I've been lurking here for a few days, but since I haven't winter sown anything before, I didn't feel right posting! But, on this questions, I can tell you - just about everything! I only just found garden web last month, and have been trading some, and can't wait to plant all the fun seeds I have. But, it is so late for starting things right now :( So, I am doing a little here and a little there, but trying to save the bulk of my seeds for winter sowing, and starting indoors. But, just today, I have planted lots of marigolds (several different kinds, about halfway around our vegetable garden so far - my husband thinks once they start growing, it will help keep the critters out), and several different kinds of sunflowers. My husband was very leary of me planting sunflowers, as the last ones I planted were several years ago, and were mammoth sunflowers. I made the mistake of planting them along our fence line - not realizing that they would intertwine with our electric fence (as we raise livestock just on the other side of the fence.) It was a real mess! But I finally talked him into giving me another chance :) This time they are smaller (none are supposed to get more than 6' tall), and much more beautiful (lots of reds and oranges.) Okay, so enough rambling - I'll be planting lots of goodies over the next week or so outside!

You are right about pollinators happy. My neighbor on the back raises bees. The bees come to eat at my garden a lot, I don't mind a bit, we both benefit (and the bees!). In any case, i do not doubt that we have pollinators. The strange thing to me is that the snow peas appear to all have come out true to their parents. This past weekend I examined their flowers and could not tell them apart (the snow pea flowers and the sugar snap flowers). One thing I noticed different is the maturity dates, the sugar snaps are latter. Their flowers look like a replica of one another, so why only one crossed? did the bees only go for the sweetest one? but no, they must have pollen from both in order to cross them. Hmmmm.......pea mystery. The lesson to me is: interplant snow peas if you want, the seed will probably come true. However, if you want to save seeds from the sugar snaps, plant them separately! I saw that I still have some of the original seed, so I am planting them on their own trellis next winter. It is too late for us to plant peas now.

Larry, All seedlings started indoors and grown in relatively stable temperatures, low air movement (even a fan on high speed cannot simulate March winds), and artificial lighting must be hardened off gradually to outdoor conditions. If you take plants that have been grown inside their entire life and transplant them into the garden without hardening them off to the harsher outdoor conditions, the sun exposure, wildly varying temperatures and wind will kill most or all of them or severely set them back. I move most vegetable transplants outside to the sunporch as soon as daytime temperatures allow. My sugar snap peas went outside the minute the smallest bit of green popped up out of the seed-starting mix, so they have been grown in sunlight and wind and wildly fluctuating temperatures. I have left the pea plants outside at night unless temperatures were forecast to go below the mid-20s. My snap peas have had ample exposure, therefore, to sunlight, strong winds (I did move them back onto the sunporch on two days when winds were gusing in the upper 30s and lower 40s) and cold temperatures, so they are ready to go into the ground right now. I'll plant them today or tomorrow, depending on whether I "get around to it". If your peas have been inside a structure all along, they must be hardened off before being planted. I usually move plants to a shady part of the sunporch for a couple of days. Then, I move them closer to the sunporch windows for an hour or two for a couple of days. Then, I move them outside for 1 hour the first day, 2 hours the second day, 3 hours the third day, etc. After about a week to ten days they are fully hardened off and can go into the ground. If you don't harden off your plants and they suddenly have to cope with sunlight from sunup until sundown, the leaves sunburn...and it doesn't take long for that sunburn to occur. If enough of the leaves burn, the plants die. Wind damage also can burn them and severe windburn can kill plants. If your plants have been growing at a constant 60 or 70 degrees, sudden exposure to temperatures that are significantly colder than that can stunt them. For all the above reasons, hardening off is essential. If you try to skip the hardening off process, you'll likely lose your plants. Peas can go into the ground anytime in March and my feeling is the earlier the better, but you do have to be prepared to cover them up if your temps are headed for the upper teens or lower 20s. Small pea plants tolerate cold really well, but once they're large enough to start blooming, cold temps and frost can knock their blooms off or can damage the tips of the vines. I keep floating row covers and old sheets handy in a stack on a shelf in the garage so I can throw them over peas on very cold nights. Dawn

I haven't tried growing either. There were a couple posts in the Midwest forum that might help you. You may have already seen them but anyway... Best of luck : ) Here is a link that might be useful: Midwest Forum (search on