Gardenrod, All of us are still learning. I say often that I learn something new here every single day and it is so very true. As Diane said, we have an amazing group of people here. My attitiude is that we are much stronger/better prepared for anything as a group than any one of us ever could be alone. Besides that, who else understands our gardening obsession better than other folks similarly afflicted? Diane, I've always done the cold treatment too, but not really as part of a deliberate plan. Rather, my tiny tomato seedlings get the cold treatment when they are kicked off the lighted seedstarting shelf and moved out to the back porch to make room for other seeds I need to start. Before I started moving the plants out to the porch while they were very small, they got big and lush indoors but didn't adapt as easily once they were moved outdoors to harden off. Clearly, they'd had it easy for too long. Now that they are exposed to cooler temps earlier, they seem tougher and hardier even though not as tall and lush. Maybe this year I'll proceed with a plan and move them out when they "should be" put out for cold treatment instead of just haphazardly doing it when the plant shelf is too full and I have the urge to grow more seeds. Chandra, As others so aptly pointed out, a certain amount of exposure at a young age benefits tomatoes in ways that we may not fully understand. Plants exposed to cold treatment at a certain stage seem to produce more heavily and to perform better later on. By contrast, peppers (and I think from my observations this applies a bit more to hot peppers than to sweet peppers) that are exposed to cooler temps earlier in the year can remain stunted for a long time and unproductive for the entire season. I used to transplant peppers out into the ground at about the same time I transplanted tomatoes. I struggled for years to make sense of why my pepper plants looked fine and grew well but didn't produce heavily until fall. The tomatoes were producing just fine, so I knew there was something I didn't know and didn't understand about the conditions pepper plants needed for optimal performance. After learning about the pepper plant/temperature connection, I started holding my pepper plants inside longer and waiting to transplant them out a couple of weeks later than the tomato plants. The difference in yield was impressive. Now it is just a part of my routine. I haven't done objective testing with a control group, but I'd say that by holding the pepper plants inside longer and planting them only after the weather/soil are at the temps they like, I am harvesting twice as much as before, and I am harvesting 4 to 6 weeks earlier than before. Last year, the pepper harvest began in earnest so early that it surprised even me. My plants went into the ground in early May, and I was harvesting sweet peppers and jalapenos in mid-June. It probably did help the hot peppers somewhat that we were hot earlier in the season than usual since they thrive on heat. I just pulled out my harvest record book from last year and I harvested 10 lbs. 2 oz. of jalapeno peppers on June 15th. That is the largest early harvest of hot peppers that I've ever had. If I was not already convinced that planting peppers late was a useful technique, last year's June harvest convinced me. I use two fans for circulation in the guest room where I keep my seed starting shelf. The ceiling fan stays on 24/7 and then I have an oscillating fan I use to toughen up plants. The light movement of the circulating air helps the plants develop stronger, stockier stems. You know, the same thing is true of trees. Young trees that are tightly staked so they cannot bend much in the wind are weaker over their lifetime than trees that were not tightly staked or that were not staked at all. With the trees, the early exposure to real wind helps build stronger wood. By exposing our tomato plants to circulating air while they are inside, we are preparing them better for the stronger winds they'll be exposed to outdoors. As for the effect of soil temperatures on germination of seeds, the most reliable data I've ever seen is that on Tom Clothier's website. I'll find it and link it. Using his chart, you can see exactly which temperatures give the best germination rates. However, most of us have to start seeds of some types a bit earlier than the optimum temperature on his charts because we're in a constant race to "make" our garden grow and produce before the high summer heat shuts it down. Carrots, for example, sprout quickly in very warm to hot soil, but grow poorly in it. So, we have to settle for lower germination rates and slower germination times so that our carrots can grow during the time when soil and air temperatures are optimal for them. Finally, much of what I know/understand about soil and air temperatures and their effect on vegetable plant growth and production I learned from Dr. Cotner's book. Before his book came out, I understood that some crops go into the ground earlier and some later but didn't truly understand exactly how temperatures affect growth and performance. I still have to refer to his book to doublecheck the temperatures various veggies need, but at least now I know enough to check the book for his recommendations instead of blindly following the calendar, or just "guessing" that a particular vegetable can go into the ground at a certain time. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Effect of Temperature on Seed Germination

Thank you Carolyn and Fusion for the rapid responses! You are the two from whom I learned so much when I started growing tomatoes from seed.....and I thank you for that. This year we will finally be able to get back in to some gardening. My husband and I have each lost a parent in the past two years and have been pretty involved in care-giving and grandchildren (we have a 19th on the way) Fusion, I will contact you personally within the week. We'll be out of town for several days. Geri

What a pleasant surprise to see this thread revived! Yes, in fact, we are still in the design phase (we had to go back to the drawing board a bit after the bids came back too high and decided to hold off on construction for financial reasons). But now we're back going at it at full speed (just decided on a contractor yesterday). And we're working on final changes to the plans (so now's a great time to get this feedback). We had to get rid of the walk-out basement (and the slide and trap-door pits) and the office space and guest space over the garage. To make up for those losses, we have added a multipurpose room on the first floor (can be used as a master suite when my husband can't climb stairs in the future and can be used as a media room/ library/ guest suite/ additional bedroom or nanny suite now. We also expanded the mudroom/powder room (added a shower) and changed the three-car garage to a barn to reflect more accurately how we will use it (as a play area/workshop area rather than for our cars). I'll post the new plans on a new post rather than keeping this old one going . . . . But just to answer the concerns on this one, we did increase the size of the children's bedrooms a little by moving the laundry into the previous master bath/closet area. We do already intend for our two boys (yes, we've had another baby boy since this post - part of the reason for the delay) to share the larger room. And as far as furniture placement, we did change the location of the TV, get rid of the pit, and move the west wall of the living room back (since the slide is no longer there). I plan on putting two sofas facing one another and perpendicular to the TV in the middle of the room and maybe a chair or two on the side. I'd welcome your thoughts on the new plan. We really have made quite a few changes (and after this is finalized it will be much harder to make more). Thanks! -- Micah

Mydreamhome- You make an excellent point about the island, which is why I decided to make it a work table. I'm hoping to find an old library/trestle table, about 3' x 5' and put a marble top on it. If that doesn't work out, I'll look for a nice table with a butcherblock top. The dining room table will have leaves, so it can get bigger and I can turn the island/work table, so there's more room for the table to expand. I'm hoping to use chairs, from the sunroom, because ideally, I would have the work table a little taller than average (slightly lower than counter height) for baking, etc. I'm tall (5'10") so I don't want too short a surface :) The master bedroom is rather small, but the closets have a built-in armoire between them, for the TV and extra storage. We have a smaller room now and it's worked okay, so this will seem big, in comparison. We're trying not to add too much to the original farmhouse, so the only additions are the mudroom and sunroom/porch, with a few feet added to the hall bath, but that needs to be redone, anyway...and a few feet on the vestibule. As for the laundry room, it's a farmhouse and it's not fancy, but comfortable, so it doesn't bother me that people will walk through the laundry/utility room, to get to the sunroom/porch or the powder room. There's also the hall bath, which would probably be used more, by company...unless they're in the sunroom. It will also give me a good reason to keep things organized and looking nice in the laundry area (LOL) I'm excited about the sunroom, because not only will it give me a great place for plants (without kitties chewing on them) but it will also provide a cheerful, sunny space to watch the snow fall in the winter and see the horses run around in their pasture! The mudroom is a favorite of mine, too...it just gives so much more storage and a place for all those winter coats and boots. The hot tub is for my husband (it's all he really wants, besides the basement rec room) and having the deck screened will keep out the mosquitos, barn kitties, and the occasional racoon or porcupine! Life on the farm :) I want the house to be easily accessible for all family/friends to feel comfortable, but it is a farm, so if we can't get around anymore, we'll probably find a cute little manufactured home, put it up nearby and the house will end up with one of the nieces or nephews. That being said, my grandmother was in a walker and later wheelchair and we're planning to have 3' main doors (including the one to the sunroom) and large enough doors to the bathrooms (30"?) to make sure someone with a walker or smaller/travel wheelchair, can easily access them. The front door is almost ground level, so hopefully, that should make it easier for wheelchair or walker access, too. Plus, I think it just makes sense to use rocker light switches, wider doorways and have at least one bathroom accessible, without going up or down stairs...for any home.