Since this is the Vegetable Gardening Forum I'll stick to talking about the tomato seeds. Check out the Bulbs and the many flower forums for more info on them. ;) The tomatoes can be started from seed 6-8 weeks before your plant out date - which usually 1-2 weeks after your last frost date. In your zone I am guessing that is the end of May? That would make it too late to start tomatoes from seed for the best results. But if you have some seeds for some early varieties you could try them and still get fruit from them before your first fall frost. Otherwise I think I'd plan to go with tomato transplants this year and save the seeds for next year. Good luck with your garden. Dave

Elisa, the premise of BTE is that tilling destroys the soil structure and bio life. Tilling removes the covering; the soil rapidly dries out and top soil erodes. The "magic" in the wood chips is it is a covering that first retains moisture, and secondly feeds the plants as they decompose. It's why a mulch of smaller nutrient rich branches with needles and leaves is necessary and not just chipped trunks or bark chips only. The fungi that develop in the wood chip mulch help feed the plants. The mulch develops a helper system of organisms and other plant life that assists your fruits and veggies. In turn, your plants feed them. If you till composted organic material into your main garden, I'd suggest another experiment. Set aside a small section of your MG (maybe as small as 5x10 feet) for no-till. Still don't use wood chips, but layer your organics on the top (composted manure, yard waste, etc). Paul is very specific that if you don't have wood chips, just use whatever organic materials you have. (You can even use rocks) The most important part is to create a covering and not mix it in. Layer on top. When I tilled, I had virtually no earthworm population. Now, by not tilling, I can't dig a 4 " planting hole anywhere without killing several earthworms. And my soil (mostly red clay) is always damp and soft I destroyed a small tiller in two seasons trying to break up the clay. I then rented bigger tillers that beat me up for 6-8 hours trying to a 12x40 garden in which one half barely produced b/c of the rock hard clay. And it was back just as hard in the fall as it was in the spring. So it wasn't getting easier with time. Now with the wood chips, that area stays moist and soft. Everything grows there and I save the expense of renting, tilling, and fighting the soil every season. The fact that you got 25% more production is huge. You can get that in your MG using BTE principles but without adding wood chips. Paul no longer adds wood chips to his main garden b/c of his difficulty in walking. He uses them everywhere else. But in his MG he uses compost from his chicken pen as the covering.

the ghosts seem to have been woken up indeed. I keep seeing the petals fall off flowers without the rest of the bud falling off (the start of a pod), it keeps getting me excited, up until the rest of it falls off. I guess I should look at it as baby steps. I am starting to see new red thai's every time I walk out back. I really need to get going on the hot sauce production. there's just sooooo many boxes left to be dealt with. as for fertilizer, I never give them what the manufacturer would call a "regular" dose. I always give them a weaker dose, but somewhat more often. to me a "large dose" is still smaller than normal. and yeah, FL is a great place for peppers. minus the heat. it seems to rain a lot in tampa, for 5 minutes at a time, at random intervals throughout the day.

The tulips may well have done well this year but that was due to the quality of the potential stored in the bulbs. But tulips don't always perennialise well so I'd reserve judgement until next spring on whether tulips do well in that spot. Muscari are almost impossible to kill, indeed they can become over enthusiastic. Daffs are just about the easiest bulbs so it is odd they didn't do well this year. BTW we don't know where you live. Do you get a good cold winter?