sunnyside Hardening off -- I absolutely agree. A step that means whether your plants will live or die out in the garden is completely left out. This is the kind of information that people new to gardening must know, and there seem to be a lot this year just on Garden Web. It's certainly as critical as information about when to plant them. The information is about growing bell peppers. I wish it had also mentioned drainage in the containers. Some people don't know that either!

I just expanded my asparagus patch and also followed that advice from the Ohio State website, completely covering the roots with soil. I hope they don't have any problems coming up.

Of course the daylength and angle of the sun has something to do with how much light reaches the seedlings, but I don't think that's the only reason you see legginess on the seedlings. They simply need more light than they can get via a window at this time of the year. Winter sunlight is weak and inconsistent, and it is even weaker on cloudy days. When I first starting raising seedlings indoors in the 1990s, I raised them in a window, and it wasn't even a really sunny area, but I would carry them outside for several hours a day from the very moment they sprouted. They only had to stay inside on cold days. I had legginess issues all the time because they just couldn't get adequate light when they were inside, which is why I switched to using lights instead of relying on natural light. I don't know that lettuce and spinach are more prone to legginess than tomatoes and peppers, but because of their growth habit, they seem to tolerate legginess less well than the tomatoes and peppers. I would assume the low-E glass might allow less light to reach the plants. It won't matter to the plants if they have light during the day or at night as long as they have it. I don't see why you couldn't leave the lights on at night and turn them off during the day. I am assuming there is not a garage window that would let in just enough light to make the plants start stretching towards that window, thereby becoming leggy in the process. You can wrap your shelf with clear plastic or reflective mylar to help hold in the heat. A cold frame might work for starting the most cold-hardy seedlings at this time of year, but only if it is covered up with a blanket or something at night to keep out the cold and if it has a vent to allow excess heat to escape during the day time. All a cold frame does is keep frost off your plants and provide them with a warmer environment when the sun is shining. It does not keep them much warmer at night because it lacks both insulation and a heat source, so it cools down once the sun sets. Those pop up cold protection things and plastic mini greenhouses do not keep the plants warmer during cold nights and tend to roast them during the day without venting. If we ever build a cold frame (and I have saved a storm door to use whenever we get around to building a cold frame), we will insulate the walls. I use floating row cover material to keep frost off my plants on cold nights in the spring once they've been transplanted into the ground or into their permanent large containers, but even the best row cover made (and I don't have it) only gives you 10 degrees of protection. I have two different weights---one gives 2 to 4 degrees of cold protection and the other gives 6 to 8 degrees. So, even with them, I can keep the plants only slightly warmer at night. I have had some luck keeping plants warm on really cold nights by putting on two layers of the row cover that gives 6 to 8 degree protection, but just because you double the fabric doesn't mean it gives the plants 12 to 16 degrees of protection. I think it might give them 10 degrees if doubled. However, in spring, it is enough to prevent the plants from freezing (usually) on cold nights. We have a sunporch with insulated half-walls and glass windows and a greenhouse, and it gets pretty much just as cold inside both of them at night as it does outside. I could keep either or both of them warmer by heating them, but don't think it would be cost-effective. They are warmer during the day on sunny days though, and are uncomfortably warm on warm to hot sunny days, so venting is essential. In past years I have started leaving seedlings out on the sunporch all night long once the temperatures are staying above about 35 degrees at night. I won't chance losing them by leaving them out there on cooler nights. I use a heat mat to germinate pepper seedlings and that's about it. I remove the heat mat as soon as the seeds germinate because leaving the plants on the heat mat after that is not good for them. Every one of us has had to experiment to figure out what works for us in terms of seed-starting and then the hardening off of seedlings so they will be ready to go into the garden. I have found that what works best for me is to avoid all the "too's"...don't start seeds too early or too late, don't give them too much light or too little light, don't grow them in temps that are too hot or too cold, don't keep them too wet or too dry, don't expose them to too little air movement indoors followed by too much wind movement outdoors before they can acclimate to it and don't plant too many. (Well, I still have trouble with that last one.) As your home and property change, you will have to adapt your seed-starting practices accordingly. For example, I used to use the wrap-around front porch, which faces east and south, to harden off seedlings when I moved them out from the house. However, as our young trees and shrubs grew, the porch became increasingly shady, which is great on a hot summer day but not great for seedlings that need light. So, then I had to move the seedlings to a new location to harden off. You have to be flexible and adapt as your conditions change. You also have to be able to adapt to every kind of weird weather Oklahoma throws at you and your plants in spring. Starting seeds indoors is a wonderful process but it will drive you crazy if you let it. Things happen to young seedlings---a flat gets dropped and hits the ground upside down demolishing little seedlings, the cat decides a flat of tomato plants is a cat bed, a sudden wind gust sweeps a flat of seedlings off an outdoor table. It happens. I just always raise enough seedlings to make up for life's little disasters and don't let it make me crazy if a variety germinates poorly, is hit by damping off or meets with some unforeseen disaster.

No dilemma lol. Build 2. The east one would be good for growing low-light greens... While the one on the driveway would be good for starting seeds and hardening off heat-loving seedlings. If you use the east facing frame for seedlings like tomatoes and peppers, they are bound to get leggy. This isn't an optimum start to summer veggies. I should ask though, what is the medium of the driveway? Most driveway materials are good heat-sinks. It will help hold heat through chilly nights. Make this one portable. During the heat of summer you could just move it to a storage location.