It's still too early to plant anything you have mentioned. All it takes is one night of low temps to kill off everything. I second checking with your local extention or agricultural center about your zone. I would hold off until at least mid to late May for your list above. Peas would be the first to go in the ground. However, if you are really anxious, you can try some early lettuce, kohlrabi, kale, etc. Since this is a brand new community plot, the first thing you should do is a soil test. You can purchase a very simplified one from a local garden center or send a sample to your local extention office. I do these things to divert my anxiousness to plant! :) Learn what your plants like and determine if you need to amend the soil. You can also begin to prepare the soil for planting. Use some good organic compost to loosen and amend the soil. You can also begin compiling things like old newspapers for weed barrier and walkways through your garden. They will break down, help the soil and control weeds and retain some moisture. Map out your plot based on how large your plants will grow and determine where everything should go. Try growing your cukes, beans, peas and squashes upright on trellises to save space. Gather staking materials for your tomatoes and peppers. Get out there and actually walk around the space. If your tomato plant is labeled as full growth at 4', I usually assume the same in width. It's a rough estimate but it works for me. So, when you plant, know that you will need two feet of growth space on all sides of your seedling. This means your seedlings should be a minimum of four feet apart. This will give little to no walking space in between. Staggering the planting will just make your walking path a process of weaving in and out instead of either side of a row. You have to allow walking space for harvesting and maintenance. Pruning and staking helps to conserve space but you can only do so much of both. The plants still require adequate room for growth. It is better to have four healthy plants than eight stressed, sickly ones. Choose your varieties by their growth and requirements. Don't plant what you can't maintain. (this is fun, dont let it stress you!) All of your plants require full sun. That is a minimum of 6 hours of hot sun. Your peppers require the most. A common mistake is allowing your tomatoes to shade your peppers. Get out there and look at the light movement on the space. Get some sticks and some twine and measure the space and mark your rows and individual plants. It helps to have a visual reference when you become overwhelmed. Mark on a plant label where you will place everything and then walk around. Move it around until you have it right. You can move sticks and twine...plants don't like it. :) This is a process of success and failure. Don't be discouraged. Talk to the other community gardeners and stick around places like this. Most importantly, keep an eye and a hand in your garden as often as possible. You will learn to love this! Good luck! :)

That is a great setup Randy, I use a similar setup in my utility room (warmer than my basement) where I start thousands of seedlings every year. My cactus go into the basement to rest during the winter. I don't use anything under the flats to promote humidity and usually no extra heat as it stays warm with all the lights in close proximity. I've been thinking of posting some pics of my 6 month old seedlings, just can't get the pics attached to these messages. Here's a link to some of my light setups. Dan Here is a link that might be useful: My light setups

I know this is a fairly old post, but I'd like to add a bit of my knowledge. I would suggest buying a Mylar enclosed grow room. IT helps trap heat, and keep bugs out. It also allows you to monitor the exact temperature and humidity within your own container. I also live in the snow and grow tropical plants that need approx 70� with 60-70% humidity. Without ruining the wood or walls in my house, or making my room smell like a butterfly house. Also I went one step further and I use 2x quad band 90watt UFO lights, and 1 tri-band UFO in a tri-force configuration all piled into a 5'x5'x5' grow space. I got a pretty substantial harvest, and my power bill increased approx $30 a month. You can pay the extra for the HID bulbs and my buddies swear by the increased watts that your harvest also increases. So it really depends on the $ ur willing to throw down and to what extent. To me. Let's say 6 months to fruit.. If you have that setup you're probably looking at around 500-600 for a hydro, HID, and depending on your light, you're probably looking at a couple hundred more in power. Is what you're planting worth the investment? Or if you went LED's, it dramatically drops the amount of power consumption and makes that level even more affordable. Also with Led's since they use such a low power. @ some point in the future I want to set up a parallel 12v system tied to a Gear bike generator. So I go and workout in the morning and it powers my grow box. In which you could easily set up for another $200. Enjoy, and any questions or schematics you may want just hit me up.

Deke- I know it looks tight, but my furniture is probably too large for the space (I try to err on the side of caution). It's almost 17' from the back window wall to the closet....so I think it would fit. If not, you can always get a slightly smaller pool table of turn it and shrink down the HUGE sectional :) With graph paper it would be a lot easier to check exact measurements and that would be the next step. I think Mary is just trying to get an idea how the spaces would flow. Disclaimer....I worked one summer at a fun, family restaurant that had a pool/play area in the back...for kids before 9pm. They loved it! And yes, you do need a lot of room, so no one gets bashed in the back of the head, on those bar stools...and it's no fun trying to make a shot, when you're too close to the wall! LOL