lohrn4 said:
I have to say, I do have a resistance to growing things from seeds. Why is that? I have plenty of seeds but I usually end up buying plants! Maybe you can extol the advantages of starting from seed, besides saving a significant amount of money. 
that just never seems to enter my head when I'm in a nursery.
Honestly, I think the real reason is "I like to start from seed". It makes me feel like a parent or a magician when young living things appear. Then I get to nurture them for a few weeks until they go off to live in their own place.
Plus,. my method for starting seeds involves gadgets. I love gadgets.
Plus, it gives me a feeling of control - I choose the variety, not the nursery.
And often or usually big box stores don't even list what the exact variety IS. I hate growing who-knows-what. If I collect seeds a year later, and want to share them, I don't want to label the packet "Wal-Mart variety" or "NO ID".
If I buy seeds from a reputable vendor, and take the trouble to isolate some of them, I can save seeds. I guess now we say "curate our precious heirloom varieties and stick it to Monsanto " ... but you know: "save seeds". Then trade or give them away WITH an accurate name label.
Other than that, you do save money by starting seeds and can plant as many plants as you have room for, then give as many away as you have gardening neighbors (or sell them).
>> please tell me what a koppen zone is and what a mattock is?
A mattock is like a hoe crossed with a pick-axe, but MUCH heavier than a hoe, and the blade is narrower. It's for chopping roots, and it might be what people mean by a "brush axe".
Or Google "mattock image". If you do your "weeding" with a mattock, no nearby plant will survive. Like whittling with a broad-bitted axe. NOT exactly a precision instrument!
There is an international system for describing climate zones that was intended to be useful for determine what-can-grow-where. It considers patterns if rainfall and year-round temperatures. That's the Koppen Climate system.
Awww, those links are embedded in an old-style HTML blog. Can you see them here?
Mostly - I guess that's good enough. They are pretty academic links.
<p class="Body"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Climate Zones:</strong></span></span>
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~ Sunset Climate Zones
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~ USDA Hardiness Zones (average winter lows)
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</strong>
<p class="Body"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Koppen Climate Classification System</strong></span>
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~ Koppen Climate System in Wikipedia
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~ Koppen Climate System
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~ Download Maps
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~ Many Koppen Maps
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~ Koppen Zones by County
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