The difference in success from year to year involves so many variables. I've been WS for 6 years now, and even with that amount of experience, the differences from year to year, do vary every year. My success rate has always been at least 95%; success defined by me as germination of any kind in a container, not the number of seedlings germinated in each container, I do try to keep records as to where the seeds came from. Such things as trades, commercial seeds and what co. they came from, my own collected seeds. From year to year, not all seed will germinate the same, even for me. I always put out the perennials first. Being in New England, I do have a few months to get them out and get the cold that they need, BUT, 2 years ago we had the strangest winter. 60 to near 70 degrees in January and I know people that had WS their seeds in Dec. and had seeds germinating in January because it was so warm. Those plants didn't survive. I had a late start that winter and ended up not getting my seeds out till mid February and they germinated fine for me, I didn't have any germination too early. So for me, I learned that I can start in mid Feb and it won't be too late for me. BUT, I've also had some serious cold snaps as late as mid May and if I had not covered my tender annuals several nights in a row, I would have lost all of them. So variables are major things to deal with. Weather is a real problem. One year I had 8 inches of rain over 2 days and all my containers where floating in the backyard and the ducks where swimming right beside and around them. Most survived, but there where some that survived the floods, only to be eaten by the invasion of slugs that I had never had before in 29 years living in my home. When we sow seeds that we traded for, we take a risk. Where the seeds collected when they where ripe or where they too early? If too early then the seeds will not be viable and will not germinate for you. The same thing can happen with commercial bought seeds as well. I've had my share of "no shows" in containers from commercial purchased seeds from big name seed companies. I've gotten my money back, but still had no plants from the seeds I planned on. Watering can be a problem, which goes with the weather. this year has been the craziest weather I have seen in 28 years living in my home. We've gone from freezing temps to 80's and 90's, with temps not staying stable for more than 2-3 days at most. 80's and 90's in early April are not normal where I am, but we've had them. We've had frosts long after it should not be happening and may happen again tonight. I've never had to water my containers before the last week in April to the first week in May at the earliest. This year I have had to water every other day since the first week in April. Germination for me has been very eradic as well. Same seeds, same kind of containers, sowed the same day from the same collected, traded or commercial packet and containers are germinating days and weeks apart. My datura are usually about 4 inches tall now, and most have not germinated yet. They need steady 70 degree soil temp to germinate but they haven't gotten it. And, we have not had a lot of rain. lots of days with rainy showers that moisten the top of the containers but not enough to soak into them. Over 6 years of WS, I've learned to just go with the flow. Always expect good germination in terms of container numbers, sow more seeds than I will need in more containers, which usually will cover the beds planted. Assume that some will not germinate and that's just the way mother nature is. Remember that no matter how you look at it, you will have more plants than you would have if you had to buy them and just WS next year and keep going. The only way you will have a sure fire way to have every plant that you want, no matter what, is to buy them. That's far too expensive for me to deal with, considering the number of beds that i have to fill and keep filling. WS does it for me and I wouldn't do it any other way. Fran

In a town with lots of old houses people know who you are not by your last name but by which old house you live in. Setting mouse traps, wrapping windows in plastic and digging out draft stoppers are part of the "normal fall routine". Quilts, wool blankets and curtain rods of various sizes and shapes and condition have been hung over least used hallways,doors,windows. Down comforters are on all the beds not because they are fashionable but because they are required to keep the chill out at night. The idea of a heated toilet seat now makes sense to you. You gladly share your bed with the cats and dogs you have. That extra body heat comes in handy on those cold nights. The phrase "making do" takes on a whole new meaning when you are going thru a major project and either the bathroom is shut down or the kitchen. Hopefully not both at the same time. You know more about the house's history and PO's than you do your own family tree. You treasure every little tidbit of information you find on the house. Be it a pic, a mention in a book or just someone you know who knows someone who played in the house when they were a kid.

So, from Pedro's graphs, it appears that the steam oven has a wobble of about 3-4 degrees, which is about what I'd expect from the discussion. Plenty good for making dinner, but not precise enough for when that's the difference between different levels of doneness. I think this is where the immersion circulator is revolutionary and wipes out a lot of the assumptions in the existing texts. Given the assumption that they really are as accurate as they're supposed to be (I tested once with my instant read, because I was using a big roasting pan and wasn't sure about the large volume, and it was fine, but that was nowhere near a scientific test), and have had tremendous results, but haven't had a fail to investigate. When looking at the old style commercial circulators with tanks and commercial or the original high end only CSOs, many thousands of dollars for either, for a specialty piece of equipment, it's a debate worth having. With an inexpensive immersion circulator and a $10 pot or bucket or cooler, easily gotten for free, as well, it just throws those arguments out. The immersion circulator can be classed with the torch, infrared thermometer, and grill press, as a kitchen gadget that's slightly pricey for a limited use item, but is just another tool in the kitchen. It's the price of sous vide grade vacuum bag rolls that's the kicker, nowadays, when a circulator costs about the same as any other countertop oven. I reuse the water for the washing up. :) Well, that paragraph is a mess. What I meant was that a lot of the discussions are from before the immersion circulator (and from a professional perspective) and I think it really changes things, especially for home cooks who already have a vacuum sealer. I didn't find what you were referring to in Cooking Issues, but it was very interesting. I did find the discussion of the pickling in vacuum interesting, but I don't know enough to know if the vacuum chamber is necessary or just what they had? Perhaps it builds a truer vacuum, and the pickler was talking about the pressure and pressure release boiling, so maybe that is different with a chamber than just sucking out the air. If so, that would be a reason for the small vacuum drawers, as well. I've been looking at sous vide turkey breasts. I did the roulades last year, and they were great. I found a lot of recommendations for on the bone, but they still remove the ribs. I don't want to fiddle around with that, though I could probably get the butcher to do it. Some of those drawers don't look like they'd hold a whole turkey breast on the bone, though I'm pretty sure it would fit in my bag material. Chanop, many thanks, again, for the great discussion and for providing so many interesting sources of input. It's a real treat!

Bumping this thread to see if anyone is interested in swaps this year. I definitely can provide this summer: yuzu, bearss lemon, calamondin I might be able to provide depending on how much growth I get this year: smith red valencia, seville orange, sudachi, duncan grapefruit, oroblanco, tahitian pomelo I would be interested in: kabosu (doubt anyone has it but worth a shot!), (excalibur) red lime, marrakech limetta, santa teresa lemon, genoa lemon