Sarah, that sounds right to me. Our last frost date, here in Tahlequah, OK, is about the 15th of April. I started my tomatoes on February 19. When we lived in NJ, and our last expected frost was May 8, I used to start my tomatoes on March 4, or there about. I had started them nearly a month earlier, but found that they got too leggy and I ran out of space for them.

Peppers and eggplant can be started a couple weeks later than tomatoes, since they shouldn't go out until you know that the cold nights are over with. I'm just now going to start our pepper seeds.

Be sure that you either have a very sunny (southern exposure) window where your plants can fit, or else plenty of lights. Remember, if you use lights, that in order to give your plants the same benefit as normal sun, you should have the lights only just off the top of their leaves. I use fluorescent shops lights and they work great.

George

Opinions will vary of course. My last frost date here (on average, keep that in mind) is around April 10th but I don't put out my tomates until about May 10th (and that depends upon the long range temp forecast at the time). I don't go by the ave last frost date but rather the night time low temps which are best around 50F, plus it's best to have the soil warmed up first. With all that in mind I start my tomatoes indoors on March 20th which gives them 6-7 weeks of growth before planting out. That's good enough for me as I don't have to re-pot them and babysit them while waiting for the weather and ground to warm up. Besides, planting too early when cool can set them back or cause early blossoms to drop off (even low 40s at nite can do this). So with all that in mind if I were you I'd wait until April 1st-7th to start the tomatoes inside unless you want to re-pot them with an earlier start.

Thanks you guys! I do have a small greenhouse, but It is expensive to heat, especially at night. So, I will hold off using it till the night temps get a little warmer. For now i will just use the window, which has a hugh bench type sill...perfect for seed flats! Thanks so much!

sarah

Here in zone 5b I start my tomato seedlings around March 30th for a May 10th plant out. I have mine outdoors as much as I can in the pots and believe me, they are plenty big enough by May 10th!

Peppers and perhaps eggplant could be started a hair sooner.

Some folk in my climate like to start tomatoes earlier and try to get them to set as much fruit as possible before the real summer heat hits. But generally, I'd rather handle smaller transplants than larger ones. I think more people err by starting too soon than otherwise.