hold moisture. You will prob have better results from mixing your own since I don't know of any one bagged mix that doesn't require any additional inputs.