Thank you for another great, interesting and informative podcast!

The "Pot Ghetto" topic had me laughing. I'd never heard that term before but over the years I've had many not so pretty (and some down-right ugly) mish-mash containers hiding behind the shed where they remained until the plants looked good enough to move over to prettier containers ... so I guess I had a pot ghetto and never even knew it.

I enjoyed the podcast segment regarding growing tomato and pepper from seed! I have a very tiny yard, so there's no space for growing veggies in-ground. I've never grown tomatoes from seed although I've talked about it for a few years now. I've always just purchased the little jiffy pots of tomatoes and herbs and pot them up. I was browsing the Garden Harvest Supply website and I think I'm going to order some Organic Sweetie Tomato seeds; I think they'd probably do okay in pots. I also saw the Merlot Sweet Pepper plants and was wondering if those would work in containers; my husband and I love green peppers and sweet peppers and that Merlot Sweet sounds great!

Again, thanks for another good podcast!

I enjoyed the podcast as always.

I'm so glad that Trish caught the wintersowing bug. You were a tough sell, Trish! People are always skeptical about the technique at first, but then become quick converts with the first success. This will be my ninth year (I think) of wintersowing, so my neighbors are used to my pot ghettos.



It's often buried in snow for months in Ohio


Karen

Honestly, probably the only reason why I did it the first year was out of desperation. With all of the seed starters in this house, growlight space is at a premium! I had more seeds I wanted to start than room to grow, and the bug was caught!

This was a great/fun podcast! And I also agree with Dave…I'll take a ripe pepper over a green one any day!!!
Such great tips! I'm getting some seeds started this weekend!

I once asked @Horseshoe why I couldn't start seeds in a big pot and he explained in detail why I shouldn't. He has your answer @dave.

I plant seeds like Trish with vermiculite on top and peppers like Dave in that I heat the bottom. I don't have a heat mat but I put them on top of the upright freezer and they germinate quickly.

I use TTO for everything from finger cuts to all things plants and everything in between.

Great podcast!

Thank you so much!

Thanks Vic, I'll ask Shoe about that if and when I interview him.

You hound dawg, you!~

I haven't gotten to listen to the podcast yet, just came in to cool off for a minute then heading back out. (Yes, cool off, it's a balmy 55º out and I'm running a chain saw, rake and hay fork, and an antique machete today. Whew.)

Looking forward to the podcast!

Happy Day All!

Shoe (clearing room in my head to put in more knowledge I'll get from the podcast!)

Just don't answer the - seeds in a large pot - question here Shoe. We'll wait for that when you and Dave chat

Well, this is my first pod cast. Wonderful. Just sat knitting and listening and then ran to get a note pad. I buy my tomato plants locally but now think I will try to grow from seeds. I grew peppers but when they were outside in the raised beds they got a lot of rot. I think I am going to keep one bed covered to keep it warmer and to control the rain that gets to them. Even the tomatoes were rotting on the vines. Our average ambient temp is only about 55-60.

I did the SFG thing and need to recharge with compost this spring. I have had some luck finally with making compost in my rotating black plastic bins. I grind up stuff fine before adding it. Works much better. Last fall we ground up tons of stuff from the yard along with grass and a bale of straw I bought (certified weed free) and by golly it got up to 120F in the middle. I was amazed. I had DH put it in two carts so I could haul it and spread it in the garden and noticed it was steaming outdoors last fall. Felt it and it was warm. Then tested with the long thermometer. I was thrilled. I had barely enough to go around all the beds, but if I do this every fall I think I will forget store bought fertilizer.

Great podcast! Ya'll covered a lot of territory. Yay! I bet lots of folks will now feel comfortable starting their own pepper and tomato seeds this year.

Shoe (jealous ya'll are starting tomato seeds already!)

I really enjoyed this podcast also. I was really interested in the subject of starting tomato seeds. I have never done it before so I was really glad to hear all the tips for success. I already have my tomato seeds, now I really want to try for my own tomato seedlings.

We love hearing that you all enjoyed the podcast!
Mary Stella and Rita- keep us updated if you start your seed and how they do! They really aren't difficult

I am getting excited about starting my own tomato plants.

Does anyone wintersow veggies like tomatoes? Or is it only for flowers?

Rita, I'm not a veggie grower except for tomatoes. I wintersowed them for about 5 or 6 years with great results. They were always small when planted out but produced fruit at the normal time for Ohio, around late July/ early August. However, last year spring was especially cool, cloudy, and rainy and my tomato seeds didn't sprout. My wintersown flower seeds didn't do as well as usual last year either. (Where was that global warming when I needed it?)

I can say with confidence that if you wintersow tomatoes they SHOULD do well for you. But you can't control Mother Nature. A few started inside and a few wintersown might be like insurance. I haven't decided how I'm going to start mine this year. It will probably depend on whether I have any space left under lights.

Karen

Trish wintersowed tomatoes last year and they came up and grew, but were, of course, much smaller than the ones I started indoors. They did make it and she transplanted them into a bed where they grew and produced fruit for us.

Looking forward to listening to the podcast tomorrow while I'm doing some winter sowing containers!

Thanks Karen and Dave.

I am planning on starting the tomato seeds indoors. But I have plenty of seed so if I get ambitious I could try winter sowing some tomato seed. Nothing to loose really by trying it.

Loved the podcast! I was surprised you didnt talk about hardening off? This is the trickiest part of starting seeds (particularly tomatoes and peppers) for me.Can you point me to some resources on the website that may provide tips? Thanks D and T for the time/effort you put into the site and podcasts!

I suppose we think of hardening off more in the "planting" category, and not so much in the "seed starting" category.

We'll certainly be covering planting topics as the season moves on a bit

Great podcast, Trish & Dave.

I was going to mention that I'd read somewhere about why we progressively up-pot seedlings, but that information likely came from 'Shoe anyway, so I'll sit on my hands and be still.