I think the goat is kinda cute, goats have pretty eyes. Does he whine or mew or bleat or whatever sound goats make when you're paying more attention to the dog? Many years ago I wanted to increase my columbines, so I took the dried stems of the few I had in the garden and shook them around here and there. It took over a year before I saw all the blooms, but I had an array petal count, some with or without spurs, and a range of blues, pinks, purple, plum, white and an odd grey color--well, the grey wasn't bad and actually was lovely--you just don't expect grey for a flower bloom. Open-pollinated columbine seedlings are like a mixed litter of kittens, you never know what you'll get but you'll love everyone. I do a lot of seed packing here and as expected some of it hits the floor :-O but waste not want not--I have a new bagless vacuum with a catcher cup which I dump over the side of the porch behind a shrub. I don't know all that will sprout there but it will amaze. Yesterday I finished packing out a large bag of mixed wildflowers--once you get to the bottom there's more chaff than seed, though it is still loaded with a lot of very small seeds. Well, it doesn't look right for sharing so I dumped the remainder over the other side of the porch railing--that's gonna be a sight when those sprout and grow too. Direct sowing can be a hazardous thing--not to the sower but to the seeds. Seeds are food! and Mother Nature will take as many as she can. So, when you're direct sowing you must sow heavily to avoid disappointment, you must be realistic and expect less than a ten percent of the seeds you sow will survive long enough to bloom--ten percent might actually be a high number. But if you're sowing 40,000 poppy seeds then 400 plants is still 400 plants. Obviously results will vary based on predator, climate, and skill and tools of the gardener; but when it comes down to it direct sown seed survival is mostly dependant on luck--you either get eaten or you don't. Mother Nature is very hungry.

I agree with slowrider - what my town facility calls compost is really "composted" clippings, not the "black gold" nutritional material mel talks about. good as a mulch but not much good for amending soil for sfg. i'm not a by-the-book sfg gardener so i would go get some dr. earth tomato vegetable/fertilizer and work it into the soil - or even make a tea for quicker effect following the directions on the back. it's a slow release organic fertilizer that has other goodies to help improve your soil and microbial activity. however if you want to stick to mel's method, you should go get a big bag of compost - any big box garden store will carry some kind of compost. see link below - i haven't used this kind but anything would be better than nothing.

Most MG's are fast growers so you can do either. If starting them indoors make sure you have adequate lighting until it's warm enough to put them outside. I soak my MG seeds in water overnight before planting. Many will germinate in a day or two. If they don't have enough light while inside the vines will get leggy and weak. A word of warning about Grandpa Otts, it reseeds like crazy. I planted some several years ago and have been pulling them out by the bagful ever since.

The portion of the house that my plants are in is half underground. We run central heat at about 70F, but it stays cooler downstairs usually and that room in particular has all the vents closed. I'd say with big circulation fan blowing on them it's probably in the mid to high-60F range, probably closest to 67-68F during the warmer weather we've been laughingly calling 'winter'. I don't have a thermometer in that room but the living room registers a solid 68F most of the time. Might be a bit warmer considering the lights -- they are LEDs though and do not give off a lot. Probably just got lucky. The rest of the pieces are doing nothing except a few that are possibly molding. Do not quite have the sterilization washes down. I'm a clumsy gal and while my brain understood the concept, my hands were not always as quick to obey, haha.