Linda is correct. You cannot dig soil from your garden and use it in a container...and be happy with the results. Most of the time, even the best garden 'dirt' turns into something pretty ugly within the confines of a pot. The pictures in your blog illustrate that perfectly. :-( A good container medium needs to provide plenty of oxygen at the roots. Thus, such a mix should be porous, well aerated, and very fast draining. Your zinnia is wilting because it cannot develop a root system in that mucky environment. It's a vicious circle: it wilts because the soil is chronically soggy but then you water it some more because it's wilting! I fear that this zinnia will not be able to develop properly because of a lack of roots. In this situation, I doubt that even cutting back on the watering will help. Without the rapidly developing root system that most seedlings exhibit, your poor little zinnia is bound to wilt at any time. I don't know what you may have available to you in the way of container mixes, so perhaps your best bet is to sow your seeds directly outside in the garden.

You have done a pretty great job of explaining how zenman has gotten so many of us addicted to zinnias, to the tune of 25 threads of breeding pictures! Zinnias are great with their ability to root easily and vigorously. My flower vases in the kitchen regularly roots zinnia long stem cuttings that I return to the yard. My yard is currently about a third grass, a third veggies, and the rest are zinnias to bring bees, birds, and butterflies to pollenate. What gets you is how easily you can jump between generations. The eagerness waiting for the next set of blooms lead us to fill our space with potential beauty!

almax, some sunflowers produce lots more than you would think. This is from seed we crossed a few years ago, we call it our 'Summer Christmas tree' - yes, there's only one plant there. I know I have a better picture of it somewhere, but I can't find it... :) If you have the room, you should give some of of the newer, interesting varieties a try. Some are really cool looking and come in wonderful colors. 'Teddy Bear' is suppose to only grow 2 feet tall and is adorable! lol, sorry, probably much more than you wanted to know...

Linlily....you will get both, tubers and lots of flowers this year...a lot depends of your green thumb and mother nature as far as how many but you will get both....you have the right idea, start the seeds and pot them up, then slowly introduce them out doors....start the process in early April so you can have the new plants ready to go into the ground after the last frost, usually around May 1st., the AA or Dinner plates will produce fewer flowers then your smaller types.... teddahlia is right...depending on the conditions around where the seeds were collected, you could get a wide assortment of different size and types of dahlis...kind of like Easter but once your plants are up they will be just as large as the ones from tubers, flower just as nicely and should have nice tubers