What city are you in? I'm a zone 9er Ca. too and start my seeds on Jan 15, but that may be considered a tad early so the beginning of Feb is a good start time.

Damon

sumith,

Several of us in Santa Clara County (San Jose area) start seeds on Jan 5, and plant out beginning end of March. I grow in containers which warm up earlier than in-ground conditions, so this is just for reference.

Raybo

Sprtsguy76 - We are in Modesto.

Raybo - I also grow in Containers & in the ground.

This was my Garden in MA

This is our CA Backyard. It isn't the best soil I've had to work with but hate to waste good space. I will be growing in containers and in the ground. Going to try grow as much food as i can in this backyard.

Aah yes, Sumi, I recall some of your posts from the Boston area.

Modesto will be a quite different growing experience than MA. You should enjoy a much longer Season out here. I had lived in Nashua before relocating out here in 1981, so I remember the short Season there.

Your cultivating project looks wonderful. Our "dirt" in most of California is horrible, so I applaud what you have done with the yard. Keep us posted on your progress during the 2011 Year!!

Raybo

I miss my old seedling setup. It worked great.

This year I have a ghetto poor mans lighting setup lol. I've been goofing around with overdriving shop lights. They do seem to be much brighter. Hopefully i can get away with this lazy man's lighting setup.

So far they look healthy and not leggy yet. I'm thinking of sacrificing a few seedlings and plant them outside in containers.

I'm in the High Desert (Lancaster), and I'll be starting my tomato and eggplant seeds the first weekend of February. I'll move the seedlings out to my small greenhouse about 6 weeks later, transplanting them into 5-gallon containers. After another 4 weeks, I'll plant them into the raised bed. This way the plants will be quite large and strong before being planted in the ground around April 15th.

We often do get sub freezing temps here into March. It was actually snowing here on March 11th (the day my 2nd son was born), so waiting well into April is a must for me.

I'm in San Luis Obispo (zone 9), and I start my seed Feb. 15th and plant April 1st.

The most reliable way to configure your seed starting dates is to count back 6 weeks from your last frost date. The National Climatic Data Center has a nifty interactive page that helps you figure your last frost date by inserting your state and then closest city. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato seeds: when should you start them in your area?

The UC Davis IPM site recommends March-May for transplanting.

Here is a link that might be useful: IPM Tomato time page

Sumi,

I would really resist the urge to plant too early in Modesto. You get cold snaps there that could go from 70 one day, to 30 the next night.

The good news is that you will have day-after-day of cloudless sunshine from May until October, virtually without a day of rain. In fact, I think your main challenge with the large in-ground garden plot you have cultivated, is keeping it sufficiently watered. You are in for "sticker-shock" (welcome to California!) in that if you paid $50.00 per month for water in MA, out here you will likely pay $200.00 per month!

You should really invest in plastic mulch to prevent moisture evaporation in the hot 100 degree Sun. The good news is that it is low humidity out here, but again, this is not good for keeping crops moisturized. This year, I am switching from using black plastic mulch, to now a silverized mulch to reflect some of the heat up (and confuse the bugs on the undersides of the plants).

Raybo

I would not recommend plastic mulch in Modesto at all--you will overheat the roots and stunt your plants with the sun beating down on plastic!!
MUCH better is a layer of newspapers or cardboard, covered with 6-12 inches of oat straw. Cheap, effective and you will have very happy roots and happy earthworms, too!

Carla in Sac

Several of us in Santa Clara County (San Jose area) start seeds on Jan 5, and plant out beginning end of March.

Why so long?? That's almost twice as long as most growers.

Carla,

Have you tried silverized plastic mulch to retain moisture, as opposed to black plastic? This reflective mulch ought to be effective in retaining moisture in the soil, as well as deflecting heat away from the root system.

Raybo

Here is a link that might be useful: Silverized plastic mulch

I'm so confused right now.. :) I guess this year will be a trial and error period with my garden. The weather has been so nice lately, that I'm really tempted to plant outdoors in containers already.

I checked out the Averages for Modesto

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USCA0970

April and May looks like perfect months for flowers to polinate. Anything later looks to hot in my opinion. Last year in MA, I was like almost a month and half ahead of everyone else. While everyone was just starting to plant out, my plants were already producing tomatoes. I think i will attempt to try to protect my plants just incase of any unpredicated weather freezes.

I have plenty of spare plants to play with so will see how this experiment turns out.

Well one thing you can count on in the Central Valley is the heat, I lived there for a couple years (Turlock and Hilmar) and the summer can be pretty darn hot. But also great for tomatoes. An early start is probably a good idea, just be ready to protect your plants over night early in the season just in case. There is HUGE tomato canning industry in the Central Valley, I remember seeing truck after truck just loaded to the very top with tomatoes going down Lander road all day long during all the summer months.

Damon

I live in north Orange County and just started my first batch of tomato seeds on January 20. I grow seedlings both for my own use and to sell, the plant sales go to subsidize all the money I spend on my gardening habit.
Last year I started my first batch on January 24, but that was too early for plant sales as they were ready to plant around the first or second week of March but most customers weren't in the planting mood that early, even though there was very little chance of a hard freeze as of that date. I finally sold them, but they were getting really big by then, 14 to 18 inches high.
This year the first batches were early maturing varieties like Stupice and Matina, as well as Cherry types like Black Cherry, Juliete, Ildi, and Isis Candy. I ran out of Sun Gold seeds or would be planting them too.
As far as plant sales go, just at the best planting time the Fullerton Arboretum has its monster tomato and pepper sale, billed as the biggest sale west of the Mississippi, and they sell 30,000 to 40,000 plants in a weekend. I lose a lot of potential sales even though customers who have seen my plants and theirs say mine are definitely superior.
I have over $500 invested in a giant 21 tube fluorescent light seed starting stand, heating mats, seed, trays, pots, seed starting mixture, fertilizer, Pro-Mix potting soil, etc., plus the electricity to run this. If besides my expenses I included the value of my time I am probably working for a dollar an hour. But the income from the plant sales does let me many new varieties every year, and partially pays for compost and tomato cages and water and fertilizer for my own garden, and the left over seeds can be used for several years, in fact I had some 8 year old seed come up.

I planted 2 plants in a tote today. The next 10 days will be free of any cold spells and temps are in the mid 60's during the day. If they do fine outdoors i will slowly get my plants out and see if i can get a head start.

Make sure to harden them off before leaving them in full sun.

Taz6122 - They have been out during the day when its sunny for over a week now. About 7 hrs of sunlight during the day and bring them indoors at night under the overdriven lights. I think they will be fine.

I live in Southwest Riverside county, Sunset zone 18.
I start my tomato seeds January 1st. I grow determinite tomatoes and start 4 plants the first of every month. This way I have consistant ripening until first frost. No heavy staking.
After germination, spending time under light, the first tomatoes are planted in the ground, under hoop tunnels.
I start with hoop tunnels in March. The important temperature is 50 degrees (consistantly) at night. Not the temperature in the day.