So have you decided yet?

Had a nice letter from Pepperina today, got me enthused. So, Gnome and other growers - are you motivated yet? - what have you decided on? I'm waiting until October but I still want to get on a roll. I'm be growing mainly for seed this year because of the new restrictions I want the seed base in Tassie to be available so I'll outsource a bit of stuff too. So get my tomato juices working - what is the plan?

The babies are sitting beside the heater and have started poking their little heads out of the soil. They are just the cutest!

The weather is so springy here that I am very motivated. Have skipped work today (don't tell) and been pottering outside the whole day. Making new beds, weeding, building up soil, brushcutting, planting, planning, soaking up the sun, breathing the fresh air and feeling on top of the world!

Ahhhh... it was a looooong, cooold and very dark winter. Spring days are lovely.

Weather here today was almost tropical. I believe the temperature got to double digits! My little seedlings are doing as best they can. I use spent potting mix as my seed raising medium but this year, first time ever, I've had terrible germination problems and seedling loss, all due I think to damping off! Next year I'll solarize the stuff!
In a week or so the problem should subside as the seedlings get a little bigger. I'll post a list then of varieties I have in for this year.
Next year I intend doing a for seed planting starting with my oldest seeds. Cursed PSTVd!

Ray,
for my perennial seeds I microwave the media for 10 minutes. This is effectively a pasteurisation. I don't bother to do this with the toms etc (too many) but my medium is very open (potting mix, perlite, some cocoa peat) and I cap it after sowing with finely milled vermiculite.

So you sow on the surface and cover with vermiculite? That's the way we sow all the small seed at work - Callistemon, Eucalyptus, Leptospermum, Melaleuca etc.
I sowed more tommies today to replace those lost to dampnig off. Some though I have now lost for as long as these retsrictions are in place! Very disappointing. Mind you, that still leaves me with about 300 varieties to to grow and distribute so I shouldn't whinge.

No Ray, cover with mix then cap with the fine vermiculite. Seems to hold the surface together also holds moisture and the seedlings come through cleanly.

I've only just been bitten by the tomato bug/addiction and must have between 20 and 30 types out there now. I really don't know what to do next though, put them into the ground or leave them in pots/ try for full sun(which killed them off last year) or afternoon shade?? The first lot of seedlings I got from Mantis were getting heavy in the bigger pots so I now put them in my un-used dog trolley if I want them shifted under cover when frosts are forecast. Easier to wheel than carry. I'm sure there are great garden trolleys to buy, but I'm only just starting to get enthused about gardening, my wish list of garden tools etc. is still very long.