I'm in upstate NY, and I started my peppers and eggplants a week ago. They're coming up now under lights with a heating pad. Monday I will start my tomatoes. Thing is, I am starting them inside. I have an unheated garage, but they would die out there, so mine are in a homemade light rack in the living room.

Where is your workshop? What is the temperature in there?

My workshop is unheated, so it can get as cold as the outside. the workshop is a nearby former garage.

I hope that helps.

In that case it would be a while before you could start any of those things out there. If you want to do something klike lettuce or broccoli they should be ok but none of the warm weather lovers.

Start tomatos and peppers no earlier than 4 weeks before planting out. In New England's zone 5 be careful not to plant these warm lovers outdoors until you are absolutely sure that soil has warmed. Mid may is probably even a bit aggressive in most cases. In some years, it could easily be early june before you should consider this.

Therefore, the earlist I would recommend tomatos and peppers started indoors would be mid april. It is better to have a few more weeks of growing outdoors than long, lanky plants indoors. Suddenly tomatos and peppers grow big and needs to be transplanted or you set them back.

I start mine a bit earlier-in fact have an entire kitchen window full of flats andd pots at different stages..I started lettuce way back about the middle of fabruary, peppers of lots of different varieities, some tomatoes, many of my flower seeds and just about all other vegs by now..i take them to my greenhouse as soon as i can get it to stay in the 40 degree night-time range without having to turn on the kerosene every single night..

I'll end up hardening off about the first week of may and set to plant about the 15th..I'll have big hardy plants by then but with the help of the nice warm greenhouse, they won't be leggy..

Its so cold here in chicago, with night-time temps in the 20's abd big snow heading our way..i am downright sick to death of the cold and wish it would warm up so we could get outside and move the stuff into the gh for good.

ruth

I am from Massachusetts. Follow kdjoergensen's advice -- that is the time I start my tomatoes and peppers. It is hard to wait but you don't want lanky plants. Do you have a basement that you can start seeds in? My basement is unheated but stays warmer than the outside (50's) so I can safetly start seeds in April. Marigolds I would start 4 weeks before putting out they are fast growers for me.

Here is a link that might be useful: Last year's seed starting photos....

One more thing I do when I start my tomatoes is bypass using the 6 packs to start the seeds. I start them in individual, small, square containers. I am not sure of the exact size but these are the square ones that starter size perennials that are available in spring are planted in. They are square not round so they fit in the trays. You may be able to see them in the photos link above. I start them between April 10-15th and put them out last weekend of May when my last frost is predicted. If the ground is too cold and you try to put out early the plants will just sit there and not do too much. Tomatoes grow fast once the grown warms up if you give them good water and fertilizer.