No crystal ball. I'd wait.

tj

Start them soon You want to have good seedlings ,strong and ready to go for May plant out or sooner .
Yes get them going now.I did a bunch on Mon and working on more,not get cracking.
I am still dining off cherry toms I grew in the window this winter. yummy

Thanks for the input. I've decided I'm planting this weekend. Oh, if I only had a greenhouse...

Steve

I try to start things in mid-Feb and place in the ground surrounded by 'Wall O' Waters'.
Once the ground thaws, in the Spring I don't expect cold snaps to have much long lasting effect. Wouldn't it be crazy if the ground froze up again?

I planted last Sunday (six varieties of toms and some herbs). I plan to go into the ground on May 15th.

8 weeks is longish and I may need to pot up twice. 6 weeks may be more optimal but I was impatient.

I have a spreadsheet that tracks years past and the newest plants that I have planted out were 38 days old; the oldest were 59 days.

I think it depends on what makes you happy.

-al g

So here's my latest thought. I'm going to start the tomatoes and peppers in the basement on heat mats, under lights. If the weather holds, and it's supposed to, I'm going to put the babies on my east facing porch, with some sort of initial light shading. The shading will gradually be reduced and removed entirely, and then the plants finally planted out when the weather looks stable enough. Thoughts?

Steve

I started my tomato seed mid march last year and it was definitely to early. The plants ended up doing ok, but I had to top some of them and move them to gallon pots. They were 3 ft, and a bit spindly by the time I got them planted outside. I did start eggplant and peppers about 5 days ago, still waiting for the seeds to germinate. They grow much slower than tomatoes.

Some years I prune the tops of the tomato plants back if they get too tall and then the plants get nice sturdy, stout stems.
I erected a cold frame of sorts on my deck today, using four old storm windows for the walls and two storm door inserts for the roof. I moved some roses, parsley, garlic chives & Creeping Jenny out for now, to make more room indoors for the tender tomatoes & peppers.

My fruit trees flower buds are starting to open now. If we get a freeze, they will be goners for the year. What weird weather - 82 degrees in mid March in Green Bay WI. A snow storm would be more normal.

Its a good idea to bury the long lanky part of the stem in the next pot, in order that it may produce more roots, rather than pruning the top.

Any opinions on that philosophy? :)

I hope you are right about burying the plants deep at first transplanting, 'cause I just did that. Now I am trying to keep the soil on the barely moist side, and have a fan running all day, to try to keep the tomato plants from rotting while the stems root.
I know that we can plant adult tomato plants deep.

no worries about planting them deeper, my peppers and tomatoes are always sunk deep when going into their 4" pots. they won't rot:) my tomato seeds get planted around now, my peppers....back in Feb.

I started tomatoes and peppers and petunias in February - right after the super bowl. I replanted tomatoes once already and replanted the petunias right in the hanging baskets and I'm keepign them on the sun porch.