The link is a UK site I picked at random to show what I mean never used them. Hi Pngwin21, I too have been looking for on line veg, for the same reasons as you, in the UK we can buy things called plug plants, which are delivered to your home in a sort of gel stuff, I concluded that the reason for the lack of these companies is that a) no market (although thats two of us know so maybe we should start a business! haha) or b) the huge delivery area of the US and this can impact in a couple of ways, one the plugs would take so much time to arrive they are ruined (cannot tell you how long it took me to understand the lack of delivery in 48hr here)and the increased weight would of course mean extra postal charges. c)in the uk you order by November I think it was, so they know the demand and can plant accordingly for the same date troughout the UK thus cutting cost, the US has so many zones this maybe a logistical nightmare, although computers could solve this! or D)they just haven't thought up the idea yet! although I find that unlikely! that said, no t bar on a shovel! and runner beans as a flower! anything is possible! I would as now is the right time, cos I am about to start posting my spare seedling, try Craigs list and join freecycle, you are supposed to collect but if someone explained that they couldn't drive I would make my husband take it round, if at a reasonable distance from our home, offer to pay for gas, also do churches, scout groups that type of thing do plant sales?, look out for them and in the UK I also used to pick up loads of free seedlings at the end of peoples driveways, which they had left out as FREE, people may do that here? I intend to as well as craigs and freecycle. last sugestion, walk the neigbourhood pinpoint who has a garden, introduce yourself and ask about the local conditions, pest ect and then tell them you problem, gardeners seem a pretty generous bunch on the whole and I bet you get a bucket of plants and good advice, I got another Veg patch from a neighbour this way, she can't tend it this year and I just give her a share, fantastic! hope I manage to grow something! Here is a link that might be useful: plug plant supplier UK

Hey, I have been good. Look at that, last at Home Depot on April 24th and I only went back again today. Must be some sort of record for in the spring. I really needed something like a brick in a charcoal grey color to do the edge of a new garden bed in my sideyard. I found something they call pavers as they are brick shaped but not as thick as bricks but same dementions. I thought about it and decided that the fact it was not as high did not matter as the color was perfect. Its only to define the edge of the bed and keep the grass out so the height will do. So I bought a bunch of them. Have to go unload them from the car in a few minutes. Between Home Depot and the local nursery that I always stop at I bought a hanging basket, more impatients, $9.99 red Mandavella vine impuse buy at HD, 2 ferns for that new bed I started, flats of snapdragons to go in the upstairs garden, lantana (another impuse buy) and a flat of those bedding dahlias in reds and oranges. I need red verbena for the terraces garden but red seems to be really hard to find. Going to have to drive out to the nursery I got it from last year as I need a flat of zinnias too and thats the only place to get those two items. 45 minute drive but I hit two nurseries in the same road a very short distance from each other and then I drive alitle further and go to the pond place were they have water plants and vat after vat after vat of pond fish in every size, type and color. Got my fish there last year.

some nice day hope in your car and drive to faribault mn. farmer seed and nursery is located there, over 100 years old. they must be doing something right! if you want something besides seeds, wait until the first part of april and check out the bare root items they get in. i have bought many there and have never had a problem. so if your looking for seed our shurbs-trees, check it out. away from home our i would send you there phone number. call information. they do catalog orders also so make sure you are talking to the right area when you call. get back if you need more info.

Hi Deanna - I grow from seed when I can. It does take some experience to work the kinks out. I had trouble in the beginning. What I did learn from that was that potting soil is important. I tried the cheapest one and that was a disaster. A light set up is great - but you do have to check the seedlings a couple of times a day to make sure nothing is drying out. You also can't water too much either. You let the top dry out just a little before you water again. The third thing that made a big difference for me, was setting up an oscillating fan on the seedlings. This kept disease at bay, helps them dry out and it helps to strengthen the stems of the seedlings. But, the problem I am still working on is timing. If you start the seeds too soon and then the weather doesn't cooperate, you can't put them out yet. So you're holding them. If you keep them in the six packs too long, they're signaled to slow down growth, which you don't want, so then ideally you would repot them up to the next size pot. That is way too much work for me, so I try to start seeds later. This year that didn't even help. [g] . It was still too cold too long. But I imagine if you plan on growing from seed every year, then you get it settled and figure out which seeds work best for you and what the timing needs to be. Winter sowing was great, but, for any warm season plants, it wasn't worth it. Like tomatoes and peppers which are my main crop in summer. And finding the containers and prepping them was fun the first two times we did it, but that wore off. [g] Plus we don't really drink much milk. Self seeding annuals - I like some of those. I have Oriental Poppies, those reseed a little. Lunaria - Honesty - my favorite, reseeds every year gently. I've never had to reseed and I have a good patch of them every year. Columbine reseeds well, but I find you don't maintain any of the hybrids you try, they all revert, but I still like them. Alyssum has been great for me. I buy about 4 packs of them and I can sow them in place, either early spring or in the previous fall too. I don't have to prepare anything I can just sprinkle them where I want them and in the spring I just water religiously until they sprout. Or leave them over winter and get what I get. Portulaca is another one I can sprinkle where I want them in the fall and get a fairly good result. Dill and cilantro, and parsley like Donna - I get a lot from these without any effort from me. I just let them go to seed, which requires leaving them in place when their bloom is past, long enough for them to drop seed. Cleome is another one that reseeds well. I bought seeds once and every year I have a good amount of them and I just pull them from where I don't want them. Cosmos - always reseeds without any effort from me. I buy Pentas, Calibrachoas, Wave petunias once in awhile, cupheas for hummers, begonias, impatiens, verbenas and lantana sometimes. I bought fuschias this year, which I don't usually. Once in awhile a coleus or a hybrid caladium for a shade pot. That's about it.