Not in T-town but rather St. Clair county there is Captain Compost that sells bulk loads.Supposedly good stuff.

You can get leaf compost for free from the city compost pile next to the Botanical Garden. You have to pick out some trash and it tends to be semi-finished, but "free" is hard to beat. There's a loader 1st and 3rd Saturdays in the summer, starting May 4th this year, I think.

Ednie is a very good source for bulbs. We've always called in our orders; therefore, we know immediately if a product isn't going to be available. High quality bulbs, and super customer service. Love their Acidenthera, Allium, Erumurus, Crocosmia, Callas, Narcissi, Ranunculus, Tulips, and, of course, they have wonderful lily bulbs. However, a source for gladioli bulbs closer to Indiana (think shipping costs) is a farm located in southwestern Michigan that specializes in gladioli. Their gladiolus are breathtakingly beautiful. You can phone them, and they will send you a catalog. Great customer service. They're there to answer any questions you may have including pest control. The name of the company is Nagel Bulb Company located in Schoolcraft, Michigan. I don't think they have a website. Although, they may now have one. We always call them. They are actually fellow vendors at two of our farmers markets. You can go to yellowpages.com for their telephone number. I would do that for you; however, Firefox likes to crash whenever I visit GardenWeb.

I don't use heat mats anymore for the same reasons you all mentioned...I used a plastic shelf heavy duty that I got from menards. Then I wrapped three sides of it with plastic, taped it on there, and the top. Then I put a bed sheet over the front to keep the heat in. I bought a little heater electric with a thermostat and sit that on the bottom shelf. That leaves me four shelves to put trays on, I can get about 9 trays per shelf x 4 shelves. I check stuff twice a day, move it to the greenhouse as soon as it sprouts. I have the shelf in the kitchen and another one in the spare bedroom. I heat my smallest greenhouse 10x20 to around 65-70 degrees to move them to at first, then to the regular greenhouse when I need more space.