If your last frost date is May 15, you're still at 4 wks before. Thats a little later than optimum but not undo-able. I think as far as seedlings go, much better a little late than far to early. If you start them right away, give them some heat to get them germinated quickly. Most of mine germinated in 2-6 days with a heating mat. I would not do any varieties this year that you know take longer to germinate. (Black Cherry took nearly 2 weeks, next year I'll plant it a week before others) Since the weather is alread starting to warm you should be able to get them out into sunlight while they are young. I would not wait for them to catch up in size with ones that were planted weeks earlier, I would get the young plants out when you think the weather is safe (when you would have put them out if you had started them a few weeks earlier). They will probably catch up and then pass plants that were planted too early, got spindly and then planted out. Good luck and good gardening, Mary

I often start perennial and biannual seed in July. Right now I have shasta daisy, sweet william, foxgloves, painted daisy already germinated and am waiting on delphinium, columbine, salvia and sage to get started. I find it much easier to get them started outside when the soil is already warm and the temps make germination faster. If you start seed in July you can expect the plants to flower the following year. Some perennial and biannual seeds are very easy and some are hard. I follow directions on back of packet as far as if the seed needs to be covered or needs light and some need to be frozen for a while, set them on wet miracle grow potting mix, water well, but gently and put in a shady place until germination starts and then I move them to an area that gets a few hours of morning sun a day. Once their first set of true leaves is out I will move them into a place that gets 4 or 5 hours of morning sun. When their second set of leaves shows up the seedlings will be moved to either a nursery bed in my veg garden or for some into their permanent spot right away. The bulk will go to the veg garden and those I might cover with shade cloth if it is very hot (it will be in Arkansas in August). The hardest thing is to keep the soil moist while germination is going on and when they are vey small. Sometimes I have a complete failure, but for some like shasta, sweet william, foxgloves, painted daisy, gillardia they are so easy you will get dozens of plants. Almost always I get at least a few. Well worth the couple of bucks the packet of seed costs. Hope this helps.

The question really is whether you think you'll get a hard frost (e.g. the moisture in the soil actually freezes to any extent) or not. The tubers will survive in the soil with cool temperatures, just not frost. Remember, they are shallow root plants so you only need to freeze a couple of inches of soil and you'll kill or damage the roots. It would take several weeks of ground frost to kill the tuber (think about what happens at the end of the season.) I too am in Zone 5, and am on the side of a lake (which usually means our temperatures are slightly higher than others) but you are more daring than I. But my reason is that most of mine are 8" tall already and I don't want to have to bother with coverings for frost warnings. Most of my tubers took 15 days to go from nothing to a cuttable sprout. Were they in the ground, that sprout would have had a couple of sets of leaves above the ground and would have been highly susceptible to frost. The up-side of your plan, however, is that even if the above-ground part gets frosted, a root system should get established as well, so a new sprout should come up quickly. Good luck, and let us know how it works out for you. Cheers, Russ

Are these the first plants you've grown as seedlings? You need to do some reading up. Soil-less mix is probably best for potted seedlings, though I use equal parts soil, compost, and peat moss and do OK. Maybe throw in some perlite. As to peat pots, BEWARE. If you plant peat pots, like they tell you to, they often don't degrade, and trap the roots. If you do use peat pots, strip them off when you plant. I'd just plant in 4" pots, or full sized dixie cups. If you can grow your seedlings in full daylight, do that. If you can't, then lights are must, but the fluorescent lights should be just an inch or two away from the plant. Otherwise it won't be bright enough. We aren't talking about bright enough to read. We're talking bright enough to mimic sunlight. 18 hours of such light is about right.