Massachusets here, zone 5b just upgraded to zone 6a Whoohoo! It's definately pushing thingsa and overly optimistic to plant so early, but i tossed some things in anyway since the lambsquarters have sprouted. Carrots, shallots, spinnach, peas, and bok choi seeds were sown last week. None have sprouted yet. I did have a couple broccoli that wouldn''t finish off a 6pack so i tossed them into the ground just to see. Tonight is predicted to be 19 - 24F. SHould be interesting to see what happens. I am hoping that the tremendous warm weeks we just went through have warmed the ground enough to provide some protection. ANything susceptable to frost i won't plant until our traditional last frost date of may 15. well, not in any serious amount.

Sorry to have disappeared. Had to travel out of town for work. So here are some details. I used the welded wire fencing as it is sturdy enough to stand up but flexible enough to be bent/cut easily. To save your hands get a decent pair of wire cutters. You can buy this in 25-100 foot rolls at anywhere from 3ft to 6ft tall. Depends on how much you think you will use as to which size you buy. Also, how much cutting you want to do. Three foot sections give you perfect 1/2 cut (one cut to give you the 18inches) and still works well for the tent sides to use at the beginning and end of season. I use the 6 mil clear plastic sheeting and would fold it over a few times at the edges where I would attach it to the fencing. I usually used a hole punch to put a hole in the folded plastic then used string (anything that will stand up to the outdoors) to tie the plastic onto the fencing. You could use twist ties, zip ties, light weight wire. I think I tried staples and they ripped through the plastic, so something you can "tie" around the wired fence works best. Depending on how your plant layout goes, will depend on whether you need to do one around each plant or one long wrap around a whole area. I gardened using the square foot method in most cases, so I used long sections of the plastic lined fencing around up to 10 plants at a time. If you use the conduit for supports, you can either cut them to just stick up enough to support the surround (after they are stuck in the ground as deep as you can) or you can make them taller and use them to support the tent lid later. If you have a windy area, you may wish to tie the surround to the supports. If you have the supports sticking up at least 4-6 inches over the side fencing, you can slip the tent over those support poles and use that to hold the tent up. Picture a dog house. The surrounds are the walls and the tent is the lid. You just cut a small hole in the plastic right where it will go onto the lower support poles and you are set. You can also use the parts sticking up to open the tent, by setting the tent on top of the supports (not through the holes) to give some ventilation on warmer days. I wish I had photos of this set up to share, but so far I have not found any in my BOXES and CDs of photos. I'll keep looking though. The two years I did the tent over my tomatoes, I had grown them against the south wall of our house, then shed, so I hung a lean-to top (one sided) from overhang of the house instead of "tenting". I did use the tent method over my peppers though. Again, the great part about this system is it's fairly cheap and is reusable for years and years. I don't mind spending the first year to get things going, but I like to reuse as much as I can. Good luck and if I find some photos, I'll post them.

I don't think height is really a concern, as long as they have a nice tuft of new growth at the top. You are going to plant them deep anyway, all the way up to their armpits as someone said recently. So if they have, I don't know, maybe 4 or 5 sets of true leaves I'd say that's about normal. Some of mine are smallish too, and I know they will look tiny after I plant them, but I also know they are healthy and they will take off as the warming of the season begins. Hey, I read that next week is going to be real warm (in a good way, not a heat wave), so I might try to get them in a few days before the warmth comes to give them a chance to settle in. I might even go with Wed or Thurs evening. Check the weather for your area and see if that can work for you. I just don't want to put them in right before a radical weather change. We've come too far together!

Like most bulbs, drainage is critical. Mine had created a small colony (perhaps twenty strong) from one bulb in ten years. Flowering can be somewhat spectacular in that number. The foliage needs to remain in good condition till probably April or maybe May before naturally disappearing.