I agree that it would be best to start the seeds inside. I recommend using soil blocks...here is a link http://www.pottingblocks.com/ I have built several cold frames and my experience is you can use whatever framed glass you can find. I would say the the minimum size would be about 2'X4'. Often you can find recycled wood or aluminum framed windows free or very cheap. Remember that the glass must have a way to be opened for sunny days. Do a google search for "cold frames" and you will get thousands of hits which will give you great ideas.

Sounds like possibly too much heat and light through window. Mine do best with medium light/ average room temps (about 74 degrees F in summer with airconditioning) and foliage is a deeper green which I prefer. Mine too though are now losing a few older leaves...it's just natural though, as new growth appears, for the older leaves to yellow. I just run my fingers through the branches to remove dying foliage. A monthly (or as often as can be managed) shower of complete plant helps keep dust-free, pest-free too. I don't use fertilizer but I've read that if used you also need to flood soil on a regular basis to avoid buildup in soil. If it's just the older leaves and new growth is still appearing, I wouldn't worry. Just move back from window or to side to see if that helps. One other thought: in winter resting-mode less water is needed than when new growth is in full swing in spring/summer. Good luck, hope some of these thoughts help. josh

>Is it possible to heat indoor greenhouses locally, from inside, with less wattage than the whole room 650W oil heater? I am just going to touch this part. I have nearly the same problem with my pet iguana I need to heat his 4'x4'x6' cage to 95 F in the day but have it dark at night. In my 4x4x6 cage I get a basking spot temp of 95 F with three 60 W bulbs in clamp lights. My cage is much like the greenhouse you use -- a PVC frame covered with clear vinyl and canvas which zips open. A securely mounted clamp light to house a light bulb will produce a lot of heat and warm up that small area quickly. If a colored light is still too bright there are heating devices for reptiles known as Ceramic Heat Emitters (CHE's). These are a light bulb like device with a standard lamp base but are ceramic with internal heating coils. Now these can get HOT so if you try this go with the lowest wattage you can find usually 40 or 60 and a ceramic lamp base. I also run the heating for my cage on a thermostat which may help you.

I am surprised by the level of blasé attitude some writers offer in this thread. An oven door shattering is terrifying and should not happen. If the manufacturer knows this to be a common defect, then they need to address this through materials processing. Glass is a very well understood material which we've been perfecting for 2000 years. As a glass blower I know that there are times when materials are not stable because of processing or impurities in the glass, or what the glass is designed to do, but an oven door should be designed to withstand the high heats which we know it will encounter. It is not the same thing as taking a handblown wine glass and having it shatter in the dishwasher. We know the wine glass will shatter because it isn't made of glass that is able to withstand that kind of contraction and expansion. It is outrageous that GE would even suggest charging someone and treat this as a minimal inconvenience. My oven door shattered 8 days after installing a brand new GE Cafe double oven. This is unacceptable, full stop. The glass dust which is now throughout the oven cannot simply be vacuumed away with any level of assurance that would ever make me think I could cook in the oven without glass dust circulating. Glass dust as small as .05µm is dangerous. That's like suggesting I should vacuum off the glass bench and be able to make a sandwich on it. This is absolutely outrageous.