I am down in the Bay Area, warmer but our nighttime temps can get into the high 20's. I just started my tomato seeds last weekend. I plant the seeds in 6 oz yogurt cups with 4 holes punched in the bottom (about 3mm each). I plant in plain old Supersoil Potting Mix. I put the soil in the cups dry then soak it through really good. Plant a seed in each one then spritz once more with a pump sprayer just to make sure the seed is good and moist. I keep the cups in a plastic tray with a dome, but any kind of loose cover to keep in humidity will work. I've used a plastic Rubbermaid bin that I've drilled holes in the top. That works. I leave them in the house until they sprout. I water them about once a week using a pump sprayer so as not to disturb the soil. Soak them until water starts dripping out the holes in the bottom. In the larger yogurt cups, you don't need to water more often than every 5-7 days, but when you do water, don't be stingy. The split second they sprout (and I mean split second to keep them from bolting for sun), I move them out to my workshop, which is a Tuff Shed unheated. They go under plain old shop lights. I have some reflective insulated panels I place around the seeds. The lights provide enough heat, and the insulated panels holds the heat in well enough even on those cold nights. I leave the lights on a timer about 14 hours a day (5 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and try to keep them about 2 inches above the plants, which means you'll need to be able to adjust the height as the seedlings grow. Below is a link to my gardening blog which shows my seed set-up out in the shop. I've never had a solitary problem, and all the plants I start from seed always outperform the occasional plants I might pick up at a garden store. I buy good seeds though. Johnny's is my choice, but there are other reputable companies. When the tomatoes outgrow the yogurt cups, I move them up to the Solo (keggar cups, I call them). By then, the weather is getting close to planting and I start leaving them in the yard during the day and bringing them in at night. You'll see lots of posts on my blog under the label "Seed Starting" that has plenty of pictures. Hope this helps! Incidentally, it's the folks on this forum who taught me most everything I needed when starting my garden, so you're definitely in the right place! Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Seed Starting

Mine stay in small clay pots. I have double glass doors going to the back deck and my winter plants stay there in a large rabbit cage. I have cats so the cage in necessary to keep plants safe.... one of my stupider cats will bite habenera peppers over and over. No lights so they get pretty sick and spindly in January. Days are getting longer so I have new leaves and flowers the last couple weeks! About 3 years on these plants. I have an unused LED grow light but as long as the plants are doing okay I can't see getting that out. Didn't even know I could keep them over winter until I read about it on gardenweb a couple years back. Because of my small pot size I have to use a very very weak water soluable fertilizer. I use the "bloom" builder as it has less nitrogen.

Re: cornmeal and ants. Have been having a problem with ants on my sunporch. They seem to be living underneath and coming up through cracks in the tile floor. There's no way for me to get to where they live to spray (and I don't like sprays anyway). So I mixed up some cornmeal and borax in a little deli container lid and left it near where they've been arriving. It's been about a week, and the problem has considerably slowed. BUT they seem to be 'burying their dead' in the cornmeal mixture. I've actually seen a live ant dragging and leaving a dead one there! and there were several little carcasses last I looked. But hey--if it works, without dangerous chemicals, or smells that will give me respiratory problems, I'm thrilled.

Woodnative, that's a nice spot you've put together. My Chionanthus are still a few weeks away from flowering, but you've reminded me what I have to look forward to. In these parts, Carpinus caroliniana is an understory tree with a strong preference for moist soils. They can handle more sun, but moist soil is a consistent. They will also look much different in full sun than in their natural shady conditions. Personally, I think they look better when grown in shade. The canopy is more open and with horizontal branching. I've got two growing here, both of which I've sited at the woodland edge. To get a real appreciation for this tree you need to venture into a moist woodland.