In N michigan I start tomatoes inside and transplant outside about a week after memorial day. I've tried peppers for 3 years and start inside with the tomatoes to grow a nice plant, but they are just starting to get actual pepper buds for our first freeze so have not gotten any peppers from them. Eggplant seems to do okay started inside, you will get some before freezing, but not a whole lot. It's challenging growing with our short season, maybe other people have better suggestions. A friend of mine who also lives in N Michigan started heat loving seedlings out in a rectangle of hay bales with an insulated glass door on top creating a mini greenhouse. She got great peppers and tomatoes that way. I've tried cold weather tomatoes and found them to be not any more tolerant than regular. Once their leaves are frosted and the stem limps over, there is not much you can do. We have an unheated greenhouse that came with the house we bought and last year I tried putting seedlings out there, but fried the poor things in about 2 hours. The temp was over 100 degrees. It's a delicate dance we perform to have fresh veggies come July.

Hi all Tropically speaking,I find bell peppers to be very difficult to grow on past the 6 month period. I like to consider them annuals because even if they press on past 6 mts, they look miserable and fruit size and quality diminish rapidly. Pruning only gives a little extension on life span. I suggest anyone trying to grow bell peppers as a perennial use an open pollinated variety. The hybrids produce heavily early and then are spent and deteriorate very quickly after that.They also seem to genetically self destruct.

For tomatoes I use four 6' stakes pounded into the ground about a foot around each plant, and then I "cage" the vines by tying twine around the stakes every 8-10" as they grow. I try to keep "ahead" of the tomatoes, 'cause it's MUCH easier to tie the twine around the stakes when you're not trying to "contain" the vines while you're tying! I started out using mostly 6' bamboo stakes since they were the cheapest thing I could get, but over the years I've gradually been replacing them with the vinyl-coated metal stakes. Because of my very limited space I MUST grow them up! For the "regular" tomatoes 5' is usually high enough, but the cherries grow over the top and just hang after that, and some years they hang most of the way back down to the ground! With the four stakes they're pretty sturdily supported, but some years I do have to pound a T-post in next to the cherry tomato cages and tie the stakes to that to keep them from flopping over! For the eggplant I put one good solid stake in by each plant and just tie the main stem as they grow so they can support the weight of the fruit. The only peppers I grow are a couple paprika peppers, but I usually wind up eventually supporting them the same way I do the eggplant. Here are some pics that show how I do it--from beginning to end. (I don't have any serious Wind Issues with the fence, the shed, and the house blocking enough of it!) 07.01.12 - About two weeks after I planted them - The stakes are in but no twine yet 07.10.12 - I tied the twine around the stakes high enough that it's above the current growth 08.06.12 - Everything's pretty much full grown, but nothing's flopping over the top yet 09.31.12 - From the other side where you can see how high they are relative to the 6' fence, and the cherries, on the left, are totally flopping! I wound up with three "extra" tomatoes this year and didn't have anything planted where my root crops normally go, so I stuck the extra three in there and just let them flop--the way we always grew them at home--when we had a couple acres to let them flop on!!! I tried "regular" tomato cages the first couple years! They're a JOKE! Skybird P.S. If you want to see anything close up, click on the pic and then you can magnify it by clicking on the little magnifier on top of the pic! This post was edited by skybird on Tue, Apr 22, 14 at 1:03

Hi, I have lost majority of my seedlings due to some bugs. It is ironic, because I have planted so many seeds to have enough and to share with people. I was telling people that I will give them all my extras and here I am, not having enough for myself. :(( I would like to do quick trade so I can transplant them into my garden ASAP. Also, prefer to do the trade with one or two people to save on shipping cost. Would love to get 10-15 beefsteak type heirloom tomato's seedlings (indetermined), 5 cherry(black, yellow, red), 1 grape, 3 plum type (all indetermined). Peppers I prefer bell, meaty and sweet. Need around 10. Few hot peppers, too. I also need 6 heirloom eggplants. Look on my trade list and see if there is any seeds you would like to have for your seedlings. I can also trade different mint cuttings, lemon balm, catnip, rosemary, I grow my seedlings organically and prefer to get the same, but it is not the must. Please, do not send sick seedlings. Thanks