I am also new to winter gardening. If I were you, I would bring in those plants that could survive the transplant. Bring them inside, then find a place to keep them until spring. 2009-09-07T10:41:50-04:00 false 12633 2682 2009-09-07T10:41:50-04:00 5072 Don't bring in your plants until you know its going to frost the next day. The longer they are out the happier they are. But get them ready the first week of October by spraying them for bugs and then transplanting them to clean potting soil. 2009-09-07T11:21:43-04:00 false 12634 2682 2009-09-07T11:21:43-04:00 11083 What if I am unable to get potting soil? Would compost and sand work? That is what we have here. I was thinking that if I mixed compost, sand and straw together, that would work nicely. 2009-09-07T12:17:19-04:00 false 12636 2682 2009-09-07T12:17:19-04:00 5779 Now would be a good time to go ahead and root prune those plants that you want to pot up. This means taking a large shovel and cutting down and at a slight angle around the plant, marking out where the pot would be. This cuts the roots, and the plant will grow new roots inside the cut line. Producing a root ball, and a smaller root system more suited to pot culture. Give the plants anywhere from 1-3 weeks to grow their new roots before potting up. You can recut the same line if it seems like you need to. Once they are potted up, they need a bit more time outside to recover from the transplant shock before being brought inside. 2009-09-07T12:20:16-04:00 false 12637 2682 2009-09-07T12:20:16-04:00 3716 That is very good information!! That is the good stuff that I was looking for!! Thanks Om. :) 2009-09-07T15:51:50-04:00 false 12641 2682 2009-09-07T15:51:50-04:00 5779