Onions take a long time from seed before they are large enough to form decent bulbs. I don't recomend them from seed unless you plan ahead for it. Once the duration of sunlight triggers them to bulb, they do so regardless of whether they are capable of it. I wouldn't bother with lettuce indoors either because it germinates rapidly and is ready for harvest 30-45 days after the seeds are in the ground. The only time I would bother with lettuce indoors is in the summer. Lettuce can have germination issues if the soil temps go much above 75Fish so starting indoors may make sense at this time, but not in spring. Beans also grow very easily from seed sown directly outside after the soil has warmed. You can start them indoors, but it just isn't necessary. Tomatos and peppers make sense to start indoors. To have a 6" or so transplant you want to start tomatos about 6 weeks before the planting date and peppers 8 weeks. Both benefit from a heat mat during germination, but after germination only the peppers should be left on it and I am not sure it would make a lot of difference if your home is reasonably warm. I leave my peppers on a heat mat, but my basement is about 65F during the day and 60F at night when I start them.

It should continue to make side shoots. During the summer they shoots may start to get bitter as the weather warms up. At that point you may want to pull it, or keep cutting them off and wait to eat them until fall. I plant a second crop just for fall, here in WI I start them around mid-Aug to get a late crop.

My bed is 60% red cedar mulch (not nuggets) and about 40% maple leaf (leaf section is deeper than the mulch). I ran out of mulch a little over half way of covering this bed, so I had to finish with the leaves. The first thing I am gonna do starting tomorrow is pull off equal sections of mulch and leaf at the same time and mix it all up really well on my very large tarp and put back down, so in the end it will be a mixer of mulch and leaves. I won't be planting anything out until this is done. The back filling with potting soil is a great idea, but I don't have much left and I'm very low on funds. Maybe I'll see if I can wait? It may take me longer than anticipated to mix up the bed covering anyway. Melissa1977

Thanks, all, for the advice. I sprayed the pumpkins again and stomped a whole bunch of squash bugs to death. (Does anyone know what the little tiny gnat-like bugs are that swarm squashed squash bugs the minute they are squashed?) I cut off all the bad vines and leaves and I'm inspecting the heck out of the onese that are left. So far, so good. If the bugs come back, I'll give up. I've had to baby these darn pumpkins so much already, I hate to give up without one last fight. The heat about killed them and kept them from setting fruit until just the last few weeks. I don't know, if my pumpkins will be ready for Halloween. This is my first year gardening and I think it will be my last year growing pumpkins! I'll let you know, if they make it...