Petee

About 60-65 degrees.

With a grow light and a cool room you can grow herbs year round.

I think the one I have came from either Radio Shack or Harbor Freight. Hubby bought the greenhouse from the latter, and other than it being a three day marathon to erect, it's fantastic.

I have a wireless thermometer in the house that records the greenhouse temps. I only heat it when it going to be below 40 degrees at night. Otherwise the temp stays pretty nice after the first of May. Nothing goes into it before then.

At your house I would put them in deep pots right on the front driveway side of the house. Add some water retention crystals to the soil and feed them with tomato food or manure tea.

If you are in the DuBois area you may want to move them to a very cool high light area. If they get too tall and spindly they will just fall over and your seeds will be wasted.

I'm assuming you live in or around the DuBois area? I've added my comments in red. Some I don't deal with regularly but I'm sure someone else does. I hope this helps. A good gamble on our last frost date is May 31 but it has been as early as mid-May and as late as June 21. Then you don't want anything more to cover than you can handle. My tomatoes and peppers came back from the stem at ground level but the corn was fried. If you don't have grow lights and lots of space you may find that starting seeds indoors and keeping them stocky is difficult. Use lots of natural light, if possible, and a very cool room around 50-60 degrees once they have sprouted in a warmer room. There's also a trick to transplanting sunflowers and the vines. Lay the container down on the ground, and dig a hole the same depth. Put your finger through the bottom of the cup or carefully cut it off. Push out the plant and put it in the hole WITHOUT breaking the root ball.

I don't go by a chart for when to transplant, I go by how the plant is doing and then I put all of the smaller plants, including tomatoes, in a regular styrofoam cup, not one of the smaller ones. The bigger ones, like melons and Sunflowers go in a huge styrofoam (McDonalds Sweet Tea) cups. I save them all year to reuse.

I had one too till hubby turned mine upside down moving it to the new house.....after I told him specifically not to touch it! The only problem I ever had with it was that the top got very yellowed after quite a few years and I couldn't find anything to clear it up again. He also broke my "Bonanza" glass lamp....again after I told him not to touch it!. I always called it that because it looked just like the one they had on the TV program. Every time I see a lamp shop I make him stop to see if they have one anything like it!

I suppose everything wants a snack occasionally if it isn't their usual foods. With as deep as the snow has been they could probably reach the leaves easier than the buried grass and more tender bark. Coyote Urine will get rid of the rabbits but you have to respray. Or, you can send your hubby out on occasion! :-) Boys all love to pee in the snow. You could wrap then in blueberry screening. I have a tall one that was eaten on 3/4 of the bottom and the leaves never returned making it look like a topiary.

I'm assuming the leaves were gone this past summer or fall? Entirely or portions, holes, yellowing, leaf drop?

You can put them in pots about the first of May in a protected spot or just wait and pop them in the ground about June 1. That should give them time to miss the last frost before they get up out of the ground. You can continue to grow them in rich potted soil of even transplant them although it generally doesn't put them that much ahead. Dig the hole and amend the bottom with some manure and bone meal, then plant them at the recommended depth and water them. http://www.dahlias.net/dahwebpg/Planting/Planting3.htm

If you live in the DuBois area and don't have a lot of grow lights this might be a bit early. Even with grow lights I don't start mine till the end of February.

http://www.homeandflower.com/ME2/Sites/Default.asp?SiteID=6817839757EF4441818726B97A2175A5

Since you only want a few plants, just dig out the juicy part and save about twice as many seeds as you want plants. Then you can still eat the tomato. Put them in a small bowl for about three days at room temperature and a scum should start to form. That's OK. it's just microbes breaking down the little protective sac that encircles a tomato seed. Dump them onto a paper towel and rub them a teeny bit. Once they are pretty clean just let them dry for a few hours and put them in a piece of waxed paper till time to plant them. Refrigerate then till planting time. When that time comes, just dampen a paper towel and toss in the seeds. Fold it up and put it all in a sealed sandwich bag. If they are viable they will sprout. You have to check them every day. Once you see a sprout, immediately pick it up with tweezers and pop it into seed starting soil. A styrofoam cup with drainage holes works great. If you have other questions just ask. :-)

Plant a teeny corner of the little planting bed by the Harley Shop. That should be sunny and well drained enough and you can just rip out any extras.

If they really are an heirloom tomato them you might be able to save some of the seed to grow your own. It's worth a try if you really like them.

Depending on your neighbors and whether you want a fence, that could be an option. Without a properly built fence then your going to have to depend on chemical deterrants that stink or taste bad, or walk your dog right around the perimeter of the garden all the time. You can also go to physical things like scarecrows, motion activated lights or a motion activated water spray. The latter works best because you can move it around to different areas.

The BUDS Gardeners will have different kinds of tomatoes in May at our sales. We sell Brandywines along with Rutgers, Red Cherry, Yellow, paste, and a lot that I can't think of right now. Our first sale will be either the third or last Saturday in May and the first Saturday in June. If you have anything special that you want raised, just let me know and we will raise the seeds for you. One gentleman was ill last year and gave me the seeds he wanted grown for peppers and tomatoes. He seemed pleased when we delivered them. It was nice to help him keep up with a tradition even though he couldn't start the seeds himself that spring. All profits go to educational projects and the planting beds on Park Avenue, Franklin Street and at the Historical Society.

Thompson and Morgan is a little more expensive but the seed is of better quality. They have free shipping on orders over $30, I think, till January 31.

I have a huge order to send to Thompson and Morgan, and I'm scared!!! :-) I didn't add it up!

If anyone wants to order seeds for some of these unusual plants, you can do it here: http://www.gesneriadsociety.org/ I will be happy to share an order if there is a minimum.

Since you're in the south you may be able to do it on the barbecue if you have a side burner. Just keep the flame really LOW! It takes more time but it's safer. You don't want to lose your house or eyebrows over a waxed flower.

Oh wow is that beautiful! You have to take a picture of some of your waxed beauties! Post one please?

Never did it, and never even heard of it till now! Thanks for the info! Here's a link that sounds like what you want to do: http://mobilecamellia.org/Camellia%20Culture/Waxing/waxing.htm