Whatever it takes to get you through the winter, that is what you should do! However, those plastic greenhouses don't stay any warmer at night than the outdoor air unless you have a heater inside of them (and they generally are so small that a heater is a fire risk) so keep that in mind when freezing temperatures threaten.

I think you have Winter Fever/Cabin Fever/Spring Fever/Planting Fever....whatever name you want to call it.

I kinda have it, but my tomato plants (started from seed December 1st, for anyone who doesn't know of this year's experiment) are keeping me from starting anything else early. It isn't because they are not doing well, for they are doing very well. It is because they stretch and get leggy even under indoor lights since indoor lights are not nearly as strong (by a long shot) as the sunlight. While they are growing well, the etiolation tells me they'd be happier with some real sunlight. Beginning tomorrow (if we have sunshine), I am going to start carrying the flats of early tomato plants outdoors for as much sunlight as we can scrape together in January. Of course, we'll start with the typical hardening-off routine of one hour the first day, two hours the second, etc. but I'm hoping that by next week I can leave them outside in the sun and wind all day as long as the air temperatures are reasonable. They'll certainly be happier with sunlight than with the light from the light shelf.

So, what is keeping me from starting more seeds is the knowledge that I already have plenty of flats of plants to carry out and don't really need more. It's still too cold at night to leave them in the unheated greenhouse.

I didn't even start all my tomato seeds on December 1st. I started about half of the varieties I'm going to grow, or slightly more than half. On Super Bowl Sunday I'll start the other half. Well, if the Dallas Cowboys win today and get to advance to next week's games, I might toy with the idea of starting the other half sometime between now and Super Bowl Sunday on the off chance that Da Boys might make it to the Super Bowl and I might be too distracted by them being in the game to start seeds on that Sunday.

I don't really have a bad case of planting fever yet, but the first time I walk into a store and see cool-season herbs and veggies on the garden center shelves, I might develop a bad case of planting fever on the spot.

Dawn, I've been couped up since right before Halloween, when I had the heart attack. The heart attack wasn't nearly as bad as all the other stuff that followed it, and I just started getting enough strength back to go grocery shopping for myself last month. I want to do SOMETHING. I'm tired of being tired and shut in. The docs say it could take another 3 months for my heart to heal and get back to some sort of normal, but little stuff like this keeps me somewhat occupied and my mind off the medical bills!! I am also doing some baking, and such. Anything.

Yeah, that little greenhouse wouldn't be for overnight; it would be for days where the temperature is just too cold to leave them exposed. I will drag them into the garage at night. I can set up that greenhouse right next to the garage, and anchor it. I have a smaller one that I used last year to gradually harden things off, and it worked great. It just wouldn't be big enough to drag planters into. Heck, I had the stuff, and the only thing I'll have to buy is potting mix of some sort. I'd just be out my time if it all fails. It will be fun to try.

Do you have to carry all those flats up and down stairs? I sure hope not. I remember you saying you had a sunroom, so that must be wonderful for the seedlings. How much do you have started at this point? I want to live vicariously through my gardening friends;)

I have thought about grow bags too before but never tried them. I have seen where some people take just a bag of dirt and cut the top off then plant right in the bag like that. Haven't tried it myself but sounds promising (maybe?). I thought about trying a grow bag for potatoes this year.

Alright, this ice brought on my cabin fever. Darn it. I didn't have a chance to get any dirt to start seeds in so now all I can do is daydream about it sadly. However, I think I have to run to the store tomorrow for a couple things so I'll swing by Home Depot and grab some; or maybe Lowe's. Maybe just Lowe's....it's closer and not as much traffic to the one on Kelly Ave in Edmond. Maybe I'll grab some shop lights too while I'm at it so I can start some seeds. I am thinking about turning a corner of my dining room/kitchen into a seed corner. Hmmmm....now I'm thinking I need some shelves with wheels so I can roll the shelves out the back door when they are ready and back in during the night. Oh, I am in so much trouble now lol.

I have been saving lots of gallon water jugs the past couple weeks. I think I'll begin some seeds the wintersowing way. Has anyone else started some already or plan on starting some soon? I'm wondering if I could throw some crepe myrtle seeds in for wintersowing.

Turbo Cat, I hope you feel better soon.

Melissa, that 2nd paragraph has me laughing. I have never tried winter sowing, and that's probably a good thing at this point. I have the attention span of a squirrel right now.

Mary, Usually when I carry them out the first week, I do carry the flats back up the stairs to the light shelf as the sun room is full of tropical birds that probably would eat the plants when allowed out of their cages. So, the first week, the plants go up the stairs and back on the light shelf, but then by the second week when are they being allowed to stay outdoors many more hours per day, I generally just put them on a baker's rack placed in the mudroom for just this purpose. The baker's rack sits behind the mudroom door when the door is opened so it isn't in anyone's way. There's a window in the mudroom door so that the plants get afternoon sun when on the baker's rack. I've done this for years and it works really well. The mudroom isn't heated but sits between the house and the sunroom, both of which are heated, so it doesn't drop below 50 degrees at night no matter how cold the outdoor temperature drops.

I really don't mind carrying a few flats of plants back up the stairs in Week 1 of hardening off because it is good exercise. In Week 2 and beyond the plants can stay in the mudroom which is good, because by then I'm starting more flats of plants on the light shelf. My general M.O. is that when a flat of plants moves from the light shelf to the mudroom to stay, then I start a new flat of seeds to fill the bare spot left by the migration of plants downstairs. Once the newer plants upstairs are ready to go downstairs and outside for sunlight, the air temperatures generally are warm enough outside at night that the mudroom plants can move to the greenhouse. On nights when the greenhouse might not stay quite warm enough, I could put a heater out there or I could throw a 10-degree frost blanket over them to help hold in the daytime heat.

Really, the whole process for the flats of seedlings, from light shelf to outdoors for an hour or to (so a week of in-and-out-and-up) to out all day/in mudroom all and, finally, out all day/in greenhouse all night is like a merry-go-round. As soon as one group of children (plants) gets off the merry-go-round and starts sleeping in the greenhouse, a new group of children advances to the next level. And so it goes through at least April. I'm like the old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do, except the children are plants and I do know what to do with them.

I've started 31 varieties of tomatoes, with multiple seeds started of each. I started the seeds in 5-oz. paper cups filled with a sterile, soil-less seed-starting mix. Right now, there are 72 16-oz. red Solo cups with the potted-up plants. Most cups have 2 plants (and will remain that way until they go into the ground). With a few cups there's only 1 plant.

These are the varieties I started December 1st in order to have my own transplants hopefully at the same size as the earliest transplants that arrive in stores here around the beginning of February: Azoychka, Beefmaster, Big Daddy, Black From Tula, Black Krim, Black Sea Man, Brandywine-Sudduth's, Caspian Pink, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Early Doll, German Giant, German Johnson, Greek Rose, Halladay's Mortgage Lifter, Indian Stripe, Jumbo Jim Orange, Lucky Cross, Nebraska Wedding, Orange Minsk, Paul Robeson, Pruden's Purple, Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter, Red Brandywine, Soldacki, Sophie's Choice, Speckled Roman, SunGold, Supersonic, Traveler 76, True Black Brandywine, and Vorlon.

These are the varieties I will start most likely on Super Bowl Sunday: Aunt Ginny's Purple, Aussie, Big Beef, Black Cherry, BrandyFred Dwarf, Church, Crimson Cushion, Delicious, Dwarf Sweet Sue, Ferris Wheel, Fred's Tie-Dye, German Queen, Heidi, Italian Tree, Kellogg's Breakfast, Maralinga Dwarf, Merrill Schulz Beefsteak, Santiago, Sioux, Summertime Gold, Tennessee Britches, Uralskiy Ranniy, Valenda Pink, Wood's Famous Brimmer and Zogola.

Then, there's a third stack of seed packets not yet on any list and they are possible "maybe" varieties that I might add in and start on Super Bowl Sunday, but they also might stay in that stack and be fall tomatoes. If I go that route, I'll start those seeds May 1st for planting out in mid-June. That's a bit early for fall tomatoes, but I like to get them in the ground before the heat gets too insane. I do try to plant the fall tomatoes as far away from the Spring tomatoes as possible to keep them safer from any existing tomato pests and diseases.

Is this enough vicarious living for you? (grin) The third pile exists, by the way, because I seem incapable of making a list and sticking to it. It is dangerous for us to even walk into a nursery with tomato plants in Spring because no matter how many plants I have at home, I have to stop and look at them, evaluate how healthy/big the plants are, look at varieties I like and sigh and say "why didn't I grow that one this year? I really like that one?" or "I should buy this one. I've never grown it. I wonder if it is any good?" etc. Tim is a great enabler as he always just says "If you want it, just get it" and so, generally at some point I break down and buy 2 or 3 or 10 plants to add to the ones I grew from seed. Tomato addiction is a severe disease, but it is a joyful disease.

Melissa, If you do that, be sure to poke holes in the bottom of the bag for drainage!!

I have grown all kinds of things in 10-gallon bags from SunLeaves. I particularly like them because they are black on the inside (to block sun rays from the roots) and white on the outside (to reflect the sun's rays and heat in the summer). All plants in grow bags can suffer from excessive heat, so I like to grow them, when possible, where they get shade in the middle of the day, or at least shade from afternoon onward. I've grown them in places that get sunshine all morning until 10 or 11 a.m., then shade until about 2 or 3 p.m. and then late afternoon sun, and I've grown them where they get sun only during the morning and early afternoon hours and have shade from mid-afternoon onward. In full sun, the unrelenting heat in July and August can be hard on them, and tomato plants in Grow Bags of any size need careful attention to watering or BER can become a huge problem. The bags and soil really do not provide any insulation from the heat, so we have to watch those bags carefully for heat-related issues.

Hazel, Slug-Go and similar organic slug baits control snails and slugs easily. I always buy it in the stores when I see it arrive in Spring because once the actual growing season arrives, it often remains sold out and hard to find.

Now might be a good time to start cilantro. It is a cool-season herb that needs to be planted in the ground in the Feb-Mar time frame and usually will burn up in the heat in June. Most people who have trouble with cilantro have planted it too late and it burns up in the heat or bolts before they harvest much from it. I usually start it indoors in late Jan/early Feb and put it in the ground in late Feb/early Mar depending on what the temperatures are doing here. I don't have to worry about when to put it in the ground----if the weather is warm up for chamomile volunteers to sprout and not freeze, it is warm enough for me to put cilantro plants in the ground.

Dawn

Hazel, I like your grow bag ideas. I have never felt like my garden soil was right for carrots, but after the amendments last year, it is now very soft (needs to have it's amendments added though) and I'm going to try some. I might even throw some seed down around in those grow bags for the tomatoes. Oh, I hate slugs. They got a lot of my strawberries a few years ago. They loved the straw mulch, I think. My parsley (outside) finally bit the dust when we got down in the single digits), and it looks like the rosemary did, too. I have started some herbs in egg cartons, and they are popping up. I have heard rosemary is hard to grow from seed, but I started some anyway to see what happens with it. I haven't started my cilantro yet, but I will start it probably tomorrow. I need to get some more oregano seed. All the herbs I started in egg cartons and dixie cups did really well last year, but I let the dill die. I think I read that it doesn't like to be transplanted, anyway. I had tons of parsley, thyme, oregano, cilantro, and basil. I just stuck baby herbs everywhere around the garden, because I don't have an "herb area". Everything took off and got big, so it must've been happy.

Dawn, yes, I loved reading that list! O.M.G. That's a lot of variety! I've got a few on your list in my seed packs, and am looking forward to trying them. There are so many varieties I have never heard of, much less tried. Every year is a new adventure. I did start (for the grow bags) Lemon Boy, Early Girl, Black Prince, Juliet, and Black Cherry. Lemon Boy and Black Prince are always early for me, even though they are mid-season varieties. I've never grown Juliet (it was an impulse buy at Lowe's).

I can't imagine trying to carry that load of transplants up and down stairs. Plants and I both would be in a scattered, broken pile at the bottom of the stairs. As I read through the steps, from start, through each transition and restart, (I didn't really see a finish) I think you should write your own gardening book with detailed instructions (or maybe you are the REAL inspiration/writer behind all those John Jeavons' books, and you're just not telling us) :) You dispense a lot of gardening knowledge/wisdom that I am blessed (and thankful) to get for free here on GW. Speaking of John Jeavons, I am really enjoying his books.

Juliet will wear you out. When I grew it, I'd harvest endlessly and finally just give up and let the fruits fall on the ground for the birds. They aren't my favorite tomato for fresh eating as the skin is tougher than I like, but you can run them through a tomato mill/tomato press to remove the skin and make great sauce or salsa from them. It is a remarkably productive variety and I'd probably like it more if it had the thinner skin and texture of an heirloom. My heirlooms have spoiled me.

I like going up and down the stairs. It is a great workout. I hate to think of what sort of shape I'd be in if I didn't go up and down those stairs all day long! They keep me from sitting around and getting lazy, that's for sure. The only time I've hated the stairs has been when aging dogs have had trouble getting up and down them and we've had to carry heavy dogs up and down so they can sleep on their dog beds in our room at night ('cause they weren't going to sleep if we put up the gate and left them downstairs, as we learned several old dogs ago). Usually, by the time a dog's health is that bad, they're getting close to the end of their days here on earth.

I don't really finish anything in the never-ending seed-starting cycle. I just keep starting new seeds in cycles until everything is in the ground or until everything else is seeded into the ground. When you get far enough along in John Jeavons' book, you'll see that they do EVERYTHING from transplants, which amazes me. They do that because it fits in well with their biointensive philosophy of not wasting a single square inch. It is most efficient for them because they plant once and they're done and every bed is filled.

When you direct-sow seeds into the ground, there's always places where the seeds fail to sprout or cutworms get them or whatever. When you transplant, you don't leave those open spots (and, of course, you can re-sow seeds to fill the bare spots but then you have to wait and watch and make sure they sprout, or sow seeds there yet again if they don't). I don't think I've ever started absolutely everything from transplants grown inside in the same year, but I have grown virtually everything (including carrots and beets and turnips) from transplants just to make sure I could do it. There are some things that gardeners are told traditionally "cannot" be grown from transplants. Well, I think everything can be grown from transplants if a person chooses to do it, and John Jeavons' and his Ecology Action group have proved it. When I first read that they did that, I thought they were nuts, but then I tried it myself with various crops over the years and I love doing it, aside from all the time involved in transplanting something like a whole lot of bean or corn plants.

I am very fond of starting succession crops in paper cups and transplanting them into the beds that way instead of directly sowing the seed. When I do that, I like to harvest the current crop in the morning, sprinkle an organic fertilizer over the surface of the bed, and then come back in the afternoon right after lunch and put all my transplants into the bed. Let's say I harvest the last of the broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts in the morning, and then come back and put southern pea and Lima bean transplants in the ground in the afternoon. It is the coolest thing to have an instant changeover like that, and it gives me a pea and bean harvest about 1-2 weeks earlier than if I direct-sowed the seeds on the same day. It also is fun to freak-out a friend who saw the garden in the morning (or the day before) and stops back by to chat in the evening and realizes a whole bed has mysteriously changed from one crop to another. It is fun to mess with their mind too. They'll say "hey, wasn't there broccoli there in that first bed this morning?" and I'll try to maintain a straight face and say "nope, no broccoli was there". Usually I burst out laughing though and ruin any chance I had of convincing them that there never was broccoli there.

There's no one right or wrong way to grow things. I'm in favor, always, of doing what works, and I think it takes a lot of time and experimentation for each person to find what works best for them in their soil, their climate and their growing conditions in any given year. The experimentation is what I like most about gardening---finding different ways to do things.