Much depends on how much work you want to do to harvest earlier onions. I started some bulbing onions about a month ago on the same day as I started leeks. The reason for starting these early is that I want pencil thick stems to transplant through black plastic mulch. Thinner stems tend to end up under the plastic and dying. But in addition to cutting them back I feel that I need to do one transplant after seeding into a deeper flat and seperate plants within and between rows by 3/4" to avoid crowding. This step doubles the work of starting onions. For bunching onions I feel you can start them almost anytime now. Mine are up and I plan to just trim and water those flats for the next month and then pull the matted roots apart when planting them in a furrow. There is alot of plant size variation with this method but I harvest by thinning the largest ones first and that allows harvesting over a 5-6 week period.

Larkspur is one of the plants that reseeds itself in the fall in my zone 6b PA garden. It did also in my zone 6 Cleveland garden. I suggest you try scattering some seed now where you want them to grow and let nature do it for you. I was out raking yesterday and see that some Larkspur is up and growing already. The frigid temps, snow, and ice to come won't hurt these seedlings. They'll hunker down and ride it out. If you want to use the belt and suspenders approach start some seed indoors as backup. Just a note, if you have a heavy mulch down you won't get reseeding later this year. The mulch will keep the seed from coming into contact with the soil. Good Luck.

I'm just starting a few things now. Coleus and pelargonium, 'cause I found last year that they both took a long time to get to a decent planting-out size. Agapanthus, too, which will probably take two years to bloom........I've got cuttings of coleus and heliotrope going, too. Plus a few 'back-ups' of things that I'm winter sowing for the first time: echinops ritro, clematis tangutica, clematis integrifolia, lobelia siphilitica alba, baptisia leucantha. (More to come, too, inside, including cleome, cosmos, nigella, basil, eggplant, caladium, calla, cannas and marigolds, among others.) I'm also stratifying some seeds, but they're just in plastic bags with sand/peat at the moment, not in pots yet..... Biggest excitement so far is seeing signs that all eight of the salmon clivia seeds that I planted about six weeks ago are going to germinate! Yahoooooo! I'm eagerly waiting for the last of my amaryllis to get serious about blooming so I can take over the fluoro they're under! LOL! I'm also growing greens like arugula and mesclun, plus getting parsley and Swiss chard well underway...I've fallen in love with the beautiful colors of "Bright Lights" Swiss chard---am trying to grow enough to plant up a couple of early spring 'windowboxes' with chard (backdrop) and pansies (foreground). Sweetpeas, too, are going in containers on my porch, with trellises.......I know there's loads more, but can't think of anything else right off hand. All of my packets are lined up by date, and I have a planting schedule ready. Don't think I have anything that 'has' to be planted for another two weeks...... Am finding tomato 'volunteers' in some of the potting soil that I was recycling for bowls of greens!! Wish I knew for sure what they are! Potted up four tonight because I didn't have the heart to pull them out!! I have another eight coming up in another bowl. I guess that will teach me to recycle potting soil without serious composting first!! With fast-growing, cut-and-come-again greens, I didn't think it would matter. They're not in the least bothered sharing space with tomato seedlings, but it certainly is causing ME consternation, LOL!......

I start my tomatoes and peppers around 8 weeks before the last average frost. The squash and beans go in (direct sow) just after the last average frost, but I wait to pland okra until a few weeks later, when the ground has warmed up even more.