Hi, welcome to the forum. Greenman's being too modest here, but he's right about what he said. The only bonsai that can be grown inside are basically tropicals - basically because under certain conditions there are a couple of subtropical species that can be tried if you know what you're doing, but conditions must be ideal. Maples won't grow indoors anywhere, anytime, so they're definitely out, as would be anything cold hardy. You're best to start with something like Ficus as there are many different ones available all over and care is fairly straightforward, though not without problems as even experienced growers find with any species in given situations. Remember that the majority of trees are not grown 'up' to be little bonsai and then magically switched off to stay that size, but are cut back from larger trees (not as "cuttings", but as 'chops') allowing smaller new branches to grow (how and when matter for each type) on the fattest trunk achievable - except in the case of a couple of styles - which give the illusion of age by their proportion to each other. "Growing out" trees in the ground is the fastest way to get those trunks, but not practical for tropicals anywhere but in tropical climates, so large containers of various kinds ('training pots or boxes') are used vs little designer pots that keep trees from doing anything more than minimum growth, and which require roots and branches to be pruned to fit pots (which should really only be used once trees are developed and styled over time). Look at www.bonsaihunk.us/cultural.html for lots of great advice on indoor growing (and particularly Ficus), plus www.bonsai4me.com, plus try to find a local club, which is usually a great way to learn as you can watch how things are done on the spot. Whatever you do, never go by attached tags on plants for care, as they are usually so general (and often actually wrong) as to be meaningless for individual plants and take no account of particular environments. Do be prepared to spend on basics up front, like 4' fluorescent, 2 bulb fixtures with full spectrum lights. Don't waste time misting things as it... wastes time, but do use humidity trays, ones that span the width of trees' growth, holding stones and water, as long as you keep the water below the stones so pots don't wick it up and rot roots. Learn first, spend later and enjoy the ride :0)!

I'm sorry to say that I'm not a veggie grower, I stick to pretty flowers, so I can't speak from personal experience. But other wintersowers grow all kinds of vegetables, with great success. They grow about any all all tomatoes and some don't plant them until spring. You need not feel rushed to plant on the solstice as some of us "wintersow" all year 'round. Basically it involves using the same recyclable containers, the same method, and planting at times other than winter, too. For me, I have only done flowers. Most of us begin in winter with perennials and hardy annuals, waiting until spring for very tender things like zinnias. It works extremely well and in spring we have literally thousands of seedlings. We have our own seed exchange, linked just above the threads on page 1 of the forum. See Trudi's offer listed there Stick around and some expert will come along to help you. Welcome to the forum, we're happy to have you. Karen Here is a link that might be useful: Trudi's offer

The word heirloom is bandied about a lot. Most people just take it mean old-time as per grungy's description. They can be true family heirlooms, or just old-time commercial releases like the tomatoes that A.W. Livingston introduced from 1870 onwards. Some people only mean family heirlooms when they use the word. In terms of growing, there's absolutely no difference between growing a tomato that was developed and released yesterday, and one that's been around for a couple of hundred years. As grungy pointed out, many modern hybrids are developed for storage and transport, taste kinda gets lost one the way. Since you're growing for your own consumption and don't really need to ship your tomatoes anywhere or cool store them for weeks on end, then I'd explore the heirlooms more. Many have superb flavour, and they variety of shape, size and colour is just astounding. As far as disease resistance is concerned, I haven't noticed, nor have I seen anyone report an appreciable difference between modern hybrids and the old-timers. For good choices for your zone, post your question on the tomato forum, where there are many very knowledgeable people only too willing to share their knowledge. Hope this helps.

Thanks Ruthie!! Yes, I am an old southern girl and I grew up with a mother who did lots of canning, but my job was to wash the veggies and once I was done with that, I scampered outside as fast as I could!!! LOL!!! I wish now I had payed more attention!!! But I intend to pay alot of attention here and know with ya'lls help, I will learn alot!!! I am so glad I listened to Ruthie and finally made my way over here!!!