I wouldn't transplant the flowers as deep as a tomato. you're likely to just get stem rot. most landscape plants prefer not to have their stems buried. producing a flower isn't nearly as much work for the plant as producing a tomato, so I wouldn't worry about using that kind of method to encourage healthy roots.

. The leaning is normal turn flat 90 dregrees every other day. a second light will help also move near a window with good light. all plants will get leggy if grown in poor light.

Hi all, Well, the leaf curling started to happen when they were in a south facing kitchen window which gets really good sun for most of the day. The other advantage of that window is the humidity of the kitchen, which keeps off red spider mite. I certainly do know how hard it is to look after them indoors, which is why I started them off in my south facing bathroom window, which also gets great light and humidity. I moved them because I thought the leaf curling might be an objection to the fluctuating heat you get in both locations, and also because they were doing so well that they outgrew the window sills. Now the bathroom window is full of courgette and green bean seedlings and the kitchen is loaded up with tomatoes:-) In case you're wondering, sadly a greenhouse is not an option - but I do have some south facing patio doors, so I think I'll move them there. As for putting them outside, they will of course go out there as soon as possible. Karyn, we get plenty of sunny days here in London (although not this last week) but in March it's often only warm in the middle of the day so there's a lot of shifting in and out of doors to do. I've got to do that anyway, though, and it occurs to me that moving them to the patio doors would make that hardening off much easier, so I'll definitely go for that. As for outgrowing their pots, Tom, I mentioned before that I potted them on only a few weeks ago and I check their roots and water levels every day. They're certainly not drying out between waterings, but it's possible that the compost I potted them into is not free draining enough. I know they don't like to have waterlogged roots. I'm also a bit suspicious of that compost because the leaves started curling around the same time that they went into it. I don't think there's much I can do about that right now that wouldn't be even more stressful, though. If that's the problem then they're just going to have to tough it out for the moment - at least until it's time to pot them on again. I certainly hope you're both right, not least because if you are then they'll grow out of it and also because the alternative is looking like broad mite. I'm not entirely convinced of that though, because although the leaves are curling they're not discoloured or dropping off wood> - yet! Oops! I may have just jinxed myself. Thanks so much for your help, I'll let you know how things go. Sara

I started seeds on my first "large scale" operation last year and had really great success. Previously, I'd done two-four trays (72 pack jiffy starters) on a card table in my home office, which was north facing with one small window - horrible light. To supplement, I bought two small florescent fixtures from wal-mart, maybe 16 inches long, probably meant as under-cabinet lighting, with just regular florescent bulbs, both were less than $10, and my husband nailed some scrap 2x4s together so I could suspend the lights from them over the trays (at a fixed height, not adjustable, as I didn't know any better). I did this for several years, and while some of the plants may have been a little leggy, I had no idea what I was doing so didn't ever notice. They all grew when I put them in the ground! I left the lights on most of the time, as florescents are pretty efficient, and I kept the door closed to the room most of the time (cats would chew the seedlings) so I'd forget to turn on and off. Also, I never potted up, I just grew them until they were taller than the lights and the weather was right and plugged the peat packets right into the ground. Again - probably not optimal or the "right" way but it worked for me! Last year, I wanted to go bigger, so bought a $45 wire five-shelf unit at target from the storage aisle, four shop lights from Lowes with daylight-temp regular florescent bulbs (not grow lights, just the Kelvin color for daylight), and a timer from the lamp aisle. Total about $100, plus I bought more 72-pack jiffy starters and I could fit three trays per shelf (only used four shelves) and put the whole shebang in my dark garage. I'd start two trays at a time on my kitchen counter and waited for germination of a few, then moved to the garage (unheated). Worked great, most if not all germinated, and my problem became having enough space to pot up and find place to put the potted up plants! My only other expense was an inexpensive heat-mat off ebay from some guy who makes them custom length and they are mostly used for reptile cages so they were cheaper. Can't remember the cost, but I got one cut to fit my lowest shelf, put some cardboard between it and the wire shelf, and got 100% within-a-week germination on my peppers. That may have been overkill, I was just nervous about having enough heat in the garage or kitchen (we keep the thermostat at 67 day, 62 night). Hope some of this rambling helps!