You might like the planting guide for vegetable seed planting on the Digitalseed.com website. I find it very helpful for our particular growing area - zone 23/24 climate. I usually wait until the soil warms a little to plant cucumbers, squash and melons. I have a few Roma tomatoes started - as they seemed to be overwintering from last year and hope to find a hardy variety for my cool summers. The peppers could be OK now too - but will wait until warmer weather once planted out. A few are still braving the cold nights with several hardy ancho types turning red, and a Bell-type trying to produce new fruit. They are perennial - although I prefer to start new seedlings each year - mainly because I want to use the space for earlier plants - lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, etc. These latter plants are already in-ground and growing well - should be able to pick broccoli soon. Lots of lettuce, green onions, chinese cabbage and bok choy coming on fast, and hope to seed more greens directly - before they are all gone. Bejay

What kind of soil do i buy, like a bag of Miracle Grow from Wal-Mart? As others have stated, don't use Miracle Grow or any other mix that has fertilizer in it. Newly sprouted seedlings don't need extra food, and fertilizers will only encourage funguses to grow and they can kill your seedlings. Get something labeled "soilless seed starting mix" or something like that, and don't feed your seedlings until they've been up for some time and/or have started putting on their first true leaves. Also how often do i water the seeds? Keep them moist until they sprout. Then, let just the surface of the soil dry out to avoid funguses, but don't let them completely dry out (as in all the soil dry). Do i keep them inside or outside? You can start a lot of seeds outside. It's called winter sowing and there's an entire forum here on the Gardenweb dedicated to that method. But they'll sprout later than ones you keep inside. I have a sunroom that is not heated, would that be suitable? In cold or warm room? Your sunroom will probably work if it gets bright, all-day light. I don't know the minimum amount of hours of light seedlings need ~ anybody else know? More light the better though. If they get tall and skinny/lanky, you'll know they need more light. And if they're in a cold room, they'll grow slower, so start them eight or more weeks ahead of your last frost date to compensate. Just make sure the room doesn't get below freezing temps, and preferably not below 45 degrees or so ~ they won't necessarily die if they're that cold (-45), but they don't much like it. Also do seeds go bad? i would like to use them for a couple yrs. Tomato seeds can last four or five years without much lowering of viability provided you keep them in a cool, dry place without many fluctuations in temp and humidity. If you put them in a jar and in the fridge or freezer, they'll keep even better and longer. Just be sure to let the jar reach room temp before opening it so any moisture in the room air won't condense on the seeds. Moisture fluctuation one of the main killers of seeds ~ that and temp fluctuations. Good luck! If at first you don't succeed, figure out why and definitely try again.

i don't use a chart or calendar... i think it's hard to err on the side of too early in planting seeds... too often i've had bad seeds or bad conditions and have had to restart a whole crop; starting early gives me that option. big healthy seedlings, planted as early as possible, are key to exploiting our two vegetable windows (late fall, early summer). i agree with you w/r/t garden pests and diseases and being too early; but you can hold plants for weeks as seedlings if you use a good seedling mix, shade, morning sun, dry areas under eaves, etc.. right now i have a bunch of large (5 and 6 inch) broc, chard and cauliflower seedlings in 4" pots, ready to go into the ground. but i won't have space for them until mid-september when i clear one of my sweet potato spots. i've started a bunch of lettuce seedlings indoors in turface and coir. it's too early to start them outdoors (too hot, soil's too active for their thin seedcoats and slow germination)... but in a couple of weeks i'll transplant them into buckets in the shade, and then in october into the garden... anyway, i'd rather be too early than too late. those dates on the ifas calendar are too late for me by a good two weeks.

We're in Poughkeepsie, and we just started 2 trays of assorted veggies and herbs, including tomatoes, peppers, yarrow, and parsley. With an indoor lighting and bottom heating setup, our first seeds germinated in 3 days, and after 6 days we're already seeing some 2 inch seedlings. The lighting and heat projects were done very cheaply! If you're interested, details are on our brand spanking new blog about our experiences gardening in the Hudson Valley: http://naseersiddique.com/greenthumbgeeks Even though a foot of snow fell in the last 24 hours, it's Spring in our grow room (dining room)!