I posted last week but did not hear anything so I thought I should expand a little about my gardening. I grow perenials like painted daisys and coneflowers and lillies cause I am a stay at home dad with a 2 year old that takes alot of my time so I grow hardy perenials that I don't have to do much with. Also love to grow any type of vegitable as that is a mainstay of our family dinning. Decided it might be nice to save seeds instead of having to always buy compleate plants so that I can get more growing for less money anyone that feels like adopting me and helping me get started I would greatly appreciate it

Glad to read about everyones gardening adventures so far this spring. What a great post. It sure makes me realize how different our climates are here in Canada. I do enjoy reading about the weather conditions other places and their gardening challenges or advantages! We had lovely weather last week. I cleaned up all my gardens-removed leaves and other plant debris I leave on to hold the snow there as long as possible. Got the back yard raked and picked up spruce cones out front. I have checked out all my daylilies and pruned my clematis. I put in 6 new clems last fall that were on half price from garden import. At least 4 are coming - one not coming and can't remember where I put the 6th! I've checked out what new signs I need but the ground was still a bit frozen for changing them last week. This week has been wet and I haven't gotten too much done. Now it is just below freezing and I hope everything is okay. We did have a bit of snow last night - just a bit of powder here and there but there is more coming down now. This is supposed to last until tomoorow and then warm up a bit. I only covered a tree peony my daughter gave me for Mother's day last spring. It has come out in bud and I hope it is okay. I have all of my daylily seedlings out on my porch in their covered green house shelves. They got booted out of the basement on April 1st.I lucked out at walmart last fall and bought 5 shelf units for $15 each. I had one last year and it worked great. I just zipped up the plastic cover if it was cold or too windy. I will see what the temp goes down to tonight before deciding if they should come in the garage. I hope not -they are a pain to move now. Yesterday I potted up a bunch of Liliums I had bought that were starting to sprout. I was hoping to just put them in the ground and I should have on Saturday but we were seeding on our farm and I had to work. It's too wet now. I have a bunch of seeds wintersowed that are coming up but they are still in their pots and covered fairly well. They will be fine in this weather. Looking forward to digging up a bunch of old daylilies and splitting them next week when it is warm again. Also finding any other extra perennials to pot up for our Hort Society plant sale. It's good to be getting outside more and seeing the green! Enjoy!

Hey there, I too will share what I have learned... Basil - It will grow in a pot or garden (if you use a pot I suggest it has own pot), one plant will take all the dirt if you let it(unless in the garden), more plants and the dirt runs out sooner. I suggest you kill it early, having planted one every other week or so, that is unless you want free seeds. In that case let one or a few plants live till they flower and die, or if you want just trim the flower/seed part off after the majority of the flowers have open and turned brown, then harvest the seed, very easy to do, just a little time consuming. You can keep using the basil though some think that the basil becomes bitter after it sets flowers, i cannot tell the difference. As for starting from seeds, start them in your normal pot, just broadcast a few seeds on the dirt, water it and it will grow. If you harvest your own seeds you will no longer worry about how many seeds you put down(i.e. you will have too many!) Garlic Chives - mine are in a sq ft garden, Mine are three years old now, started from seed, and transplanted. They will over winter fine (they just look ugly during the winter). The leaves have gotten broader each year, they look nothing like the chives at the store, but they taste good! I agree with what others have said each plant has a bulb it works from, and has a few to several leaves per bulb. I am sure these would work in a pot, but I think if you can put them in the yard or garden it would be much better for you they are a very tidy decorative plant. These too will go to seed, they produce a cool little flower for each plant (the bees loved these!!!). That is where the seeds are developed. also you can eat the flower if you want, just tear it apart and use like chives. You can save the seed for spring if you want each flower makes like 25+ seeds, way too many for me use, as you do not have to replant chives each year. Cilantro - Really easy to grow, broadcast some seed, water if you want, they start regardless. They do have a hard time in the heat, just plant more (seeds are free!) I think they do like a mostly sunny spot that has some shade in the day (they did better when I had a lot together, probably kept the ground cooler). Leave a couple or more to go to seed again, and free seed!! Each plant (depending on size) make like 10-50 seeds. Again you won't care about the amount you plant you have plenty from each plant. Again the plant tends to lose flavor when they go to seed. Their ok in a pinch (nutritionally they should be ok just not as much flavor). I suggest a planting each week if you really like it, or every other week if you don't. Takes a few (2-4) weeks to reach a collectable amt per plant. These will over winter BUT the plant has no flavor (sometimes a bad flavor) in spring time. Suggest tilling in, unless some one knows if the plant will recover? I have one plant that has overwinter and is becoming bigger than any cilantro plant I have every had, it is the size of a large parsley plant now, I want to see if it recovers or not. Btw collecting their seed is way easier than the basil's, they have a large seeds. Btw the seed as a spice is called Coriander, I set some seed aside for cooking with. Thyme - A store bought starter plant, is several years old now overwinters fine, but has thick (2-3mm) stock now like kinda like a little bonsai tree (haha). Not as productive as first year (but that may be because I STUPIDLY put pasta water on it, DOH there is salt in that!!! It's not good for the plant you know, didn't kill it though, just made the leaves really tiny. haha that hurt to write). Even though it has flowered, I have not found how to get seeds yet (though I have not searched yet). It has pretty little flowers, could be something ornamental if you wanted. I have started other plants from clippings, just give be sure it has enough plant to give it the chance to live. Parsley - I started with seed (this year, and last year), I have it in the garden and in pots. in the garden it might overwintered fine, last years plant was older with a large root the size of a carrot or so, it rotted before the middle of winter, this years plant is still alive and is growing fine, go figure. Though it is not a bushy little plant, now it is a flat plant very close to the ground, tastes fine though. The plants in the pots are from last year, they are still doing well, I had them inside during the winter, seem to fare well in the window, almost no growth as expected though, that is until I put them outside in the late winter sun. These did not go to seed, though I thought they should have (would have been nice, but no free seed!). Garlic - This is the first year for me, and they are still in the ground. Pots should work, I think ground is better. I started the first batch in the garden in October, the second batch was in pots planted about Nov-Dec, they sprouted inside the house by the window. The first batch in the garden really took off now the weather has warmed, with some of the stalks now about an inch in diameter (much bigger than I expected as it is not supposed to be ready to harvest until August). The second batch isn't doing as well. These were put out before the last frost, and taken in at night (to avoid the frost), to take advantage of the warmer weather and sunlight. But they have not had the growth the first batch have had, they just seem spindly, but I think they will catch up. I have just planted another batch in the garden. I really think that the way these are sprouting they may catch up to the first batch. My original spacing was with 4 per sq ft, I think that is too far apart though, I think that you could probably squeeze 5 in a sq ft easily. I'm told the garlic leaves are edible (might be thought though), use them like green onions. Garlic may develop a bulb looking item on a stalk (and/or flower) this is a seed/clove and is also edible or you can plant it. I saw a video from some farmer on expertvillage.com and he had a great Idea. Intended for plantings in a garden, but works in a pot also. Say for example you have a garden full of winter vegetables right now, no room for garlic. Well what you do is plant the whole head of garlic in October like normal in a small area or a pot. The cloves sprout, you let them grow like normal till spring, then remove the bunch of sprouts and separate them (carefully) and transplant them where you want when the ground is ready, viola you have a jump start for the garlic. I have tried this, so far the plants seem good. Mint - grown from seed in a pot, grows and grows and grows... Once established will take over anything you put it in pot, garden, yard... beware the mint! Its not as bad as that, but I have heard the horror stories... Also I don't know why but... my mint sucks, It has no flavor, no aroma, little leaves. I'm gonna give it till the summer to shape up or I'm gonna compost the little sucker. Gonna have to find a better mint, suggest you try before you buy a plant. Oregano - Grown from seed, in pot, this might overwinter. Grows similar to mint with it's long stems,though they do grow a lot slow than mint. It might be able to grow up a trellis, and may be worth it as it has nice little flowers. The stems will take root to begin a new plant if you want, not sure about how to get the seeds though. Oregano in an 8 inch pot got root bound by end of the season. Sage - Was grown from seed in a pot, started last spring. It is a shrub so should have no problem overwintering. I have several plants in one 8 inch pot, does not seem root bound yet. Alright hope this helps, sorry I was so long winded!!.

Been winter sowing annuals/perennials since the REAL winter set in Hm! mid-January maybe. Gotta love it! Started my EARLY veggies inside in Parks Bio-Dome thingies (ran out of the replacement plugs - too cheap to re-order, been stuffin' 'em with dirt for a while now) in December/January, but messed up. New conclusion: It's better to drive to town and get a bag of good dirt than try to start anything in cocoa-peat!! Started veggies again 2/20-ish (same method - omit cocoa-peat) seran wrapped the little buggers and put 'em on a SW window sill near the heat register. (This location usually works like a champ for me!) Also replanted anything salvagable from the last "learning experience" after brushing off as much cocoa-peat as I could. To date (2/28/2007): Not even a single green leaf from any of the 50+ Winter Sown milk jugs (probably a good thing!) 2 patio tomato plants making an excellent come-back from near death by cocoa-peat (December planting) 3 Early Harvest tomato 3 Early Girl tomato 1 broccoli 1 Jelly Bean tomato also making a come-back from near death by cocoa-peat first true leaves emerging (pathetic I know!) 3 broc 2 bell peppers almost dead - still in cocoa-peat no true leaves (sorry guys, I ran out of dirt!) Sort of using these as a control in the whole cocoa-peat experiment. Planted last week in good dirt and rapidly catching up with last month failures: 90% germination of Mortgage Lifter tomato plants. (my current favorite and a staple in my garden) Just like a Brandywine but better yields and less green shoulders. Yum! 20% germination of Jelly Bean tomato plants. The seran wrap is off, but I think more seeds will still come up. (my current staple for the pick 'em and eat 'em tomato, but I'm also auditioning for replacements) Also germinated are 2 of each of the following tomatoes: Lemon Boy Red Star Big Zac Sun Sugar And the following herbs: Basil Tarragon Thyme Oregano Also the Dolce Petunias (OK! I know they aren't veggies, but the little seeds are so small, and I just love these things. I baby them and raise them inside too!) No signs from the peppers - Just give them time! (They should be up within the week!) Sorry, but true to the post title I actually don't have anything under the lights this year! I've got a great setup in the basement with 3 shelves/ timers/ heater and fans, but since I discovered Winter Sowing 3 years ago I've mainly abandoned the lights. I grow all of my annuals/perenials and I even tried onions this year in Winter Sown cut off milk jugs, punch a few holes in the bottom, plant and put the top back on by wedging it inside the bottom of the milk jug. Label on the bottom with a perminant marker. Works great for me and the top collects lots of rain water this way. I would use it for everything except that I like to start my own tomatoes early. I use the Parks Bio-Domes (well sort of) on window sills for those. Hope that gives you some ideas and encouragement!