chueh: You could try sprinkling some seeds into your beds now, you might get lucky. Or not. If you have a lot of seeds, all you have to lose is a few seeds. Some of our members "wintersow" all year. Some folks have started or are starting some seeds now, technically summer sowing I guess, but still in milk jugs or something similar. This helps to retain enough moisture to coax the seeds to germinate. Like Lynne said, they should be up and growing and planted before frost. I wanted to try it this summer, but I haven't just because it's been so hot and dry here. I would guess you'd have the same problem in Ga. It would be really tough to keep things moist enough to grow here. Some folks do though with great success. Most perennials started now should be established enough to bloom next summer. Our weather has been so unusual this year. I do have some of my own saved seeds which I might just sprinkle into beds, as you suggested, and just give them a shot. I have enough of some seeds to consider them expendable. They'd probably work better in covered containers, in shade, though. I have to say, though, that some perennials need cold stratification to germinate, which makes wintersowing the perfect, easiest, most certain chance of success. Many perennials won't bloom until their 2nd or 3rd year, but are often worth the wait. Stick around. We have fun sowing and gardening all year round. We even have a member in Alaska who has teriffic results with wintersowing. Besides, we're such an entertaining group. Karen

i plucked mine before the first frost and after they dried the only ones that looked ok were the ones that were dried before i picked them. the others were shriveled and or moldy. oh well.

Hi, looking for reassurance that frozen-a-lot marigold seeds will be good. I sell seeds sometimes, and wouldn't want to sell duds. Now that spring appears to be somewhere around the corner, I have to finish getting my gardens in order. I found gazillions of marigolds still holding their seeds in. Last year we weird, went sort of straight from summer to winter. First really hard, killed everything frost was Nov. 10 here and I'm in zone 5! So never got all the fall cleanup done, as it went right from growing to snowing. Marcia

Around here, everyone waits on the "magical date" of the May 10th cold spell to pass but take that w/ a grain of salt. Your garden will make it if you plant everything the first of June. Cool weather crops like cabbage, lettuce, onions, broccoli, etc can be put out now. We've moved all our cabbage and cauliflower plants out of the greenhouses to harden them up but people have already been buying them to set out. Where are you located? We're technically in zone 6 but its so damn cold here we consider ourselves in zone 5 :-) Regards, Tom