Sarah, Sorry to take so long to respond...I'm overseeding the bare spots in the lawn and it's a pain...but anyway, my walmart this year so far has not gotten any Lady in Red Salvia's in yet but what I got last year for a dollar later in the season was in brown 10" pots and labled only as annual salvia. They had the red and the pink/coral. There were 3 or 4 plants in each which divided very well and grew like crazy with the help of a bit of miracle gro. I'm hoping they get them in really soon altho with all the ones I've got "coming" from last years seed if they don't get them in soon, I won't need them! Mine are really doing quite well, I just wish I'd started them sooner!!! Mine got over 2 feet tall last year. If you are near Maryland, I've got extra plants if you want them! Or if you are anywhere near Cape May, I can bring them next weekend as we are going to try to go up for a bird watching/spotting trip. glo

Of course it made sense. I usually put them outside whenever the temperatures are 50 degrees or above, day or night. I have to be really careful about not forgetting and letting them stay outside at night. Sometimes we have these amazingly hot winter and early spring days that still are followed by cold nights. Remember when you first take them outside, if they have been raised indoors they must be hardened off first or sunburn and windburn can kill them in one day. I harden off indoor seedings for 1 hour the first day, 2 the second day, etc. The plants I bought at Wal-Mart today look nice and hardened-off already, so I'll keep them outside as much as I possibly can so they don't lose the ability to tolerate the sun and wind. I have them on the sun porch right now where they are enjoying watching it rain. If we're warm enough tomorrow, I'll put them out in the sun. The first tomato of the year is so wonderful, and I love it even more when I'm picking it and we're eating it in April instead of June. Last year it warmed up so fast in February that I planted four of the early tomato plants in a large, round stock tank 4' in diameter that was too big to carry indoors. It was a leap of faith to do that, but it paid off and those plants gave us ripe fruit from April through August or September. I don't know if I'll be that brave two years in a row, though.

I tried the intensive planting method last year. Well, compared to the way some do it, it wasn't really intensive. I sprinkled about a half dozen seeds into small styrofoam cups (which I am still recycling!) 2/3 full of damp potting mixm wrote the name on the cup, and set the cup in a plastic shoebox. When I had 8 cups in a box, I covered it with plastic shower caps from the dollar store (8/$1.00) and set it aside. As each variety sprouts, I take it out and set it on a windowsill. I jury-rig growing inexpensive light contraptions when I garden in the winter, but start to put them away around the time of the Equinox. The plants can hold in the cups for a long time. It is not mandatory to transplant at the two-leaf stage but I do begin the hardening off process early carrying them in and out faithfully. Eventually I pot them up to individual small cups of their own and they start to spend the night outdoors. During this transition period, I carry them around in large translucent plastic bins and leave the lid on when the weather is cold at night. The number one seedling secret I learned here at GW is that the seedlings don't like it warm. They seem to be much healther if started in a cool room. Also, as they get older, you can advance and retard their growth rate by adjusting the temperature of the room. i did a supercropping experiment on some of the plants and they developed very thick stems, with no apparent harm to the plant. I haven't eaten the fruit yet, though. jan Here is a link that might be useful: supercropping

Yes I/ve saved seed from a fresh tomato , it became known as the variety Sara's Galapagos. I removed no gel, I did nothing with those seeds and there was 100% germination. No fermentation is needed nor any of the oxidative methods such as Oxiclean Comet, etc. We already had a discussion here about the fact that while we know what fermentation can accomplish in terms ridding the seed exterior of pathogens, bad guys, and all the other plusses from fermentation, but while folks looked high and low there is no data to date to indicate the efficacy of the oxidative methods. So go for it. Just take the seeds out, don't bother to take the gel off, b'c the purpose of the gel is to prevent seed germination when conditions are NOT favorable for germination, like over the winter from dropped fruits, and it's part of the larger life cycle of tomatoes, and nothing more. It's the germination inhibitor that the gel has that affords that protection, but you'd be sowing the seed under favorable conditions for germination. Carolyn