What have you bought so far?

[Sheikea]

Hey there and huge hugs you are so helpful.Thank you so much for the info its abig help..i'm so glad i joined this webpage I think it will be so much fun to converse with more gardners..

[DonnaZn2SK]

Thanks Betty,

Now that the boys are older, I might give it a try! You are so correct - the plants need proper hardening-off and protection from the wind (this is from MY experience...)

[Eeyore]

The first year I tried seeds they got really spindly and I lost quite a few. Like Betty says, don't start to early and harden off properly... but I have to admit, I'm bad at that....

[Venice]

That's a good question Donna. I've never really grown from seed any plants I get a the nursery. I use a lot of petunia's so I just buy these, I've never had any luck with them sprouting, and I need too many of them to bother with this.

I also like to pick out a few here and there for my baskets. This year I'm going to get a few begonia's for my porch that's in the shade.

I usually only grow from seed stuff I don't see in the nursery's. Or that are really spendy.

The only thing I've bought and grown are Tomatoes. I thought mine weren't doing anything last year, whimpy lil plants so I bought a few early girls. Well I had some toms in a few pots and so I dumped the week dying lil things out and planted them up with flowers an stuff.

Well I put it them in the reg dirt pile, that I use for pots and in the garden. Well wouldn't you know all summer long we were finding these tomato plants growing ALL OVER!!! I had about 8 I had to pull out, one I left in the front and had cherry toms, and then there were a few I had to pull out of some petunia pots hahaha. I guess I gave up on them too soon.

So my plants did fine, but were a bit behind the nursery ones, that were a lot bigger.

Ven

[DonnaZn2SK]

What do you think about those huge pots of tomatoes in the garden centers? These are in 1-2 gallon pots and already have blossoms on them. They are quite pricey, but is it worth it to get tomatoes a month or so earlier?

[A Closet Canuck]

What do you think about those huge pots of tomatoes in the garden centers? These are in 1-2 gallon pots and already have blossoms on them. They are quite pricey, but is it worth it to get tomatoes a month or so earlier?

Are the tomatoes in pots supposed to stay in the pots or is the purchaser supposed to transplant them into the garden? I would wonder about transplant shock with larger plants.

My neighbor's brother has patented and is trying to market a gizmo that allows gardeners to start tomatoes early. My neighbor starts his from seed in the gizmo in March and has tomatoes by mid-June. It seems a pricey way to go, given the gizmo has to heated using the electrical supply to the house. BUT, if one loves tomatoes, why not?

[DonnaZn2SK]

Trish,

They're in very large pots, so I think they are meant for the deck, not directly planted in the garden. I've seen them for as much as $20 per pot. That's quite a bit more than the $2-3 for a 6 pack.

Do you anticipate an increase in the price of bedding plants this year? It seems to go up every year (or we get fewer plants for the same price).

[Sheikea]

The other night I went to a wonderful landscaping class.Was truely fun.I also came about some Chocolate Moring Glories.They are so pretty looking I can hardly wait to grow them.I was sure I saw somewhere someone talking baout chocolate ..Has anyone grown them and if so how di it go?
Huge hugs all .