This is the first time I got seeds from the USA. The experience is good and bad. I am happy that there was no duty on a purchase of USD 8.70. I got five packages of seeds. The shipping costs was $5.93, averaging $2.9 per package including one of the seeds I could not find in any online stores in Canada. But I have learned that if one of the seeds is on back order, the order would not be sent until all seeds are in. When I cancelled the back order seeds, the operator promised to replace the back order seeds with another one which is at a lower price than the two combined. However, when I called again later on I was told that it was not included in the shipment because they could not add seeds to an existing order. When I asked to speak to a manager two times, nobody ever called me back. The name of this company is Park Seed. So if you want to order anything from them, please speak to a person by phone instead of doing it online to make sure that all the seeds you want is already in its warehouse so that you can make an order that is good for the shipping cost and below $20 to avoid complication in duty charge also.

I found two great places that you can find pretty much anywhere. Home Depot: surprisingly cheap containers. I found square 6.5 gallon planters for about $7 there (I included a link to my blog that shows what they look like) WalMart: Has 11.4 gallon flexible tubs in black, red, green, and dark blue. These are perfect for tomatoes and pretty much anything else you want to plant. They are also cheap for the size: about $6 each. I also agree with the poster above about visiting your local nursery/garden supply store. They are the best place to get cheap nursery pots (often 5 gallon pots are around $3.50 here). If you only need a couple, I would get the planters, since they look better (in my opinion anyway) and are more sturdy. Here is a link that might be useful: Link to my blog about containers

You have good wind blocks under that deck so that will help, Tammy. I get my burlap at Home Depot or Lowes usually but I think most garden centers carry it. You may have to ask them for it though. I literally beg, borrow and steal bags of leaves from all my neighbors in the fall! We have 5 big trees and I still need extra. I go out early on trash day and drag the bags over from my neighbor's lawns. Two of my neighbors now just bag their leaves and put them on my lawn instead of theirs, lol! But if leaves aren't available you can also use bagged bark mulch. It's way more expensive though. If you go that route make sure you bag it back up next spring to reuse. You could also use straw or hay. One of them has seeds, and I don't remember which, so you may get more weeds in the spring but they do work well as insulation. You want to wait until they are completely dormant before you put them in storage. And the ideal is to keep them completely dormant until you are past any freezing temps at night in the spring. The worst thing is for them to go through repeated freeze and thaws during the winter and especially the spring. The most roses I ever lost, 37, was during the big Easter freeze in April of 2007. I had just taken all the pots out of winter storage and they were all leafing out when the temps fell drastically for a weekend. Thankfully, Alan came up with a plan for the pots. He wheeled his tractor out of the shed and we put as many pots as we could in and he set up a couple of lamps with 100 watt bulbs in them for added warmth. I only lost 3 or 4 potted roses that we couldn't fit in the shed. All the rest of my losses were roses planted in the ground even though I had NOT yet taken off their winter protection! I don't recommend the cones for a couple of reasons. First, you have to really cut the rose back severely in the fall to get them on and I don't prune in the fall. You are going to get winter die back no matter what. If you cut them to 12 inches in October by April you'll be cutting them to 6 or less. Second, unless you cut the tops off for air circulation (which sort of destroys their integrity) they create the perfect breeding ground for fungus to grow. Particularly in the spring when conditions are very damp, the sun is getting higher up and days are longer and the temps are warming up. I understand that you disagree with me about raising up the pots, Michaelg. But I will stand by my opinion. It's not to protect them from freezing. I want them to freeze and STAY dormant until the temps will stay consistently above freezing. The freeze and thaw yo-yoing is deadly. It's for moisture retention. Desiccation kills them quickly too. That's why I water during the winter. They're asleep, not dead, and still require some water. How many of you have a glass of water on the table beside your bed because you get thirsty during the night? When I didn't put them up off the cement the pots would be bone dry with nice damp rings in the cement under them. And I lost roses. I do not raise them up where they are on the dirt. The dirt retains it's own moisture and does not pull water from the pots so it isn't a problem. BTW, I do winter my tree rose inside the shed, with the tractor, every year and have had no problems with the gasoline fumes affecting the rose.

Hi there, and thanks for the responses. I was thinking of using lime for my grass below a spruce tree. I have read that spruce needles alter the pH downwards, and that lime would be a useful amendment to counteract the acidity of the spruce needles. Does anyone have any experience with this? I will try the stores you suggested, much thanks!