When to start ?

Seeing all the pictures of started plants and the talk of spring in the air ( two feet of snow here ! ) has me wanting to start planting seeds in planters .But I have been reading the directions ( yes I follow directions !)it says that they are to be started anywhere from 4-8 weeks prior to the last frost ? Well NORMALLY we plant the garden on the May long weekend ,last year we had frost after that,replanted the first weekend of June !! Now my question is how large will they be if I start them a bit earlier ?? I have the space in the garage ( heated ,same temp as the house ) for hundreds of plant's /planters .I don't want HUGE plants ,rather medium sized plants that will take well and give good crops /flowers ?.I have a lot to learn and hopefully my greenhouse will be up soon to accept the plants once it's warm enough ( Ice age needs to end ! ) to put them into a more natural lighting ......suggestions ?

The key to starting plants indoors is light. I use shop lights wihh one grow light and one regular cool white. Most plants will be ok under there for a month, then they seem to need to go outside. What are you wanting to grow? That would help with the advice of when to plant.

The lighting I have ,have read up as much as I can on that .I will be mostly starting flowers ,lot's of flowers ! I also will be starting veggies ,Tomatoes ,peppers ,melons ,pumpkins ,maybe the cukes ? although they seem to do well enough from seed .Most of the flowers will be annuals ,maybe a few perenials ? but I'm not a huge fan of them ! Most likly around two hundred or more ( way more )flower plants ? I have a bunch of seed that I bought last fall ( refrigerated ) and I also just placed a order with Vessys and will most likly order some more from Dominion Seeds as well .......pluss local seed bought at C-Tire etc I have started some Lupin seeds and they are all up ( had to plant something !almost as bad as hatching eggs !! )and I'm just not sure when to start ? I would like plants about four to six inch's high ? maybe a bit larger ?? I have bought the potting / starter soil and all I need to do is fill the pods and get er done !

Ok, it is too early for the veggies, except peppers. They should go in now. Tomatoes, should go in mid April. They grow fast, and get leggy even faster. Melons, cukes etc....I have no luck with transplants outside the greenhouse. I would throw seed in the garden so they grow with the wind. Flowers... Perennials can go in now. They won't do much this year. Pansies, petunias etc can go in now. If you like herbs, they can go in now. The fast growing ones like dill and basil will just grow in pots and you can eat right away. If you have the room, plant a pot of fresh lettuce for an early salad. Garden lettuce always makes me feel better.

Hope that helps!

Contrary to whats best, I got spring fever and started tomatoes and some black hungarian peppers last week. Much to my surprise, they were already starting to poke through the dirt, so yesterday I moved them down into the cool basement, on top of the brooder.

Because I'm broke at the moment, they have to deal with 2 cool white lights on the shop light until the end of next week when I can pick up another bulb. I have made sure to hang the light right against the greenhouse toppers that are on them right now. Being in the cool air with the lights should keep them from growing tall quickly and, instead, they should fill out nicely and be stout and thick (with any luck from what I'm told, anyway).

I'm not afraid to plant early. Mostly because I have ninja's that live in my house who have a tendancy to get into anything I don't want them to. Luckily, the ninja's will be finding themselves outside more often, as soon as I get rid of the wild mean one that's outside. Stupid ninja's. Anyway... I'm also not afraid to plant early because I just plug the trays with a rabbit pellet and water, and the plants do fine.


I also have true seed from potatoes (not seed potatoes, actual seed) planted. Much to my annoyance, mind you, I didn't have the heart to go out to the shop and grab some rabbit pellets one day (this is also referred to as too-lazy day syndrome)and I put some crumbled organic garden veggie fertilizer into the soil they're growing in. The annoying part was popping them open yesterday to find 2 inch long mold strings shooting up from the ground and the plants looking incredibly terrible. No one to blame but me, so I'll be digging in their containers and pulling out the vines that aren't doing do well in hopes I can still get a spud this year to clone.

I'll also be doing seed mats, likely in the next week or so. I was going to do them earlier on newspaper, but, apparently, it's hard to find black and white newspapers these days that don't feel like they have a coat of plastic on them. A friend is giving me some cheapo paper towel and I'll use that. This way I can have perfectly planted lettuce and spinach and the like and I can let it all self seed this year so I can (hopefully) avoid buying it again. I'm good with that.

Squash I'll start in mid april, probably. Maybe earlier, since I'm restless, but that depends on my potting supplies and light set up at the time. Last year, 90% of my squash was started from seed in late may and, though I ended up with some fruit, I didn't end up with enough imho.

Right now it's a matter of planning out gardens for me and getting them dug up. If I can get the chicken tractor even somewhat rigged up, I'll move them out to the new garden areas and put them to work. I'd rather use pigs, but, beggar's cannot be choosers!

Does this help... or did I hijack?

Thanks Sweetened ,Bowker Acres ,I appreciate all info and I want to hear what everyone is doing .I don't really plant that much veggies in side ? And that which I want to plant is due to the prices that are being charged at the nurseries ( no offence to any greenhouse owners ) .I will be planting mostly annual flowers .......LOT'S of flowers ! It just seems that there really isn't any real set time to start ? from what I'm hearing it is all dependent on me and what I want in the end I guess ?.......now to learn all about the other factors involved with getting strong stout seedlings ....Thanks for the info guys

There are recommended start times for annual flowers. Some, like petunias, grow slow and should be started mid February, and others, like marigolds can wait until about 3 weeks before they are planted. What I would do is go to Stokes seeds website and find the flowers you have and then click the link to growers directions. They have specific advice for every kind of flower. At the greenhouse, if we have questions, we often reference that.

There are recommended start times for annual flowers. Some, like petunias, grow slow and should be started mid February, and others, like marigolds can wait until about 3 weeks before they are planted. What I would do is go to Stokes seeds website and find the flowers you have and then click the link to growers directions. They have specific advice for every kind of flower. At the greenhouse, if we have questions, we often reference that.