Susan, I agree with you about the ProMix completely. I will go without rather than use it again. I've used the Metro Mix, too, and find it a bit fine textured, but like Randy, I actually use very little potting mix in my final container medium. Fafard is the brand of choice for me, not the stuff that they offer in the retail stores, but one of their commercial blends. Plus, lots of perlite, Turface MVP, bark fines, etc. Randy, it's warm enough here today for me to get inspired and your pictures may have really pushed me over the edge!

I made a mistake and left my bag of potting compost under my deck stairs. The snow is up to the second step (was the third). Three feet in one day, a few days later another foot. The town and my neighbors pushed street snow into my front yard (huge mounds), so I'm a bit concerned about the plantings there. This town appears not to have a workable plan for big snowfalls- first place I've lived that didn't. Town meeting Monday. Should be interesting. Got to do an inventory of my seeds. Last year's garden was a bust because of all the rain, so I am thinking of putting in some raised beds, unless I win the lottery and move. Love my house, like the village, but I don't like *living* in the village. I'm a country girl. I need more space around me. Winter sowing just does not work here-- weather is too variable. I don't usually start plants because I have to use either my living room windows, which are owned by my cats, or the window slider in my daylight basement, which is not quite warm enough. But there are a few cold weather vegies I figured I could start down there, I made a mistake and left my bag of potting compost under my deck stairs, where it is invisible. The snow is up to the second step (was the third). Three feet in one day, a few days later another foot. The town and my neighbors pushed street snow into my front yard (huge mounds), so I'm a bit concerned about the plantings there. This town appears not to have a workable plan for big snowfalls- first place I've lived that didn't. Town meeting Monday. Should be interesting. But... in spite of all the snow, the lengthening days promise spring. Reading catalogs, lusting after an attached greenhouse, looking at snow banks and seeing flowers. My house a few days ago: Dayle Ann

This is the time of year I wish we could import all you frozen-ground gardeners to come out here and help. December-March is one of the busiest times of year in coastal California. Wet leaves to rake, bushes to prune, weeds to pull, citrus fruit to pick, new plants to put in, etc. etc. etc. New growth is already appearing on the roses which were pruned back just recently, near the end of January. The freesias are a month ahead of themselves - we had an early hard rain in October that woke things up - so those flower stalks have just begun to raise their heads. It'll be another couple of weeks before they start to open, though. Freesias are my favorite spring flower - fragrant and return reliably! Last year I grew a bunch of freesias in a pot and didn't realize the colors would cross. They were supposed to be neat waves of red, white and purple. But some of the purple became streaked with white, sort of odd but pretty: Goodness knows what the freesias will look like this year, LOL. If I get anything interesting in the color mixing, I'll post a 2010 photo in a month or so.

Mitch, When I posted the link, you were one of the "new to Texas" gardeners that I had in mind. It is a MOST helpful website, and, for what it is worth, after living here for a decade, I'd say the freeze dates, i.e. "1 in 10 years......2 in 10 years.....5 in ten years" have proven to be accurate for our county. Remember, though, that averages are only averages. Our FIRST year here, the first frost hit around Sept. 30th, and I wasn't really expecting it. We did build a temporary "hoop house" structure over 6 tomato plants (in just an hour or two), protected them from that freeze and then had good weather for another 4 to 6 weeks. There's also been at least two years when we the first fall freeze was VERY late.....the day before Thanksgiving one year, and about a week or so before Christmas another year. In the latter, we actually had an "official" freeze in November, but it was windy enough at our house that the frost didn't do very much damage, and then the flowers and veggies hung in there until almost Christmas. One thing that has surprised me, though, is how MUCH colder it gets here in southern OK than it did in N. Texas. I am only 80 miles north of Fort Worth, so I expected some colder weather and a little more snow. I NEVER expected I'd see the temperature go down to 1 degree, which it did a couple of years ago. Luckily, the cold spells are normally not very long-lasting. You're farther north than I am, and you should be prepared for an occasional ice/sleet/freezing rain storm that may bring down trees, shrubs and power lines. Parts of Oklahoma have had very severe ice storm damage the last couple of years, so keep that in mind. The weather here is seldom dull. Dawn