Heat can be a problem, especially if the soil dries out too much. When I plant carrots in hot weather I place a long narrow cloth painting tarp over the whole area. That keeps the soil from drying out extremely well. By the time the carrots sprout, their tap roots are well established. Last night(Wednesday) I put 100 Kohlrabi seeds on a wet paper towel to sprout. Friday night they will go into the ground and I'll be around on the weekend to keep the soil moist. I also have a couple of Romaine lettuces that I directly sowed and put white plastic buckets over them to keep the sun from drying them out. Although I also have Romaines that I raised in plastic trays and transplanted recently. That way I could move the trays anywhere I wanted as the weather dictated. I do think though that direct sown seeds establish their roots better and can survive dryer/hotter conditions *after* they have sprouted and rooted well. You do what you gotta do.

thanks everyone. Johnny's has a list of veggies that can be directly sown and those that are usually transplanted, with some plants being on both lists. What I hoped to find was a similar list for flowers. --I have plenty of peat pots/jiffy 7 that I can use for those plants that don't like root disturbance. I would think there is a list somewhere of flowers that do better with not transplanting. I realize that it's quite possible to if careful, to successfully transplant even those that say sow in place, do not disturb roots. All my plants are "transplants," but those which don't like root disturbance will be started in peat pots. I appreciate your comments. I suppose what I'm going to have to do is go through several seed catalogs and note what they say for the growing of each flower. (ugh) Bob

If you want to sow the seeds now, do it inside. If you want to sow them outside, you need to wait until temperatures begin to modulate: temps need to fall into the high seventies or low eighties at least. But, of course it depends on what you want to grow. My favorite fall sown flowers are larkspur and California and shirley poppies. They all need to be sown outside where they will grow. They will germinate this fall, make rosettes of foliage, and then appear to sit there all winter. But, they are actually making roots. When the weather starts to warm in spring, they take off and are gorgeous. If you wait till spring to sow them, they won't be half as nice. Stuff that you would typically buy at the garden centers in mid fall (pansies, snapdragons, etc.) can be sown indoors right now. They will be ready to set outside at about the right time. If you're not set up to do it, say, with a greenhouse, my two cents worth is that pansies are difficult for beginners. I have never had a very high germination rate, it takes them all winter to get large enough to make much of an impact and the seed is expensive. But then again,....trying things is how you learn.

Good suggestions. I don't cut my milk jug all the way around, leave a little hinge just under the handle. Then when I open them up, I peg them to the ground. If it gets cold again, it's easier to tape it shut again for late frosts and you probably don't have to tape it as thoroughly as initially. I save my containers and use them again, and the right kinds of tops are with the right jugs. What I'm wrestling with is that I decided I want to sow a lot of seeds in oversized cell packs. I have the trays that match but no holes in them. Anyway, I don't want to preset anything to hold plastic up and over them now, and the ground will be frozen when I set my jugs out in about Feb to poke anything down in. I've been looking around and the only thing I have to keep the plastic a couple inches off (or just an inch might be ok) the surface of the cell packs to keep from crushing the new growth would be some bricks, some old glass blocks. Can anybody think of what might work better that is easy/free/cheap? I think saran wrap would be too thin for those and have some clear plastic in a roll that is probably too heavy, maybe w/slits in it heavy would be ok. I can get something in between. The reason I want to sow in cell packs is for some of my seeds that resent transplanting to have a better chance and save me work later. I sometimes start in those trays you talked about w/covers (from McD's salads, KFC etc.) They work great. Sometimes I plant directly into the ground but some I like to transplant individually into cell packs so they can grow on, very tedious. Sowing directly into cell packs would save me that step. One trick I learned for spring sowing but should work equally well for winter sowing is to plant in the deli containers, then fill 16 oz plactic cups w/drainage holes punched in the bottom partway up with potting soil. Then use a spatula & dull knife and work a chunk of seedlings out of the tray and just set it on top of the soil, the roots will find it easy to work on down. Then I let grow on for awhile and plant with a bulb planter. That would work well for people whose gardens are crowded or whatever. I have to make things as easy on myself as possible or it won't all get done.