Hi Steve, Congrats on your success in your first season! Having too many seedlings germinate in a container is a great problem to have! I also usually put about 9 seeds (for tomatoes, at least) per gallon milk jug, and for me, I don't find it overcrowded. I plant my tomato seedlings out when they are only about 3 inches tall. If I have any concerns about the weather or high winds, or see proof of critters in the garden, I will cover the seedlings with the top half of a soda bottle with the cap taken off, like a little cloche. I might do this for a week or so if needed. In other words, I don't "pot up" before transplanting, which it sounds like you might do from you saying "eliminate another transplanting". Just thought this might be another option for you if you felt you had to wait to plant out. If you prefer, you can certainly do one seed per half gallon jug. That would indeed give you more time to let the seedling grow before transplanting. You will of course go through more potting soil (and need lots more jugs, lol) but if that's okay by you, go for it! Enjoy your tomatoes! Can't wait for that first one to be ripe! :) Dee

My garden did great, I found lots of monarch catepillars on my butterfly weed plants, I have several all over. I had a wonderful display of irises but will need to start digging them up and dividing them next year. I have a huge iris bed and I realize they won't bloom if I start in the spring dividing them but because it is so huge, there is no way I can get it all done next spring, will be an oncoming process every year from now on I think, just getting out of hand. I have planted alot of stuff for the butterflies, salvia, sdeum, coneflowers, lilies, blackeyed susans, etc... I also plant lots of zinnias.

With most lettuces you can tell when they are starting to bolt because the centre of the plant starts to elongate upwards a bit. So harvest first any that are looking a bit pointy. After that it's a race against time to gobble them up before they shoot up a stalk. They'll go slower if the weather's cool. If all else fails you can make soup from bolted lettuces and put it in the freezer.

I personally feel that crop rotation is mainly a concern with large scale agriculture. Things to consider are: pests, nutrient levels in the soil, and soil diseases. With sfg, all of these problems can be corrected very easily. 1. Pests are gonna find your plants, regardless of location. A person just has to deal with them. 2. Nutrient levels are gonna be replenished with additional compost or fertilizers. 3. Soil diseases can be a real concern, but can be eliminated in several ways. I'm planning on moving some things around next year, but only because I will be introducing a couple of new veggies into the garden. EG