Quite right, Al... we try not to disturb our plants until they begin active growth in early spring... unless there's an emergency where the plant is in dire need, as in roots rotting or another problem that would lead to the certain demise of the plant. As example, I was recently forced to re-pot an orchid that was drowning in decomposing medium that stayed too wet. The roots were literally rotting. I had no choice but to un-pot, trim the roots, use an anti-fungal, and re-pot using fresh medium. I couldn't wait for spring, or I'd risk losing the entire plant. I have other plants that I know need re-potting for one reason or another, but none of them are in desperate need. I'll wait until spring for every other plant. And yes, there are a few things required when moving plants from regular potting soil to a more sharp draining, gritty medium. It's wise to study the concept well, and understand what is required before proceeding. Bare-rooting is required, and it's best not to take any shortcuts when preparing the medium. Before I began, I read over the material several times, and I did some forum reading to ensure I understood the concept behind the mix and everything that I might need to adjust for.

The tomatoes are a test...The ambient temp where they will be growing is about 70 degrees in the day and 50 degrees at night, so the cabbage should start off slowly. If they go gangbusters, I have some cold frames that will be in the garden where they grow, followed by row covers. I am trying to push the limits of my garden this year to sneak a few weeks at the start of the growing season. (It's been a very long winter!)

I hope that link works... You probably didn't find him in your search a) if you're not on Ebay.ca (is there an Ebay.com?) and b)apparently there's an underscore in his name which I forgot to include...dunno if Ebay's really that picky when searching or not. The most expensive pack of seeds I ever bought from him was Ariocarpus for $6 and that's 'cause I got in a bidding war with someone else...however it wasn't much of a war 'cause I just put my max bid pretty high and the other bidder never outbid me...guess they just didn't want it as bad as I did. And you're evil JoJo...now that you've got me on his list of things to sell...I must shop....yargh....but oh how I love it. Just don't tell the hubby. >_ Here is a link that might be useful: kenni_koala on Ebay.ca

bestyears, I am with you on the intense need to plan. My older DS always knew what he wanted to do careerwise, knew he wanted a small liberal arts college, and knew he wanted to be in New England. That narrowed down our search very nicely so it was easy to make "the list." Fast forward, he dropped out freshman year, but that's another story, which some of you already know. Second DS, who is now a junior like your DD, has changed his mind several times about what he thinks he'd like to do. He has also changed his mind about location -- first it was "no way am I staying in Boston" (where we live) and now it's "I really like Northeastern." To make matters more interesting, this is the year where he has somewhat dropped the ball academically, bringing his GPA down several points thank you very much. This is my super-conscientious child who until this year, never got a grade below a B with maybe one exception. So our "list" keeps changing. He says he is bringing his GPA back up this semester. Let's hope. He also is now saying going to school in Boston would not be a bad idea, because he really doesn't like to fly (he was, actually still is, looking at a few schools in Chicago and DC). Six months ago, he only wanted to look at big schools in big cities. Now he wants to look at smaller schools in Maine. He is all over the place! We did the Johnson O'Conner aptitude testing last year. Link is below. We did it with our older DS too. We all found it fascinating, actually, and DH and I have both said we'd love to take it ourselves. However, up until that time, DS wanted to be a teacher. He has worked at an elementary afterschool program since 6th grade (first as volunteer, now as a paid teacher). He just has a knack for working with kids. When we met with the guy who did the testing, he told my son he would not enjoy teaching, he'd be bored, etc. Even though we told DS he should follow his heart and do what he loves, he soon after decided that teaching wasn't for him and that he wanted to major in business (which actually was not one of the top few career choices for him, though I think management was on the list somewhere). So right now, he's still saying business/market research, and every once in a while I say "...but you should look at schools that have education programs just in case." Anyway, I guess my point is that I am pretty sure my DS really has no idea what he wants to do. and we are basically looking at mostly larger schools that have a lot of options! Also, I think another good way to explore possibilities is through some kind of summer program. My DS worked at a music summer camp last summer and LOVED it (of course, because he is meant to be a teacher). But this summer he wants to explore the other side, so he will be an intern at an investment firm. I think for him, this is a fantastic idea, because he will see if working in that atmosphere is actually appealing to him or not. I have now been through this twice (one more to go) and I think junior year is the worst stage of parenting! Here is a link that might be useful: testing