First for those who have offered their suggestions input and advice and taking time to post on this thread and help me, thank you. I very much appreciate it and you have my gratitude. People have told me numerous things regarding what does transplant well. However I do have some questions still because I'm a little unclear on some stuff that has been said regarding transplanting. According to what some have said most of the time anything that is leafy and green (any kind of lettuce, spinach, and collards) is normally direct sown. However are the reasons that these crops are normally direct sown is because they don't make good candidates for seedling transplantation, or are they able to be started from seed ahead of time indoors and will they transplant well? Is it recommended that they're direct sown (as with root veggies) because they just don't transplant well or can you do either or with leafy green stuff (start them as seedling transplants indoors and then transplant them outdoors or is it recommended you direct sow them where they're to grow). Another question I have is that people have strongly recommended that I plant scallions, onions, and chives indoors then transplant them outdoors. However I thought as a rule-of-thumb that root veggies are to be direct sown because they don't transplant well. Are members of the onion family (chives, onion, and scallions) considered root vegetables? Another thing I have a question about is people who have responded to this thread said they normally direct sow peas. Is this because peas don't transplant well or does it make any difference whether or not they're direct sown or can they be started in peat pots indoors and the seedling transplants transplanted at outdoors at a later date? Also what is a root ball? I know that the root systems of seedlings that are started indoors have to be well developed before they're transplanted or when you go to transplant your seedling transplants they will just die. Justaguy2 something I don't understand is that you told me the secret to successful transplantation is starting seedlings quickly and having them transplanted 2-3 weeks after germination. What I don't understand is wouldn't that be transplanting the seedlings too soon? I don't really know anything about seedling transplanting but what I do know is that if the root systems of the plants you're transplanting aren't sufficiently developed when you go to transplant you're seedling transplants they will not transplant well at all. The other questions I have that people failed to answer that I asked are these: *I'd like to use the method of emulating a breeze for the seedlings via using a fan. When should I introduce this to the seedlings (how old should they be)? How many times a day should I use the fan to emulate a breeze for the seedlings and what is the length of time I should keep the fan on when I do this for the seedlings? The reason I'd like to do this is because it will overall make the seedlings stronger. I know that with seedlings when you transplant seedling transplants you are supposed to follow certain guidelines with temperature, time of day, and weather conditions. What are as a rule of thumb, these guidelines? When during the day should you transplant them? Morning? Afternoon? Evening? What should the weather be like? Also this is going to seem like a very dumb question but how do you carefully transplant seedlings well? I've never done seedling transplants so I don't know how to carefully transplant a seedling. I could use advice with this.

Well I tried to send you an email, but you don't have your email set up. I'm in Largo. Why don't you send me an email and I'll contact you. click on my user name and then click on "send me an email". :) It's probably too late for onions, but I'll try anything once.

If anyone here in the St. Pete area wants any of my extra transplants, let me know. I have Texas Legend (the new Dixondale short day variety this year - more nutritious, bigger, and longer storage than the Texas sweet). I also have yellow granex and southern belle red hybrid (which did well for me last year even planted in late Jan). I will post this in the Florida Exchange as well.

Don't forget TigerDawn's blog, too! Man, we're getting to be a bloggy group, arent' we? We've all got links to each other's blogs on our sidebars. I really like how that works. When someone posts a new blog, it moves to the top of the list. Helps me to keep current on everybody. I did finally get a reply from Gurney in my e-mail today. Surprised they waited all the way till Sunday to check their e-mails?? I thought the reply was kind of terse. They said: "A reship has been issued for the item(s) requested. You should receive your items by the early part of April. However, we ship the plants in their dormant stage. If you are not happy with the size of a onion bunch. We will be happy to issue a credit or a refund. While we try to make every effort to ensure that the items you order are of the highest quality, shipped to you in a timely manner, and with the best service, occasionally we stumble. Please accept our apologies. Again, I do apologize for the inconvenience and we ask that you consider giving us one more opportunity to provide you with world class service. " In the second e-mail I had sent them I told them that all my garden buddies had gone with Dixondale and that their poor customer service was making me wish I'd done the same. From the way it sounds, I'm just going to get one bunch of onions. But that's ok as long as the count is reasonable. I went out and planted the onions that were smaller than pencil size today, as I began to worry they weren't going to hold very long. The bigger onions, I will try to hold till after the last freeze. Yep, I'm gonna be a Dixondale girl next year. Spring before last, I found white Candy onions at Atwood's for a dollar and something a bunch. And that was the year I had so many wonderful huge ones. I just blundered into the purchase, didn't know anything much about them when I first bought them. The next spring, by the time I went to get some, they were all gone. Or maybe they never got any because they never got any this year. I don't want to depend on some store locally getting some in and ending up waiting till too late to order if they don't. But I notice Dixondale's prices get pretty reasonable if you order several bundles, and I can call Consumer Calls on the local radio station and advertise that I have some for sale and probably get my investment back. Paula, you're a sweetie for thinking about sending me some next year and I might even take you up on that. They don't weigh that much, postage shouldn't be too bad. I've got several things to blog about but I've been so dang busy I haven't had time. Today after I planted onions (forgot to check to see if it was OK with the moon! Dang!), I transplanted the Roselle, the pomegranate and quite a few peppers into their first styro cups. They're all warm weather things so they'll be getting transplanted a second time before it's time to go out in the garden. Gosh, I hope Ihave places for everything! Now Hubs has somethng built that needs painting and I'm the painter here. So gotta go do that before I lose my daylight. I too am so glad Steve is doing so well. Looks like you're having a time keeping him off his feet, eh Diane? That's a good sign though.