What kinds of indoor space do you have available for seed starting versus your outdoor space? If I'm growing seedlings indoors for weeks, I prefer to use the unconditioned basement rather than conditioned space to grow seedlings. The warmer conditioned spaces encourage the seedlings to grow faster, which is a no-no without LOTS of light, which is difficult to provide. So growing under lights in cooler temps (like an unconditioned basement) typically lead to sturdier transplants than growing warm under lights. Before I got my 480 sq ft hoophouse put in I used a very sturdy low cold frame that I put about fifteen steps out my back door. Mine looks very similar to this: The outdoor mini cold frame was *EXTREMELY* useful in hardening off plants prior to transplanting them out. I also had a small heat mat out there to put the more cold-sensitive plants on top of if it was just too cold. I think that the short cold frames retain heat in the right places a little better than the tall ones with tops that are too high off the ground. My frame is about 4 feet by 8 feet and was totally indispensable until I got my big hoophouse. I think this year I'll get the little cold frame in operation again because it's a shorter trip than making the way to the big hoophouse for setting out and bringing in transplants. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I like to use a combination of a small indoor growing space (at cool temps and under fluorescent shop lights) and a small outdoor cold frame (with a little heat mat if needed). You will always need to harden off plants prior to transplanting them out permanently, and a well-made polycarbonate cold frame allows you to do so at much lower risk to your plants!

I am currently experimenting with cuttings in one of my large water containers. It is almost full of soil and clay kitty litter (so kinda like a muck) and the rest is water. It is currently full of /bog and pond plants and in full sun. Some pink jasmine (jasminum polyanthum) vines wandered into it and rooted themselves all over the place. I pulled them out and cut them apart and put them into pots where they are doing well. So that gave me the idea to take some cuttings from some other vines around the yard and put them in there to see if they would root. They look great so far.... ~Lyn

asolo, Sounds like you have experienced wok soup, as have I. The wok cooking with this unit is totally different. It is so hot, I can't believe the power. That is a luxury in wok-ing, as you know. I am smitten with it, and this after only fixing two meals in that number of days. The one I purchased has the 18" carbon steel wok, so I believe that is the smaller version. I used a 14' wok on my range, so that was my frame of reference. The 18 is huge, but I think they offer a 22, which you could feed a pile of folks with. Outdoor wok cooking is a natural. Wok cooking produces so much smoke and concentrated aromas that doing it outdoors just makes sense. Kind of like frying fish. P.S. I was sort of shocked to learn that my large burner on my modern smooth cooktop range can only manage about 12,000 BTUs. No wonder I was getting wok soup, or at least not the results I had hoped for. This outdoor burner, with 65,000 BTUs at hand, did the trick for me!

If you're not insistent on a self clean oven, the Bluestar fits your bill as well. You may or may not be familiar with the way the grates can be removed, allowing a Wok to nest right down into the burner. Works fabulously! I've had my 36RNB with griddle nearly three years, and absolutely love it. If only in my dreams I'd have room for a 48", a 24" griddle would be in my kitchen! I do as much cooking, if not more, on the griddle than on the burners. Personally, I've never quite understood the attraction of self clean. I had a S-C Thermador for 27 years. I used the feature maybe two or three times early on, and never again. I've had my Bluestar almost three years, and not had to clean the oven yet. To me, one great benefit of a manual clean gas oven, is the lack of electronics, leaving less chance of repairs easily made by oneself.