Well I have houseplants and overwinter some tropicals that I don't really consider houseplants (like a large alocasia). But no, I keep my seed starting outside or don't start till March/April inside. Starting things too early is the worst thing that I can do..well maybe not the worst, but I hate weak lanky seedlings that spent too long indoors.

Ilene. I enjoyed reading about your experiments. I'm experimenting this year too. I always atart stuff undoors, usually with a 4 ft shop light. This year I'm doind winter sowing outdoors i gallon jugs.

Also having great results with my new (October) Low tunnel hoop house. All kinds of lettuce and spinach doing well and carrots and beets beginning to show good growth. They germinated before it got real cold andthen just sorta sat there for about 5 or 6 weeks. Now, even with the cold greyish days... they are showing some growth. So far so good.

Beth, how fun!

I haven't played with low tunnels yet, we get so much wind out here. I'd be interested in seeing more about yours as I haven't found a way yet that I thought was easy enough for me to do. Have you posted your progress on the project anywhere?

I have several shop lights rigged up, one set is in a 3-tier plant table that I bought at a garage sale and the other is something we sorta jerry-rigged together. I'm a loyal garage-saler and most of my fluorescent shop light lamps have been bought there. I always start my tomatoes and peppers early -- sometimes too early -- but this year I'm managing to hold myself off till first week of Feb. to start them. And I have about 30 wintersowing milk jugs outside, including a couple of plastic vinegar jugs that I cut the bottom off of and sunk down over Candy onion seeds that I dug out of the freezer and sowed in the edge of the herb garden where I could watch them easily.

I had a master gardener last year tell me I wouldn't be able to keep my plants alive long enough to get them in the garden. I registered surprise and told him I always do it that way and always have success. He had a greenhouse, I guess he never tried growing under lights.... There is always stuff to learn, no matter who we are, and sometimes, even when our "teacher" is a greenhorn. Heh.

Bruce I wish you good luck in your experiments. I see you are in zone 8 and I am considerably colder here in zone 6, but I might give you a little unsolicited advice about the peppers if you don't mind?

Peppers are sensitive to the cold. One year, I planted too early, and a freezing night was forecast. The plants were still small enough I could cover them with wide-mouth quart glass jars and a blanket over that. They lived through it and I thought I dodged the bullet. But when everyone I knew was complaining about having so many peppers they couldn't keep up with them, I had only one or two small peppers on each bush. The plants lived through to the fall, but still not much to harvest. Since then, I've been very careful not to set out my peppers until early May, which is when I plant my sweet potato slips. Normally, my peppers don't yield much through the heat of the summer, and the heat wilts the plant every afternoon. But as long as I keep enough water on the plants, they make it to fall and then they go crazy. I shared my sweet cheese peppers last year with three of my neighbors. We all got enough to freeze for this winter and maybe the next. My jalapeno's, I shared with one other neighbor, and he and I canned up a lot of nacho-style pepper rings. I made enough of those that I could share the finished product with another neighbor, who doesn't can.

I think most of us miss getting our hands in the dirt through the long winter months, I admit I'm looking forward to getting my little plants started. Another summer, another adventure, on the way!

Thanks for the info rockwhisperer! I planted peppers in my front garden window two years ago. They got some early morning sun and later afternoon sun but nothing in between as they were shaded by my maple tree. I got three very small peppers off of three plants (all on the one plant actually, nothing off the other two). This year I am going to plant them on the west side of my house where they will get the mid-day sun but no morning or afternoon sun. Overall they will get more hours of sun so I am hoping for more peppers.

Ilene- I so enjoyed reading your tales of your experiments. it read like a travelogue for gardening enthusiasts. It reminded me that not everything has to go by the book, and that's some of the fun of gardening- just seeing what nature makes happen, coaxed along by our own ideas. Keep writing, it really put a smile on my face. And now, I'm inspired to try some seed starting. I've never once been successful at it, but does that really matter? It's the possibility of what might happen that makes me grin.

Hello Ilene,

Well, it's not Winter now, but I hope you will do some more Winter Garden Experiments this coming winter. As a zinnia hobbyist and amateur zinnia breeder, I enjoy an indoor Zinnia garden each Winter. Despite obvious space limitations in our basement utility room, I manage to grow enough indoor zinnias to make it interesting. I have used Chrome-Wire Steel Shelving and T8 fluorescent lighting to construct my plant stands.

That brass tube is a capped Propane line. I think that one time there was a propane stove down here. We have a big propane tank that we use for heating the house and the hot water tank. We are in a rural area.

That is a partially used sand pile in the background. Our Kansas native soil here is dark sedimentary, and sand improves its texture to something approximating sandy loam. My indoor zinnia experiences tend to "teach me" more about indoor zinnia gardening. I have a liking for new zinnia flower forms, and I have had some success at achieving them.

I am gardening in East Central Kansas now, but as a kid I "grew up" on a farm in Oklahoma. Your Oklahoma winds, the South ones, become Kansas winds when they cross the state line. And your Winter blizzards come from here. Turn about is fair play. I think that "rock whisperer" thing is a good idea. People don't spend enough time talking to rocks.

ZM