Most of the seeds I buy from Amazon are the "Burpee" brand and I have had excellent germination results. In my experience they have all germinated and I'm pleased with them. I believe Burpee produces seeds in PA but I'm not really interested enough to research it.
I have had problems in the past with germination. What I do anymore is to sift the potting soil through a strainer to remove any twigs or clumps and end up with a fine powder-like soil. When I plant, I will place the seeds onto the regular potting soil and sprinkle a light coating of the sifted soil on top and water. I get much better germination.
I don't generally have trouble with germination, but I did with three orders from Amazon, so I stopped ordering from them. The near-surface planting isn't always good with bigger seeds, but works great with most herbs and greens. I have an entire garage full of plants at the moment, and I am going to move onions and cabbage into the greenhouse today to make room for cucumbers, squash, corn and peas. We transplant a lot due to our short growing season.
I call those planting tables or table beds, and one of the guys in our garden club makes and sells them. He is in his 80s and has had brain cancer of some kind, but still manages to spend time in his shop. He made a "seed tape machine" during the winter (he winters in Arizona) and hopes to sell seed tapes for local gardeners too. My friend with the commercial orchard has several of the tables and they are rigged with low tunnel covers and automatic irrigation. I may have to resort to them some time as I become less and less able as I age. I hope you enjoy yours. You might be able to find someone local to make them for you, or your hubby might be able to copy the design and make more for you. The soil will get quite warm in them during the summer, which would be an advantage for us but not, perhaps, for you in hot climes. Keep it watered well and maybe use shade cloth when it is really hot.
I'm sure my husband or my son could build them easily; they are both talented carpenters/woodworkers. Not sure if I will want more than one of them, though. I'm used to watering frequently in the summertime because I have tons of plants in pots on the patio and around the pool deck. I started to buy the style with the shelf on the bottom but then I realized the planter box will be draining onto whatever is stored on that shelf. @Faye Fox -- my Bush Goliath tomato seeds got here today so I'm going to plant a few in some peat pots under my grow lights.
So far I am pleased with my Bush Goliath. @Beth Gallagher Pot 16" X 16" X 48" high with one hoop stake. I like hoop stakes because they can be moved easily as the plant grows. Also they can be added to hold up tomato loaded branches. Not ugly like cages. I hope these prove to be the ideal patio pot tomato.
Looks like a healthy and sturdy plant, Faye. I planted three peat pots and one Aerogarden pod with some of my seeds so we'll see if they germinate. I like those hoop stakes; I'm going to order some for my tall raised bed. I was trying to figure out how to get a small trellis in there but those hoops look like a better solution. In my regular garden I just use the old style 5' garden stakes that I've had for 20 years. I stash them behind the shed when the garden dies down. When we had a big garden in Baton Rouge, we used those flexible cattle panels to form an arch trellis to grow cucumbers.
We used cattle panels for growing our cucumbers too. My husband made tall circular tomato cages using concrete reinforcing wire, and attached each cage to a metal fencing post for stability. Those were great for keeping the tomato plants all corralled up.
I picked cucumbers today!! We ate two fresh off the vine with dinner. Little crunchy pickling cukes. I ordered some seeds for small, English-style cucumbers called "Munchers." They should be here tomorrow.
I just planted Munchers in soil blocks yesterday, @Beth Gallagher. They did well for us last year, so hopefully we will both have them...but months apart!
I was telling my husband that the raised garden bed is supposed to come tomorrow (hope I can get the box off the porch by myself...) I showed him the picture and he said, "you should have bought the one with the shelf; it would be much more stable." Of course I knew that but I figure it will be fine without the shelf, plus I'm going to try to put it together myself...lol. No shelf = less complicated. So anyway, he'll probably be "re-engineering" it with some 2x4 supports on the legs. He'd better be careful; I still have Miralax. And I harvested 4 more cucumbers today!! One is quite large and is almost to the "too seedy" stage. Don't know how I missed it before now.
All of our Knockout Roses are in bloom now. This is the new pink one I just got last fall, so this is the first time it has been full of blossoms.
They are easy to grow, @Beth Gallagher , and Lowes has a lot of different varieties. We have some of the ones that creep and spread, and some of these upright ones. I try to watch for when Lowes has them on closeout and then get new ones. This picture is from last year, and the pink one is one of the spreading Knockout roses, and the red one in the back is one of the tall variety. I am going to try and get some cuttings started from mine this year so I can have more of them. There is a peachy-yellow one that is absolutely gorgeous, and I am hoping to get one of those when Lowes puts them on sale later this summer.