Arwen Long wrote:

susan, do you start the seeds outside or in?

I've done both. Last year I started everything from seed directly sowed
in the bed. This year, I decided to start some plants (like tomatos)
from seeds indoors in peat pots so decided to start some alyssum also.
To be honest, after doing this, I prefer sowing them directly in the
beds as it's easier. I don't want to mess with the number of plants in
pots that it takes to establish the full bed coverage.

Also, they reseed themselves which is very nice as the beds are once
again covered with alyssum as a ground cover and I didn't have to do
anything!

My decision to start from seed was mainly because I can be cheap at
times. *smile* I didn't want to pay the price for the number of flats
I would have needed where as seeds were *very* inexpensive. On top of
that, it also gave me some personal satisfaction to start them from seed.

Oh yeah, in case anyone is interested, the ones I started in peat pots
went into a different bed as an experiment to see if I really wanted
them in that bed.

Susan
s h simko at duke dot edu