Hi Donald, welcome to the Winter Sowing Forum. *It's recommended to basically make flats of somekind out of materials at hand, put soil in them -> sow your seeds --> set flats outside in a "safe" area --> wait till spring to see what comes up.* Yep, that's basically what it is, and the nicest aspect, I think, of the method is that you get to do it your way with what you have and within the size of your own wallet. *Wouldnt it be easier to just direct sow in the soil where you want the future plants to be?* All seeds that can be WinterSown can also be Direct Sown, but they should be sown heavily because Mother Nature takes the vast majority of direct sown seeds to feed her critters and biota. Direct Sowing, also called Direct Seeding, is a traditional method for sowing seeds outdoors. It involves preparing the soil bed, sowing the seeds, and keeping them moist throughout germination. The Winter Sowing Method is better because the seeds are protected in their mini-greenhouses. When you direct sow in the ground the seeds are at the mercy of Mother Nature....they can get washed out in downpours, be eaten by critters and bug and birds, desiccate in the wind, or can rot in the soil. In a WS mini-greenhouse the seeds are in a protected environment. They get the same weather as the seeds in the ground...same temperatures, and the little slits in the lids allow both rain and melting snows to keep the soil moist and the flats watered. But they areprotected so more of the seeds will survive to germinate in Spring. The germination counts are generally astonishingly high. *My reasoning is that, if the seeds had dropped from a parent plant already in the garden, that successful germination is just as likely from "semi-natural" re-seeding as it would be if I used the recommended winter sowing method suggested in the FAQ's.* Plants which reseed in temperate climates are those recommended for Winter Sowing. *I guess to me it just seems like the recommended method over complicates the process and just adds more work, after I've spent the growing season pruning, deadheading, weeding, mulching, topdressing etc.* Just sow the flat and stash it outside on the picnic table or wherever your dog won't grab it or your snowblower won't hit it. *Again those are just my thoughts on the winter sowing process and in now way am I trying to gainsay the method recommended by others.* Don't worry about it, WS is very incredulous when you hear about it--you like to direct seed in your garden. I do both. I have a veggie garden and direct sow many of my leafy greens. Many posters do any or all of WS, DS or GUL. *I just have a terrible time trying to start seed indoors, and so I've amassed, what I consider a ALOT of seed packets, that are waiting to be planted but due to my iffy results starting seeds indoors "6 weeks before the last frost", which here in central OH could be as late as the end of April.* You've come to the right forum. Winter Sowing removes a lot of the frustration that comes with indoor germination, it's a big relief and gives you a gazillion seedlings. Nice plant list, it can all be WSed. Your yard will be a butterfly party. T PS, Did anyone tell you that Winter Sowing can be addicting?

Transport bolts: Keep them. Reinstalling may require "manhandling" the tub/support structure to align it with the exterior cabinet mounting holes ... which may require removing the top panel for access ... which is probably why a service center is typically indicated. Filter: Normally it won't need cleaning, which is why the manual doesn't mention it ... but cleaning can be indicated if it or the pump gets clogged or jammed with coins, strings/lint, hairpins, or other such debris. Some FL owners like to check it periodically. Side-vent kit: It will (should) include installation instructions, and requires opening/disassembling the dryer a bit ... which may *technically* void the warranty if not done by an authorized servicer. I recall a recent post from someone who (successfully) did their own install, after figuring out how to get into the machine. Your choice whether to attempt it. Drain: Maybe, maybe not. Can't know for sure without trying it.

Ok,..as I'm in my usual hurry, I haven't read ALL the posts so if this conflicts with any you will have to weigh that.Here's my 2 cents. I DO like cellulose,..it prevents many bugs and saved one of my buildings from burning down (also said by the state fire marshal) Superhot fire in the attic caused by an electrical mistake was so hot that copper wire melted.Huge beams too. (blast furnace effect because we hadn't done walls at that time and the races allowed this effect) However only 2 inches of the 15 inches of the cellulose burned off You can stop it from settling by adding 10% of blowing in fiberglass when doing it,.. You can generally stop moisture by a good moisture barrier paint on the inside of exterior walls. OK,.here is an old post of mine from a Landlord board so parts might not totally apply. ************************************************************ Here are a few more considerations. Yes if you can afford to do your units with a good color thermal camera and have someone come and do properties with a blower door, it would be better but you can come pretty close to finding out a lot about your property without them. We still have half the heating season to go,..and they seem to come around again pretty fast esp if you are paying for heat. I find that tenants appreciate units that are not energy inefficient and EZer to heat,and a selling point tp prospective tenants these days. Go to my picture page and see pics of the way we add another layer of "glass" (plexi) to windows.The upper sashes,if they can't easily be accessed from the outside, we fit them in by holding them in with spaces made from foam 1/2 inch weather striping and then further holding them in with Daps clear Alex Plus. (so that you can still raise the windows up) We also add "pulls to the bottom sashes so that you have someplace to lift up same,.. A thermometer left on the still measuring the cold air falling from these windows are very close to new Anderson,Harvey etc window temps. You will also see examples of what missing insulation looks like from the steam test. The colder areas of the walls have moisture condensed on them and show up darker. Here's the old post: Ways to reduce heat loss in homes/apartments. First find the air leaks in your house. Air infiltration is a major source of heat loss, often surpassing the effect of good insulation. First of all consider there is an inner and an outer seal of the envelope in your house. Both of these are important to seal. Note: despite what some people will tell you, it is extremely hard to get an older house too tight. Most that think they have done so have been shown to fail miserably upon testing. To find the inner leaks you can place a HIGH capacity fan (about 50-60 dollars at HD ) in a window blowing air OUT, best place is a hall window on a first floor but any window will do. Make sure its secure (bungees, whatever) and then put polyethylene over it, secure that with either tape or staples. Cut out an area very slightly smaller than the cage of the fan. At this time make sure the furnace is shut off and fireplaces are long out and flues tightly shut. Turn off any fueled hot water heaters. If you can, plug the exhausts of these with fiberglass insulation and make a big note to unplug them before you turn them on later! If you cant, you can still run the test pretty well. In furnaces you can usually do this by stuffing the fiberglass in the barometric damper toward the chimney. Now turn on the fan set on high. If its set up on the first story, go outside and feel the air leaving your house. SOMEWHERE its coming in just as fast! This amount of air comes pretty close to the amount of air that presses in your house and comes in on a cold day! Your job is to find out WHERE. Have a friend open a window in the house. Can you feel much of a difference if they open/close the window? Probably not very much. Now go back inside and close all interior doors that connect to the rooms that the fan is pulling from. That is, if its in a common hall, all the rooms that branch out from the hall. The whole house is connected in some way, think how the air flows to the fan. Now crack open one door at a time. Feel the air coming out of that room. Note which has most of the air coming out. Go back to that room and feel around, the windows, the base moldings, electrical outlets, etc. find out where its coming in and fix them with appropriate caulks, insulative ropes, Weather stripping. Check that room/door again. When you feel a lot less air coming out of that door go to the next room. After you get the rooms done be sure to check the basement. This is very important. Often people will say they dont have a leaky house because they do the check for cold drafts on a cold windy day thing. This isnt really a good test because of the cold air pressure on a house causes a "chimney effect" That is, air coming in from the lower floors, will push out the air of the upper ones. That pressure is substantial so the warm air will always go OUT. You wont feel cold coming IN from those areas but cold air IS coming in from micro and not so micro cracks in the lower levels and pushes a lot of hot air outside! Like pushing an inverted glass down in water, the fact that the glass doesnt let any air out, no water can go IN. You try to seal the top floors leaks that you NOW can find because of the fan to causing a vacuum. Now after this is all done, Go outside again and feel the amount of air coming out of your house again. Do the open and closed window thing again. There should now be a difference. You might still have a lot of air coming out, remember that it still is coming in somewhere. Can you see if you can find any more? Now it would be good if you can do the outer envelope test. To do this see if you can get a theatrical smoker , this gives off a LOT of non toxic "smoke" They are real cheap from Walmarts at Halloween. It also comes with a optional switch that will keep it going w/o having being in the room pushing the button each time its ready for the next cycle. Now you do the same fan thing but have it blowing IN. Start the smoke. You might call the fire dept to let them know you are doing a smoke test in case someone sees smoke leaving your building and calls them. Turn on the fan and go out, maybe with a video cam and note where the smoke is coming out. This is the outer envelope you should try to seal. Once you do this, with good caulk its should be a one time thing. It will pay you year after year. Another way is a "poor mans" infrared test. Its an easy way to point out weak/no areas of insulation. Let temp in unit go down to around 60 degrees. On a very cold day, all you need to do is to boil water on all the stove burners. Add hot tap water as needed. It make take an hour or two. Use a few fans on high to circulate the air in the unit. You will find that the coldest surfaces will have moisture condense on them. In a while you will see windows condense first. Note which condense first,. Use a non flash camera to take pictures as you may not remember exactly where later and it limits the time you have to boil the water. After the windows,. generally parts of the exterior walls will get wet. Once in a while you might see an exterior wall condense. If so you may have a race in the wall open or a connection to a poor top seal in the attic. The pattern is very similar to what you may see on an infrared scan costing (in this area) hundred s of dollars.

I'd posted about it when we saw it--the first week it was out. DD, DH and I loved it (note that dd is 27, NOT a child). We thought it was hysterical, and have been talking about it ever since. As a matter of fact, DH and I were chatting about it--again--over breakfast, before I even saw this post. Definitely will be buying the video when it comes out. Very dark, though, and that's not everyone's cup of tea.