presuming you have packaged seed.. read the package.. if it says 90 days to bloom ... that means your first bloom would be around 9/10 ... then ask.. when is your first frost ... if you are in the north ... if its 10/1 ... whats the use .... then you have all the issues of intense summer heat on small seedlings... if you are doing this in the ground .... and then the intensity of summer sun versus spring sun ... and whether they will burn to a crisp .... can it be done.. probably.. give it a try.. i learned more experimenting.. than i ever got from a book or the web .... and i tend to remember experiments longer than something i read ... but i wouldnt get too wound up in it all ... depending.. again.. where you are in IL now.. if your seeds will bloom in 30 to 45 days.. its another game altogether ... the final thought is whether the seeds will be properly stored over winter.. and viable for proper planting time next spring .... or whether you will remember to do it then .. lol ... aw.. what the heck.. wing it.. just do it.. report back .... ken

It's not too late. I'm in Westchester Cty NY - my "official" last frost date is 5/15. (Although a couple of years ago we had a light frost on May 21! If you're starting them indoors, the seedpacket says how many weeks before the frost date to start them. I usually start them the 1st week in May. I don't start planting outside until the end of May. As flowered-corners mentioned, winter sowing is a great way to start outdoors. I keep saying I'm going to try WS but never got around to it.

You can seperate them as soon as the first true set of leafs appear. They will take an incedible amount of abuse, or so it seems to me, that we invoke when we split them and reset them. Be sure to handle them by the leafs instead of the stem. They will grow new leafs but not new stems. I transplant a second time when they are about 3" and touching. Each time into a slighty bigger pot and bury them as deep as possible each time. The third time is usually into a 4" pot and then outside with the doods to harden em off. Crazy Larry

In zone 7, early April, it is not too late in general. Also it would depend on the seeds and plant type. For example, you could have started with parsley, chives, corianders, lettuce two months ago. Because once they grew a little bit you coull plant them in the garde and not to worry about frosat or cold. But what good it would have been to grow peppers, tomatoes, basils so early? You could not take them out before mid May(in zones 6,7) Besides, when the weather cold and you plant those warm crops outside they are not going to grow any bigger any time soon. So the plants started a month later but put outside when it is really warme will catch up real fast. The difference won't ba a month , maybe just a week.