Hi. Seems like the real trick is to have palm plants large enough to withstand a cold dip. I had a small multiple roebellini and Queen palm die from 2 nights at 17F. If you can plant palms with about 5" of trunk or more, all the better. You might want to look into Brahea armata. I planted one last Summer and it was untouched by the cold. It has about 8" of trunk but is costly at that size. Chamerops humilis does very well in the desert too. I have a massive Canary Island Date in my front yard and it covers half of the yard. They do pretty well in the desert as well.

Planted today here in zone 5b, southern New Hampshire. I have raised beds and the next 10 days are forecast warm weather & fair so taking a slight risk. The traditional planting day here is Memorial Day weekend. Brandywine Belgian Giant Yellow Brandywine Beefmaster that's it. No cherry tomatoes at all this year and no early varieties. I have had enough of them. I expect that grape tomatoes will spring up near the compost heap all by themselves. We are down to 30 tomato plants this year so I limited it to large or giant varieties. This is half of what I had last year. The rest of the garden is dedicated to other vegetables including a lot of Asian vegetables. I actually prefer Lemon Boy to the yellow Brandywine but I could not find them this year. Last year I grew Celebrity they were nice shaped fruit, tasted nice and good yield -- but I want something better tasting and more variety. I wanted at least 1 VFN hybrid (Beefmaster) as insurance. The compost that I have been curing for 2 years and carefully sifted is unbelievable I put about 3" of it on the garden last month and every scoop I dig brings up an earthworm.

True that the more heat, the better for peppers, but they absolutely need as much sun as you can give them outside. If you are concerned about the cool nights, you can always move them inside or cover them at night. I would start hardening them off right away. (search for hardening off on this forum and you'll get some good advice). Yes, you were right in thinking the pots are not big enough. So while you are hardening off, start planning on getting some larger pots and more potting mix. When you repot them you can bury the one with the sideways stem deeper. Support may be needed for the plants when you get them outside depending on how much wind you get. Next time when starting from seed, take the cover off when you see the first signs of germination. A bottom heat source helps to shorten germination time. The seedlings need to go under light right away - probably you'll need to provide supplemental light since window light in winter months at your latitude is not strong enough. You can get a grow light or even a fluorescent shop light, but you'll need something. (You might want to check out the Growing from Seed and Growing Under Lights forums here.) Peppers don't like a lot of fertilizer, but they do need some, especially when growing in containers.

CJ can u set up private messaging? Here's how.... Cel, can u set private messaging up? "click the "Edit Profile" button - look at the list on the left side of the page, at the bottom of the list, you'll see "Advanced Settings" - click that - scroll waaaaaay down to the bottom of the (Advanced Settings)page, and you'll see... Privacy settings "Allow users to follow my profile" below that, is... "Who can message me" - there are drop down options Choose... "Allow anyone to message me" Then click the "update" button, and it should work. Try that, and see if it works. Let me know if/when you try and finish, and I'll check your profile and see if a "message" button appears. You will NOT be able to see a "Message" button. To you, the button will appear as "Edit Profile"."