Hi Way2tyred,

There's no reason to apologize. All questions are welcome here. : )

Here's my answer, and I'm sure other folks will happily share their ideas with you too.

TOMATOES: It is your choice.

SEEDS: If you sow seeds tomorrow and get fast germination, you could have tiny seedlings up and growing by June 1st. That means your plants likely would start blooming in July. If July is hot (days above 92, nights above 72), pollination likely will be impeded and fruit won't set well if at all. In that case, you'll have to wait for September's cooler weather to arrive just to get good fruit set and would be lucky to be harvesting in October, hopefully before the cold weather arrives. If July were cool, you might get fruit set in July and then you'd likely be harvesting sometime in September. I wouldn't start from seed now unless I was OK with the idea of not having tomatoes until fall.

PLANTS: Even the smallest plants purchased in 6-packs would grow about an inch a day once they got over a small bit of transplant shock. They'd likely be blooming by about the third week in June, assuming adequate moisture is available to them, and you could be harvesting in August. Larger plants, like those in 4", 5" or 6" pots might be in bloom when you buy them or might bloom soon thereafter. In that case, you could be harvesting in August, or even in late July.

MELONS, SQUASH AND CUKES: All these probably would perform about the same either way. Transplants often stall after transplanting so you lose the time advantage you think you're gaining by purchasing transplants. I'd start them from seed. If you soak the seeds in a cup of water for 6 to 12 hours before sowing, or even just for a couple of hours, it will sprout more quickly.

The problem with cucumbers planted this late is that any stress can give them a bitter flavor or an odd gourdy shape instead of a typical cucumber shape. So, be sure they are always evenly moist and never dry out or experience heat stress. There's no margin for error with cukes started this late because the hot weather is already arriving.

EGGPLANT: Eggplant is slow from seed (slower than tomatoes) and the young plants are often attacked voraciously by pests, so I'd start with plants. If you start with seed now, your harvest is not likely to begin until August at the earliest. Like cucumbers, eggplant can become bitter-flavored if subjected to moisture stress, so keep them evenly moist. Since they're starting late, they will have a smaller root system than a plant that went into the ground a month or six weeks ago so you'll have to baby them a little more than you otherwise would.

Hope that helps,

Dawn