I still have four seed bombs left in a baggie in my purse.....just waiting for the right spot. 8-) (and yes I did make sure there were no invasives in them.)

In most zone 5 regions, you still have time for containers. In fact, what you really should do to minimize weeds, is to cover the area you want to effect with a thick layer of compost and mulch to smother the grass and other weeds. Then you can dig down to the soil in spots to plant the sprouts from your containers. What you need to do is give the flower sprouts a head start and handicap the grass/weeds. If you just throw seeds down, the weeds already have strong root systems developed and the seeds/sprouts won't stand a chance. You could also cover the weeds with black plastic as soon as you have a day without snow. The plastic will help to warm the soil and start the weeds growing. But, they won't have any sun and they'll die. No matter what you do, I'd recommend mulch between any desirable plants. It will prevent seeds brought in by the wind from sprouting, and it will make pulling undesirables much easier. As far as the compostable containers, they have certainly been tried. Many report that they dry out too fast because the container tends to wick the moisture from the potting mix. The newspaper idea has also been tried. Many like to make smaller newspaper pots and put several of them into a milk jug to increase the number of types of seeds per container. Again, there is the drying issue, but it works well for some. One of the fun parts of wintersowing is trying different systems and finding what makes it the most fun and convenient for you. Hope that helps. Martha

Ahhhhh, seeing all that new growth gets the juices going doesn't it. The sun was out here for a couple of hours today FINALLY!!! So I went out and tidied up one of the borders where a lot of specie crocus are. Tom I've got dandelions, want some? I didn't think so :). Kathy, sorry you're having such a rotten winter we had a stinker of a winter last year, with temps dropping below 0 F. So far this winter has been exceptionally mild, unfortunately that means lots of slugs and snails to deal with in the coming months. I hope the weather turns nicer for those of you are suffering from the wet, snow and cold, take heart spring is just around the corner. Look at it this way at least the cold kills off some of those nasty little beasties that attack our gardens. Annette

On 1 May guerrilla gardeners around the world sow sunflowers all over the place. It's a way to bring beauty, bumble bees and bundles of fun to your neighborhood. 2011 is the fifth "International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day" and this time it's on a SUNday! So hopefully it'll be bigger and more colourful than ever before. Make a plan for May 1 to head out to a patch of public land, or make a walk o