Looks pretty good to me. But are you actually transplanting peppers and eggplants out the same time as tomatoes? Start them as you plan but try transplanting them a couple of week later and they will appreciate the much warmer soil.

Direct seed kale and spinach, spinach especially. Portulaca does better direct seeded too IMO or at least wait and start it middle of March or so. It is slow to germinate unless you scarify the seeds but it grows fast once it germinates.

Dave

While digdirt is an expert, for me Geraniums and impatiens are slow and I have already started them. Calibrachoa, petunias and viola/pansy just got started... Alyssum grows fast as does portulaca so I wait on them.....

Just keep notes on what works for you. I grow everything at 15C or 60F after germination (excluding peppers, melons etc) to promote slow stalky growth.

Fun of gardening is trial and error....as long as the error isn't catastrophic....lol

SCG

Dave/SCG:

Thanks for the pointers. I will delay the transplant on the peppers/eggplant and see if I get better production this year, especially on the peppers.

I'll start the Geraniums and Impatiens as soon as my seeds arrive next week. I will delay the Alyssum & Portulaca by a couple of weeks since you indicated they grow fast.

My goal is to have all of the annuals to be roughly the same size at transplant time (which is why I am not direct sowing them) because they are intended to fill my deck railing containers sometime around Mothers Day (give or take) and last the summer hopefully!

So the adjusted schedule for my annuals based on your recommendations looks like this:

Feb ​9 (or as soon as my seeds arrive) ​ - start Geraniums & Impatiens

Feb 20 - start Petunias

March 6 - start Allysum & Portoluca

This post was edited by njitgrad on Fri, Feb 6, 15 at 9:19

I am in SE NY with similar climate. If this year is anything like last year, I will not put out the peppers & eggplants until June 1st. They did nothing but sit sulking for me last year. The tomatoes are much more resilient and cold tolerant and will go out May 15th or so. We'll see what the weather is like.... I will be starting my seeds similarly to yours.

May 15 - transplant all seedlings that were started indoors

==>>>

you need to include a 7 to 10 day HARDENING OFF period for moving from indoor artificial light to sunshine ... not to mention temps ...

perhaps that went w/o saying for you .... if so.. super... i include it for other readers ... who might miss that step ....

ken

Ken, good point. Yes I forget to mention the hardening off process which I take very seriously. Over the previous two seasons I have learned a lot when it comes to hardening off and a lot of credit is due to all of you regulars, especially Dave.

I am not qualified to comment really since I don't know your conditions at all. But there is another reason apart from temperature for starting plants indoors - pests. If you live in slug/snail country they can destroy direct sown lettuce and brassicas the moment they emerge from the soil. So I start both of these inside. But not particularly early - just so that I can set out reasonable sized plants which are less likely to be mown down in a single night. I keep starting lettuce inside all season.