I just thought Conifers required different, or rather more, care, than the easy breezy trees I've planted. ==>>> NOPE you need a 6 weeks of the ground not being frozen for planting in the fall to be successful. I don't know when that happens around here. == ok .. here in MI ... this is how it goes down.. you have to be very similar ... leaves turn color in oct ... when that happens.. trees.. ALL OF THEM.. are dormant above.. needles or not and that is when you dig them up and move or plant them .... so my planting window is mid sept.. to mid october.... so if the leaves fall off.. who cares .... in regard to trees ... this is s good time.. with warmish days.. and cool nights.. the soil stay warmish.. allowing the roots to get reset... thru november.. we continue to insure moisture... as the days and nights get cold... not that they need much.. just make sure the soil doesnt dry out .... late in fall ... here in MI.. ground freeze is anywhere between mid dec.. and mid jan .... last year.. right around the first of the year ... if you do the math from 10/1 to 1/1 .... that is precisely 90 days... then.. ground freeze may as well be suspended animation ... and you are all set for the ground to start thawing around mid march thru 4//1 .... and your tree i sitting there ... already to go ... MAYBE a call to your extension office.. will get someone.. based on this story.. to agree for your county .... or adjust such ... the best thing that can happen is full sun cover.. so winter winds dont dry out the soil .... but you know al about mulching.. so that ought to be good.. and finally.. YOU ARE WELCOME ... the only warning i have.. is not to buy bigboxstore carp .... that has been sitting there all summer.... if they have new fresh stock.. pungens ought to be rather bulletproof for you ... but if you buy bargain... death is possible .... ken ps: rereading the top quote.. the only difference.. is that most trees are deciduous.. and with most conifers.. you worry about needle retention ... and winter winds drying them .. but worse case.. i had a couple pines.. lose every single needle.. only to bud out and releaf in spring.. and never look back.. because i took care of the roots ....

I don't understand the purpose of the drop cloths, and like Larry, I'm concerned about the fire risk. Raising seeds indoors will lose its appeal really fast if your light-shelf set-up burns down the house. Tomato seedlings should be grown on at cool temperatures after the seeds germinate. The ideal temperature for them is 65 degrees. Leaving seedlings on a seed germination mat is risky and can damage them. I have a seed germination mat and rarely use it. If I'd known how easily 95% of the plants I grow from seed would germinate indoors without a germination mat, I never would have bought one. Some years I don't even dig it out of storage and use it at all. When I do use it, I move the entire flat off the mat once 50% of the cells in the 72-cell flat have germinated seeds in them. About the only vegetable seed I'll use the germination heat mat for is pepper seeds, particularly older seeds I've had a few years. I often germinate my tomato, pepper and other seeds in zip-lock bags like George mentioned. As long as I remove them from the zip-lock bag before the plant stems and roots become intertwined with one another, they don't mind being moved from the bags to the flats of soil-less mix. I find it very efficient because I'll have full flats with each cell filled with seedlings, instead of having flats with some empty cells because the seeds in them failed to germinate. I prefer to grow seedlings on for a few weeks in conditions that are fairly cool. Because the guest room where I put my light shelf faces the south and has big windows, I struggle to keep the room from getting too hot for them. To keep it cool, I close off the HVAC vent in that room so that it isn't getting any heat when the heater is on. I let them have a couple of hours of early morning sun and then close the drapes so that the room doesn't heat up too much. I keep a fan running 224/7. When you raise seedlings indoors in a room that is too hot, they quickly grow into monster plants, and that's not good for them. When they grow large quickly, they outgrow the available space under the plant lights. When that happens, what are you going to do with them? I used to move mine to my screened-in back porch, but once we built the greenhouse, that became the place I put them when I kick them out of the nice warm house. They might get warmer in the greenhouse than I'd like during the day, but then they get very close to freezing temperatures in there most nights, so that keeps them from growing rampantly like they would indoors. It is so early to be starting tomato seeds indoors that I get a headache thinking about it. You only need to start them 6 to 8 weeks before your recommended transplanting date. The OSU-recommended planting dates for tomato transplants are April 10-30, with the April 10th date being intended for folks in far SE OK and the April 30th date being intended for folks in far NW OK. The rest of us have to chose an appropriate transplanting date somewhere between April 10 and April 30, based on where we live in the state and on our local soil temperatures and air temperatures. Sometimes, in a really hot winter with an early last freeze, we can put tomato plants in the ground up to a month early and get away with it, but years like that are few and far between---maybe once or twice a decade, and it just happened in 2012, so I don't know if we'll have another year like that any time soon. I usually start my tomato seeds on Super Bowl Sunday, and that can be far too early for me in years when the air and soil temperatures stay cold deep into spring. And, it can be almost too late in a year like 2012 because it means my seedlings will barely be big enough to be transplanted early. So, I feel like it is the exact right time to start them since it isn't precisely right for long, cold springs or short, warm winters. It is right in the middle. If I started tomato seeds as early as you have, my husband would lock me in the cellar until the insane urge to start seeds now had passed. That is because he knows all too well how crazy it makes me to have big, healthy plants indoors that cannot go into the ground for another month or two. Because our weather is so erratic, even when I start them on time, I sometimes cannot put them into the ground for another 2-6 weeks beyond the preferred transplanting date. The last time we had a year like that, it just above drove me crazy, and I just about drove him crazy. So, since you started your seeds so early.....welcome to the insanity! Dawn

I don't know about freezing, but I have seen cupcakes made this way with lots of icing on top and decorations sprinkled on too.

FWIW, portulaca is dead easy to plant from seed. It even self-seeds here in the frozen north. I have found it to be not as common as it once was, so I started growing it from seed. I just literally sprinkle some seeds over and area where I want to plant it. I used to grow it in hanging baskets and porch planters in hot dry areas. Now I have mostly wet shade so I dunno. I have a sort of planting scheme of red, orange and yellow in pots that I put around my fire pit so it isn't just a big circular blob in the yard when we're not having a fire. Last year I planted some kniphofia, can't ever get that to grow from seed. We'll see if it survives. Portulaca might look nice there, for a foliage contrast. Last year I grew some yellow begonias too, that could grow in sun, they looked pretty good, got a lot of compliments. I try to put "hot" looking plants there . . . marigolds, dragon's wing begonias, etc.