Wow! I looked up those bags, and what a great idea! I have 120 cuttings of which I'll be lucky if 30 of them grow into plants, but I was worried about the expense of containers. Thanks for the mention of those grow bags! I am a huge believer in air pruning, but I'm sure I can vent those bags with a hammer and a nail punched gazillions of times! Also, that was a great idea about the bags of topsoil! Sorry I don't grow potatoes, so can't help you there. I just appreciate your mention of that gardening site and those bags! Suzi

Tom, "John, are you using the white bags? I'd be concerned about the dyes and chemicals in the other colors.... " Good point. Heres what they (Greenbag Inc) say... "Is made from non-toxic, non-corrosive materials and safe color-fast dyes". I'm interested in these for several reasons, drainage, cooling and cost. I know they drain well, I don't think you could ever fill one with a garden hose. The upside down tomato bag I tried last spring stayed cool and it was black. The ones from Publix are a buck and I hear W mart's are cheaper. So I'll give it a try. john

Mary, Usually when I carry them out the first week, I do carry the flats back up the stairs to the light shelf as the sun room is full of tropical birds that probably would eat the plants when allowed out of their cages. So, the first week, the plants go up the stairs and back on the light shelf, but then by the second week when are they being allowed to stay outdoors many more hours per day, I generally just put them on a baker's rack placed in the mudroom for just this purpose. The baker's rack sits behind the mudroom door when the door is opened so it isn't in anyone's way. There's a window in the mudroom door so that the plants get afternoon sun when on the baker's rack. I've done this for years and it works really well. The mudroom isn't heated but sits between the house and the sunroom, both of which are heated, so it doesn't drop below 50 degrees at night no matter how cold the outdoor temperature drops. I really don't mind carrying a few flats of plants back up the stairs in Week 1 of hardening off because it is good exercise. In Week 2 and beyond the plants can stay in the mudroom which is good, because by then I'm starting more flats of plants on the light shelf. My general M.O. is that when a flat of plants moves from the light shelf to the mudroom to stay, then I start a new flat of seeds to fill the bare spot left by the migration of plants downstairs. Once the newer plants upstairs are ready to go downstairs and outside for sunlight, the air temperatures generally are warm enough outside at night that the mudroom plants can move to the greenhouse. On nights when the greenhouse might not stay quite warm enough, I could put a heater out there or I could throw a 10-degree frost blanket over them to help hold in the daytime heat. Really, the whole process for the flats of seedlings, from light shelf to outdoors for an hour or to (so a week of in-and-out-and-up) to out all day/in mudroom all and, finally, out all day/in greenhouse all night is like a merry-go-round. As soon as one group of children (plants) gets off the merry-go-round and starts sleeping in the greenhouse, a new group of children advances to the next level. And so it goes through at least April. I'm like the old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do, except the children are plants and I do know what to do with them. I've started 31 varieties of tomatoes, with multiple seeds started of each. I started the seeds in 5-oz. paper cups filled with a sterile, soil-less seed-starting mix. Right now, there are 72 16-oz. red Solo cups with the potted-up plants. Most cups have 2 plants (and will remain that way until they go into the ground). With a few cups there's only 1 plant. These are the varieties I started December 1st in order to have my own transplants hopefully at the same size as the earliest transplants that arrive in stores here around the beginning of February: Azoychka, Beefmaster, Big Daddy, Black From Tula, Black Krim, Black Sea Man, Brandywine-Sudduth's, Caspian Pink, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Early Doll, German Giant, German Johnson, Greek Rose, Halladay's Mortgage Lifter, Indian Stripe, Jumbo Jim Orange, Lucky Cross, Nebraska Wedding, Orange Minsk, Paul Robeson, Pruden's Purple, Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter, Red Brandywine, Soldacki, Sophie's Choice, Speckled Roman, SunGold, Supersonic, Traveler 76, True Black Brandywine, and Vorlon. These are the varieties I will start most likely on Super Bowl Sunday: Aunt Ginny's Purple, Aussie, Big Beef, Black Cherry, BrandyFred Dwarf, Church, Crimson Cushion, Delicious, Dwarf Sweet Sue, Ferris Wheel, Fred's Tie-Dye, German Queen, Heidi, Italian Tree, Kellogg's Breakfast, Maralinga Dwarf, Merrill Schulz Beefsteak, Santiago, Sioux, Summertime Gold, Tennessee Britches, Uralskiy Ranniy, Valenda Pink, Wood's Famous Brimmer and Zogola. Then, there's a third stack of seed packets not yet on any list and they are possible "maybe" varieties that I might add in and start on Super Bowl Sunday, but they also might stay in that stack and be fall tomatoes. If I go that route, I'll start those seeds May 1st for planting out in mid-June. That's a bit early for fall tomatoes, but I like to get them in the ground before the heat gets too insane. I do try to plant the fall tomatoes as far away from the Spring tomatoes as possible to keep them safer from any existing tomato pests and diseases. Is this enough vicarious living for you? (grin) The third pile exists, by the way, because I seem incapable of making a list and sticking to it. It is dangerous for us to even walk into a nursery with tomato plants in Spring because no matter how many plants I have at home, I have to stop and look at them, evaluate how healthy/big the plants are, look at varieties I like and sigh and say "why didn't I grow that one this year? I really like that one?" or "I should buy this one. I've never grown it. I wonder if it is any good?" etc. Tim is a great enabler as he always just says "If you want it, just get it" and so, generally at some point I break down and buy 2 or 3 or 10 plants to add to the ones I grew from seed. Tomato addiction is a severe disease, but it is a joyful disease. Melissa, If you do that, be sure to poke holes in the bottom of the bag for drainage!! I have grown all kinds of things in 10-gallon bags from SunLeaves. I particularly like them because they are black on the inside (to block sun rays from the roots) and white on the outside (to reflect the sun's rays and heat in the summer). All plants in grow bags can suffer from excessive heat, so I like to grow them, when possible, where they get shade in the middle of the day, or at least shade from afternoon onward. I've grown them in places that get sunshine all morning until 10 or 11 a.m., then shade until about 2 or 3 p.m. and then late afternoon sun, and I've grown them where they get sun only during the morning and early afternoon hours and have shade from mid-afternoon onward. In full sun, the unrelenting heat in July and August can be hard on them, and tomato plants in Grow Bags of any size need careful attention to watering or BER can become a huge problem. The bags and soil really do not provide any insulation from the heat, so we have to watch those bags carefully for heat-related issues. Hazel, Slug-Go and similar organic slug baits control snails and slugs easily. I always buy it in the stores when I see it arrive in Spring because once the actual growing season arrives, it often remains sold out and hard to find. Now might be a good time to start cilantro. It is a cool-season herb that needs to be planted in the ground in the Feb-Mar time frame and usually will burn up in the heat in June. Most people who have trouble with cilantro have planted it too late and it burns up in the heat or bolts before they harvest much from it. I usually start it indoors in late Jan/early Feb and put it in the ground in late Feb/early Mar depending on what the temperatures are doing here. I don't have to worry about when to put it in the ground----if the weather is warm up for chamomile volunteers to sprout and not freeze, it is warm enough for me to put cilantro plants in the ground. Dawn

I liked the Bloem brand. They held up the best. I am using one square bag this year for the third season. The cheap ones went in the trash with the plant and media. The Bloem ones were not cheap but held up well.