Good question, I will be starting some of my annuals, like Lantana and gourds soon and some of my perennials that I am not wintersowing this month. By the end of March I will be starting my peppers, tomatoes, and pole beans. I want to be prepared for the Spring Swap.

I can't wait to see what everyone else will be starting.

Sophia

I have oriental poppies, Angelica Gigas 'Ebony', Alstroemeria, batch #2 of Pardanthopsis (the mouse ate the first batch), and a couple of other perennials with long lead times germinating in the cellar or the fridge.

I don't start tomatoes anymore, but would start maybe 6 to 8 weeks before last frost. So mid-March for me. That reminds me, I think I have tomato seeds (from Jan?) to start for her and deliver to swap this year! Better get that on my schedule!

February is when I really get organized with my seed starting and start a few things every week! It makes the month fly by, and having green growing life in the basement is mood elevator every time I go down there.

I've got a few slow-germinating or slow-growing perennials already growing under lights (phormium, hellebores, pulsatilla that I thought might need warm-cold-warm but germinated during the first warm). I start most perennials and a few slow annuals/tender perennials (e.g., heliotrope and anagallis) in February and early March. Planted the first big batch just yesterday. Most annuals get sown in March and into April.

For tomatoes, along with zinnias and other warm-loving annuals, I wait till late March/early April. I've found that there's minimal advantage to pushing them along indoors and rushing them outside before the soil gets really warm. They sulk, and plants set out a couple weeks later rapidly catch up to them.

Plus it's a more efficient use of scarce light space in Feb and early March to start things that can be hardened off in the cool of early to mid-April. By the time they're outside, the warm-growers are up and can take their place under the lights.

Steven

I've got a group of about 10 different salvias growing and a bunch of perennials like: phlox 'bright eyes', ladys mantle, a special hybiscus currently either germination on mats or under floros. With this weather, I set most of them outside in the 'real' sun and they are loving it.

I'm just starting a few things now. Coleus and pelargonium, 'cause I found last year that they both took a long time to get to a decent planting-out size. Agapanthus, too, which will probably take two years to bloom........I've got cuttings of coleus and heliotrope going, too. Plus a few 'back-ups' of things that I'm winter sowing for the first time: echinops ritro, clematis tangutica, clematis integrifolia, lobelia siphilitica alba, baptisia leucantha. (More to come, too, inside, including cleome, cosmos, nigella, basil, eggplant, caladium, calla, cannas and marigolds, among others.)

I'm also stratifying some seeds, but they're just in plastic bags with sand/peat at the moment, not in pots yet.....

Biggest excitement so far is seeing signs that all eight of the salmon clivia seeds that I planted about six weeks ago are going to germinate! Yahoooooo!

I'm eagerly waiting for the last of my amaryllis to get serious about blooming so I can take over the fluoro they're under! LOL! I'm also growing greens like arugula and mesclun, plus getting parsley and Swiss chard well underway...I've fallen in love with the beautiful colors of "Bright Lights" Swiss chard---am trying to grow enough to plant up a couple of early spring 'windowboxes' with chard (backdrop) and pansies (foreground).

Sweetpeas, too, are going in containers on my porch, with trellises.......I know there's loads more, but can't think of anything else right off hand. All of my packets are lined up by date, and I have a planting schedule ready. Don't think I have anything that 'has' to be planted for another two weeks......

Am finding tomato 'volunteers' in some of the potting soil that I was recycling for bowls of greens!! Wish I knew for sure what they are! Potted up four tonight because I didn't have the heart to pull them out!! I have another eight coming up in another bowl. I guess that will teach me to recycle potting soil without serious composting first!! With fast-growing, cut-and-come-again greens, I didn't think it would matter. They're not in the least bothered sharing space with tomato seedlings, but it certainly is causing ME consternation, LOL!......

G'Day!
What window space we have is very overcrowded with plants, straining for a bit of light. i really mustn't try to squeeze in a single 'nother pot! But - i do keep popping seeds into the empty corners of already established houseplant pots. When those basils and coleus died, it was sad - but made room for some liriope seeds! (i couldn't think of anything else that would germinate and grow OK in dim light.)

i pretty much direct-sow everything, or start in in seed beds in the veggie garden.

Someday i hope to get a proper growing light set up built, but meantime, if it really needs light, it just has to wait.

Happy gardening,
-vlad