Duh! Senior moment here.

Lol!

Great laugh for the evening.

I'm still frantically trying to get more started. Running late, as usual!
I did see some teeny tiny Gallardia peeking up today from planting 2 weeks ago! Whooo-hooo!

I have quite a few started already but I did the Piggy Seed Swap so I have a lot more to go! I did lettuce, peppers and tomatoes today. And of course just a few flowers.

Arlene,

I still haven't started my seeds, and I'm in a colder zone than a lot of you are. My problem right now is that it has warmed up so much that I'm afraid to start them until later. We even have Robins back here, and they shouldn't be here yet!

Mother Nature seems to be a bit mixed up!

Seriously mixed up, at least at my house! But, maybe this is normal. This is only my second winter here, so what do I know? Last year we had that horrible arctic blast that stayed for well over a month, so to me, that was normal. We also had a lot of snow last year. This year we've had much warmer weather, and tons of rain. We only had a week or so of that horrible cold weather, but I was out of state at the time, so I didn't have to suffer through it. I just expected it to be much colder at night right now. I need to shut up, in case Mother Nature thinks I'm complaining about the mild temps!

Natalie, have you checked the historical records for your area? I think you have said your specific location is different from where the 'official' measurements are taken, but that should still give you an idea of which Winter is more normal, shouldn't it?

I'm not sure, because we're 800 feet or so in elevation above where the official measurements are taken. That can mean a drastic difference here. We checked the historical records before moving here, just to make sure that it was warmer than Utah, but so far, nothing has really fit, historically. Supposedly our area is a tough one to forecast, because of the river canyon we're in.

I'm going to be starting in a couple of weeks -- but no problem with it getting warm too soon here!

Last winter was exceptionally bad for a lot of us. This year, not so much so far. We still have a long time to go, though.

Karen

I just remembered that I have a bunch of shade cloth! Since my greenhouse has no plastic on it right now, thanks to a massive wind storm a few months ago, would it be a good idea to cover it with shade cloth for wintersowing? My greenhouse is in full sun, so whatever I put on the shelves in there is likely to get cooked. I have no other place that is safe to start the seeds, because of the dogs. We're in the 50s for the next 10 days, and upper 30s to low 40s at night. I was thinking that some shade may help, but I have no idea if that is true or not. Rain can come through the cloth, but I don't think snow will. I'm also not sure of how much snow we'll even get, since it has been warmer than average this winter, for the most part. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

The style of winter sowing you choose factors in your placement. Open jugs can be set just about anywhere they won't blow away. This method should work in your modified GH.

Closed container vermiculite winter sowing calls for placement completely out of the sun. I usually use the north side of the house, against the wall for mine.

If you have seeds that need a long cold stratification spell you might want to use a north wall setting - just to keep them cold as long as possible. Even an open-roofed, shaded GH could rise above 39 degrees most days.

Thanks Chelle. I'm not doing vermiculite sowing. I didn't even know about it until a few days ago. I'll try it eventually, but will have to fence off an area from the dogs first, and that isn't on my list of things to do at the moment. One of our dogs takes off with anything that isn't nailed down. He's still young though, so it is to be expected. Most of the seeds don't need long stratification, so I'm hoping for the best. Do you think I should cover the green house with the shade cloth, or just leave it open? All of the containers will have to be put in a larger plastic container, due to the wind here. I live in a river canyon, so the wind almost never stops. I've got the green house between a row of trees and the shop, but it still gets really windy where it is at.

Oh, and my "greenhouse" used to be our dog kennel, which never really got used.
http://garden.org/ideas/view/N...

I'd think it would be best to leave the top open. In that windy of an area I'd almost be tempted to use it as a windbreak on the three door-less sides instead; starting at about 18" off the ground...if it would work out size-wise.

I still have plastic, so I could always wrap it in that, and leave the top open. I'm just concerned about the sun cooking everything.

It shouldn't, as long as they're adequately vented. When I did mine in jugs they were fine in full sun.

Thanks Chelle. I'm feeling a little more confident now!