I wish I had better ideas but just don't have enough room indoors to prestart bulbs every year. When I have I've used your newspaper lined nursery tray idea for caladiums and it worked well, and I've done the same with cannas and begonias , but nothing else. Is your problem finding pots? Mine is more finding enough potting soil.....

"I did the indoor seed thing one year, but don't want to deal with all that work and all that "equipment". So I plan to just put some seeds in the ground outside, once the danger of frost has passed, and see what happens. I mean, isn't that how nature works anyway?" That's the basic premise of wintersowing. As for tomatoes, melons, eggplant needing to be started indoors. Not with wintersowing. I wintersow mine in early April and have never had a problem, even growing my tomatoes in pots that way. You should check out the wintersowing forum and enjoy starting your seeds that way. No need to start them indoors. Fran

I do not advise you to try starting peanuts indoors. They have a relatively shallow root system and do not like to be transplanted, nor do they like their roots disturbed. Plant them when the soil really warms up and count 110 days or so to harvest. This is one of my favorite plants to grow because they make "pegs", unlike any other plant, except Goober Peas from Africa (I got some seeds for them to try this year!). You need a lot of room for them and the soil has to be fluffy all around so that the pegs aren't inhibited. This is very hard to do given that they don't like soil disturbance so rototilling is out. The growing area must be weed free. I'm trying shredded newspaper this year but a fluffy mulch should work too, but probably not leaves that mat down. Sesame takes 90 days of true hot tropical weather and full days of baking sun. The seeds will rot in cool or wet soils. I have not had success growing them. Our weather is too variable. But it may be fun to try again and will plant them in June. Let us know how you fared. You also might want to post this question on the Vegetable Forum. I'd be interested in what the guru's over there had as answers. And, please post when you've finished your experiments! Nancy the nancedar

The question on the bother of starting in front of a window indoors versus buying plants is a valid one. I might not be happy with an east-facing window. Seedlings have a few days in my good, south-facing window here. Then, they migrate out to a greenhouse. The last time I was keeping my plant starts indoors thru their first month or 2 of life, I was living in another house. It also had a good, south-facing window but it was a long, narrow thing in the utility room. Other than not having enuf room for my desires -- It was nearly perfect! I could heat that room separately from the rest of the house which meant, I kept it several degrees cooler. The window's shape was fine for a single line of flats. I think I could get 3 in there. The southern exposure was total and if it was too warm, I could either open the door into the house or open the outside door. Suitable windows are critical, I am sure. Before I built a little greenhouse at that home, I set up a plant stand in the stairwell so as to have more space. That was also a fairly good location but a little problematic because of the carpeted landing and the risk of me falling off the step ladder and down a flight of stairs while trying to tend the plants. Once again, I could close doors and isolate the stairwell from the rest of the house. That gave me a chance to keep it cooler. Most of the time, even south-facing windows don't have enuf light because of our typical, cloudy skies during that time of the year. Also, while we may have 16 hours of daylight on July 1st, on March 1st, we only have 11 hours. Subtract 2 hours in the morning and another 2 hours in the evening when a not-level horizon blocks the angled sunlight and you have only 7 hours on a perfectly sunny day. Seldom happens, anyway. To keep indoor plants from s.t.r.e.t.c.h.i.n.g to reach light takes cooler temperatures so that they don't get too rambunctious. So, we are talking about slower growth. It is a little difficult to find the balance. Steve