Jasmine, I noticed that the lamp reflector in your picture is round. Can you tell us more about the light you are using? In other words, is that an old-style incandescent? A cfl? Something else? One bulb? Many? A saying I've seen many places is that "You are not a gardener until you have killed something." Congratulations, you are now a real gardener. If you want to try something that doesn't require additional light, read up on WinterSowing. There's a forum here, with detailed FAQ's. Wintersown seeds are planted in covered containers outdoors and don't sprout until the weather is consistently warm enough. I start many plants that way, but I grow indoors under lights too. Most wintersown plants in my zone wait until April or even May to sprout. I get desperate to see green well before then. So every year I start seeds for something that needs long months of indoor care, so I have something to nurture / torture through the long winter. ;-) I second the use of mosquito control products for fungus gnats. I keep a metal tea ball in a watering can. The tea ball holds a few of the mosquito "bits" or a quarter of a "dunk" and keeps the crumbs from clogging the spout. I replace the dunk periodically. I keep the watering can filled and use that to water anything that needs a drink, all winter. I ask about the light because I suspect you haven't got enough light on your seedlings. I don't think that western window is going to be enough either. I've killed many seedlings thinking that winter sunlight filtered through window glass would be enough. With what you've invested in seeds, potting mix, trays, and time, it makes sense to get proper lights. You'll also want a timer and a power strip. Look for a timer that accepts a three-prong plug. Plug the timer into the wall, the power strip into the timer and the lights into the power strip. Now you can run up to six lights synchronized on one timer. My preference is for fluorescent tubes. So far the plants are happy as well. Two of the two-bulb shoplights, or a single four-bulb fixture, are necessary to light a standard flat of seedlings. A single shoplight isn't wide enough and the plants at the edges will stretch and lean in. With four of the 4' bulbs side by side you can light two flats. I learned the hard way that if I have room for two flats, to only sow one flat with seeds. Half a flat would be even better. I'm working on my restraint. Once the seedlings in the first flat grow and need to be potted up into larger quarters, that extra space is necessary to keep them all lit. I use the 4' size because they're easy to find (I got a pair of fixtures free through Freecycle) and the 4' bulbs come in at the lowest price, most options, and most readily available. Fluorescent tubes come in different diameters. T stands for Tube. T12 is the fattest, T5s are the skinny sort found in many "grow lights." I use T12s because I already have the fixtures. If you're light-shopping, T8s are highly recommended on the Growing under Lights forum. "Cool White" bulbs work fine. Get them very close to your seedlings as digdirt said. You'll need to be able to adjust the height of either the lights or the trays as seedlings grow. If your household includes anyone with waggy tails, poking paws, or grabby fingers then you will want the lights mounted securely and both lights and seed trays out of reach. If that's not an issue, you can carefully prop them on something, but remember you're dealing with thin glass. Do check the temperature as well, and check it against the preferred ranges for each plant you're growing. Any accurate thermometer with the correct range will do the job. Good luck! Edie

The only way I could upload multiple photos is by reducing the size of the photo on my camera. For some reason it was set to max, & no need for that for me anyway. Not that it is speedy now, but I uploaded 7 photos in less time than it took to load 1 before.

I use drip irrigation too, about 20 minutes in the morning and again early afternoon. Container plants need frequent fertilizing because they get washed out often. I use municipal compost from a suburban town, it is less than 1-1-1, plus a time release fertilizer. This year it's Miracle-Gro Shake N Feed for Roses, I think it's 9-18-9, which should encourage good blooming. I also bought a fertilizer injector for around $50, it connects to the drip system; whenever it waters, it fertilizes at the same time, a very, very small amount. It's adjustable, I can turn a knob and change the ratio to give a stronger shot if needed. I generally use a hi-phosphorous (middle number) fertilizer early in the season, (10-52-8, 15-30-15) then switch to a more balanced formula with higher K (Plantex 15-15-18 w/micro nutrients, or a "tomato" formula like 18-18-21.) Hope this helps. Mark

I thought I had upgraded to IE7 at one point. Yahoo wants me to upgrade to IE8, but after reading about it here, I was reluctant to do so. I did go to windows updates last week to see if there were any I needed to do, but after scanning it said there were none. How do I get IE 7?