Greengardener, I can understand why you would be confused, since everyone has there own way of doing things, a lot of which depends on which zone they are in. In YOUR zone, I would WS the tomatoes and peppers now, in any of the containers you described. In the colder zones, many will sow these indoors to compensate for a short growing season, but you may have a long enough season for WSown plants to produce before the first frost. Cucumbers germinate quickly once the temperatures warm up, and they produce in 50 - 60 days, compared to peppers and tomatoes, which often have DTMs (days to maturity from plant out date) of 80 - 90 days, so you could easily direct sow, or WS if you wanted to.

Check the first and last frost dates in your area, and your average lows in the summer months. Here, the last frost date is late May and the first frost in early October, which is approximately 120 days, yet often things with DTMs of greater than 85 days, still won't produce ripe fruit in that amount of time because our nighttime temps stay in the 40's and 50's in the summertime, which will slow down production on these heat lovers. Last year, I direct sowed cucumbers in late May, and was picking cucumbers by August.

I don't know if this information will clear thing up, or confuse you more, but maybe it will explain why there isn't one right way to do it.

Happy sowing,
Bonnie

i use all of the above!! LOL even them cappucino styrofoam cups!! LOL you name it i use it!! LOL and put it outside!! :'))

I am going to move forward and give it my best try using the standard WS method. If it doesn't work out that well for me, I can go out to the local nursery and buy what I need. And there is always next year!

I see from my records that last year I WSed my cukes, peppers, and tomatoes around now, the last week of March. I'm a bit behind schedule this year, but I will probably wait at least another week anyway, because this year we are having quite cool temps for this time of year.

I like to do my veggies in peat pots inside a foil roasting pan with a plastic lid. I just feel more comfortable in transplanting the seedlings that way. I will do this with most veggies this year, although I did already sow beets, lettuces, spinach and onions in milk jugs, which is a first for me (not using milk jugs, but using them for veggies).

I think you can use any of the containers you mentioned for sowing those vegetables. If you do go the peat-pot route, though, do remember that they dry out more quickly and therefore need to be monitored more closely.

I can't advise on the raised bed with the cover method, as I've never tried it... although I might if I had that set-up!

Good luck!
:)
Dee