Ohhh Mary! I'm a perrenial gal all the way! But have found that my 1/2acre is too much for a newbie like me! Plus the deer decimated a lot this year, Probably cuz of me being inside with a broken leg, not out there doing my scarecrow look!lol! This coming year I want to get back to my plans for the back 1/4acre landscaping project but need to fence it all first so I'm not distracted by my dogs chasing deer again!(how I broke my leg!) Paths, gardens, ponds, sitting areas, pergola, plus making tons of garden art! I have like 20 shrub/trees to plant around the perimeter and also want a ramp built so I can use a wheelbarrel to haul all this back there, it's all tiered/slopes so just getting down there is a big hassle right now. Can't even get to it from the neighbors as it is all built up with tires!! Getting DH to do all this is like pulling teeth! Plus he is gone to africa for the whole month of may, so how do I protect all my newly planted stuff from the deer??? Hopefully he'll get with the program! heh heh! Did I mention the towel rack that has sat for 2 1/2yrs??? Well at least it will get done some day....

Jane, I used to have a lot of trouble with deer here, acting like domesticated cows, just laying around my flower bed out front and eating everything in sight. I found out from a pro gardener to use "Bloodmeal". Besides smelling foul like anything, it is a great deer repellant. And a great natural fertilizer. You can get it in any garden store. It worked for me.
DH gone a whole month, eh?
Just think how much mosaicing you can do.
Take care,
Bianchi

Oh thank you for the tip! Now do I just sprinkle that along the ground? Newbie gardener questions....

Bloodmeal?? Oh man, I'm gonna try that!
We moved here in March of this year. I planted tons of flowers in my front flower bed. Deer ate everything except for my vinca and marigolds!!
First time to live in the country!

I'm planting Leapard's Bane now too!

Hey MM didn't forget about you!! Been mostly reading the board lately between the Holidays and a stupid sinus infection!!

What zone are you in? I'm a 5. I tried winter sowing once without much luck. I may try again. I'd like to do some annuals that way.

In a couple weeks I'll start one or two tomato plants in the house. I've had real good luck starting them early like that. Then later I'll start more and some other stuff!!

Maria

Hey gang- Thanks for the tip on the blood-meal. Too bad I didn't know about that before the deer ate 20 of the 25 baby arborvitae that I planted behind the house as a wind-break to the back-40. Schucks. Wonder if they'll recover...bummer.

I'm in Z5, too, here in NH. Very nearly on the Z6 border, though, but I still buy and plant items that are hardy to Z4 & 5. I have good luck with winter sowing (not so with the tomatoes, surprisingly enough). I'll get some things out very soon...many 'reseeding' annuals will be able to go out now, but the tenders will have to wait til beginning of April.

I found the best thing I did last year (my 2nd year WSing) was not to "pressure wash" the seeds (by that I mean that I watered with a hand-pump 2-gallong sprayer thing the first year, and made big holes in the soil in all my containers. Mistake.) Instead I bottom watered EVERYTHING and kept good watch on moisture levels at all times. I found some big trays on Freecycle, and use those. Under-bed boxes will also work, or whatever you can find that will hold enough water for several jugs at once. Some people just break out the kiddie pool...that's a good idea, too.
I had over 400 containers the first year, and I think I cut it back to about 300 last year. I did a TON of annuals, and was very happy with the results.

How much of a jump do you think it gives you on the annuals?? ( as opposed to seeding in spring in the garden)

Maria

Dunno on that one...I totally suk at the direct-sowing thing (flowers) because I tend to neglect them more, so they don't get watered enough to even grow.
BUT...that having been said, I probably wouldn't have much of a problem, since I did have good luck when I did a veggie patch via DS in the past. But I like being able to plant out seedlings instead, and I think this probably gave me a good 3 week jump on those (cuz I never started the veggie patch before May 31 in previous years).

If I had to guess, I'd say it gives a good couple weeks, minimum, anyway, since they are 'warmer' in their jugs, and not having to be at the mercy of whenever the weather DOES decide to warm up. So eventually when it DOES, you've got seedlings already going at that time instead of waiting for them to germinate. Follow that?

I don't know why I bother. I try to be helpful to newbies (this topic, but on the board-specific-to-it), and people have to read so LITERAL into everything and CORRECT you like you are passing on bad information or something...the "know-it-alls." You put ONE word in a sentence that probably should have been corrected to read a slightly different way, and they jump all over you.
Cripes, I should just stay off that board...and I was doing so well, too- staying off it. They wonder why people come & go and they have a "cult" reputation, and get in hot water so often. Stop getting all over people's cases, instead of acting like KIAs, and you won't have people getting on the defensive!
Ok, off my box now.

hehehe, no one's like us huh?? Boards like that I just go to suck up some info and don't stay long!!

maria

You're SO right on that one. While I like several of the boards here for information, they all seem to have KIA personalities among them...but not so with SGM. If anyone here DOES k-i-a, they don't tell you so- LOL! Everyone here shares what they know in a helpful, humble, friendly way without pointing out if you worded something incorrectly, or read more into something by accident than was intended. I LOVE this board!