I don't like Parks enough to spend $50.

Karen

oh I do

I don't think I could spend $50. there either. My main gripe with them is how slowly they ship. I generally will only order from them in the off-season. THat seems to be the only way I can get my order in a reasonable amount of time. I don't think I've ever gotten an order from them without having to e-mail customer service to ask about it.

Well, now I am glad I didn't order from them, just everyone else under the sun.

About the annuals, If you want to start them indoors you don't really need lights, I purchased a windowseal greenhouse and started tomatoes last year in march, all but one of the 25 seeds germinated. These greenhouses run about 5.00 on Amazon and will work good for any annual.

Susan, your experience is in zone 7. Someone in the north with colder weather and not so good sun exposure in their windows might not have as much success as you did with window light.

I don't have good window light in my house. A huge maple planted in front of the house on the SW side blocks direct sun. And the windows in the back of my house face NE, not the best to begin with, and my neighbor's trees block sun on that side.

Karen

Well, If you don't have a sunny window then it would not work, the sun heats up the little green house. People up north have greenhouses, its the same concept. Sorry you have no good windows.

Yes, that's a bummer. Not even a good place to grow houseplants.

I do have a few small shelves with florescent lights. I use those to start a few seeds and propagate coleus. But I wintersow most of my seeds, including tomatoes.

Karen

I have a good sunny southern exposure, but at the time I need to start my plants the sun is still too low in the sky and seedlings grow very spindly if just getting that window light. Even under fluorescent lights for 16 hrs a day they will get leggy if I leave them there until planting time; so now I start them under the lights and move them to the GH - which i only heat if the temp is going below 45 or so - as soon as possible, definitely by April 15. That has made a world of difference in the way my plants look by June 1st or so, when I normally plant tomatoes and peppers. I could certainly start something like cukes and squash in the window, that I only let grow to 2 or 4 true leaves before putting out, but not the tomatoes and peppers, petunias, impatiens, etc. Just too short a season !

Sometimes by April I can just start moving things to my porch and/or deck to harden off, then live outside. It varies from year to year, but often I can do it.

Karen

Sometimes it's hard for me to believe how far it is from here to Ohio ! (never mind Florida or Texas...)

I hear you Sandy! Sometimes it's hard for me to believe anyone can survive someplace as cold as the UP of Michigan (never mind Alaska...). It just goes to show, all things are relative.

And, I'm in Cincinnati, as far south as you can go in Ohio. Kentucky is literally just a bridge away from my house. I'm not more than a mile from the Ohio River. But if I put my seedlings or plants outside in April I have to be prepared to move them inside for overnight frosts.
Our average April temps
http://www.weather.com/outlook...

Karen

kqcrna said:I hear you Sandy! Sometimes it's hard for me to believe anyone can survive someplace as cold as the UP of Michigan (never mind Alaska...). It just goes to show, all things are relative.

Well, I've always said that should I ever become homeless I'm just going to start walking toward the Florida Keys (wouldn't want to try to live outside during the winter here!)

OTOH, glad I live in the southern UP, it's usually the northern UP (Houghton, Marquette) that makes the news with all their snow -- we have essentially nothing on the ground here right now and our temps have been pretty consistently in the 30s, with a few dips into the teens. If winter was always like this I could learn to love it! The worst part for me is the lack of daylight and the lack of sunlight when we DO have daylight... I think I need the fluorescent lights as much as the plants do!

I can relate to the darkness, cloudiness, too. I always feel better on a sunny day, even if the temp is only 20°. And with record rainfall in the last year, we've have record dreariness, too.

Karen

Yep, know all about the dark days of winter! Thats one of the reasons I got a greenhouse is for light therapy.

it does help.. even the lights in the house make me feel better

Hi everyone, this is my first time doing some winter sowing... I am very ambitious and took a chance!!! I am dying to garden... no question about it... so here is my list... I actually started a blog... hope this link works...

I actually have some more to do today or tomorrow... and I stared some plants indoor (just in case the ones outside don't make it!)


http://garden.org/blogs/entry/...

Kassia, congrats on taking the plunge. I hope you have great results. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

I hate to say it but you picked a tough year to start! This warm winter has confused all of us, even veteran wintersowers. I have wintersown only 9 jugs of perennials so far this year.

Karen

glad to see you here Kassia!!!.. wish you all the best with your seeds

Hi Kassia, nice to meet you. Can't wait to see your little seedlings.

Kassia