Thanks for the tips. You my friend have a greenhouse, and I do not. That is where my question comes into play. From what I am gathering it sounds like most start their seeds 8 weeks prior to last frost for peppers and eggplant, and 6 weeks for tomatoes. I'll probably go with those numbers and see how it does. Anyone with experience think this is too much time indoors with keeping the plants under standard 2 light fixture 32watt T5 bulbs? I don't want them to get leggy so that's my main concern.

It is neither early blight nor late blight. Right now I would say that they have a bit of septoria. If I look closely at one or two of those photos, there are some signs of it. Also, there could be an issue with either over-watering or soggy soil that's not draining well. Of course, we can't do a lot about all this rain, *sigh*. For the septoria, which doesn't look horrible right now, I would use a fungicide for vegetables - one that contains Chlorothalonil (Daconil, Ortho Garden). Use according to package directions. All fungicides must be used as preventatives; none are curative. They will not kill existing disease but will keep it from starting and spreading. And, they must be applied regularly. If you are gardening organically, I would go with one of the copper-based fungicides. Follow package directions for dilutions and frequency of application. Now I'll let you in on a little secret here in the Northeast: :-) Septoria is usually transient. Once the weather dries out and the temps increase, it will stop progressing. It is the cool, wet weather that creates the environment for it to thrive. So, you don't normally get a fungicide just for septoria. However, a fungicide will help prevent early blight, which is very common and far more difficult to arrest. And, if there happens to be any late blight around, it will help to prevent that as well. So it's worth using to prevent other fungal diseases. You can remove the affected leaves, but don't feel that you have to remove every leaf that has a small spot or two. As the septoria stops, it will just leave a few spots on an otherwise perfectly good leaf. However, if you're looking at cool temps and rain for another week, you may want to be more aggressive about removing affected leaves. Some folks say that you should bag the affected foliage and throw it in the garbage to prevent the spread of disease. Do that, but don't think it will forever eliminate septoria and early blight. Those fungi are all over -- in the air, in rain droplets -- so you can be extremely fastidious and still get those fungus diseases. Just an FYI. Happy gardening!

I try a new early tomato every year. This year, Glacier was my earliest. They're OK. Early tomatoes don't impress me much. The best early I've grown was Matina. It was better to me than Bloody Butcher or Stupice. Personally, though, although it may not be considered an "early" tomato Jaune Flammee is always less than a week behind my earliest tomatoes, but even the first Jaune Flammee off the plant is as good to me as the best late season tomato. There is no early tomato that can compete with it for flavor, IMO. I try one new early variety every year just to extend the season a week, but I'd rather have more space in my garden for late season tomatoes, which are far superior in flavor.

According to UCONN Integrated Pest Management, Daconil or Maconozeb are the best but some resistance has developed to it in some strains of the late blight bacteria, so they recommend farmers combine the use of one of the two with a systemic fungicide and alternate which ones they use because resistance can develop in a single season. This is a very bad disease to have spreading early to mid way into the season. It goes beyond arguments for and against the use of fungicides in home gardens. If you let it get out of control in your garden you are helping the spread of the spores, which threaten commercial crops and farmer's incomes. I am certainly in favor organic options, but keep a very close eye on your plants so if they don't work, you are willing and able to remove infected plants as soon as you are unable to keep up with removing infected leaves promptly. You also could be threatening your future crops, because I believe it can winter over in the soil. Sue Here is a link that might be useful: UCONN IPM: click on vegetables then weekly pest message