Would like to grow tomatos, cucumbers, squash, melons, roots crops, peas Cucumber, squash, melons, and most root crops are best direct seeded rather than used as transplants. Same goes for peas. This is not to say that some of them can't be started as transplants, just that most studies show they do quite a bit better if direct seeded. So that just leaves tomatoes on your list. ;) They should be started approx. 6-8 weeks before your transplant out date. Starting transplants months earlier, unless one has quite the ideal set-up such as a greenhouse would provide, only results in spindly, leggy transplants that are stressed. They don't tolerate the required hardening-off period and don't transplant well and are often more susceptible to disease and pest problems because of the stress they have endured. Dave

I absolutely considered myself a zone 5, but coming south 10 miles has made a big difference. ==>>> you moved from a semi-rural area .. to the city.. big time.. my personal theory is based on jonie mitchel .. as in paved paradise.. and put in a blacktop .... IMHO .. uneducated.. or i should say.. un-researched ... is that pavement.. cement/blacktop heats and retains heat.. all winter long ...... holding it long into the night .....and especially in spring.. giving you that little extra warmth .. at night .. after all.. zone is basically MIN winter temps ... and that is why.. i might get a freeze.. and you might miss a light frost .... its all about.. IMHO.. how much pavement the city has .. as compared to my endless miles of bare dirt .... [not to mention wind swept.. compared to your houses being 10 feet apart.. etc ...] i am rural down here between adrian and tecumseh .... and it never fails to amaze me.. is that my forsythia.... bloom a week or two later than the ones in that podunk miniscule town of Tecumseh ... 3 miles away ... what else could it be??? ken

Call your county Cooperative Extension Office or check the web for your county Master Gardener group - they can help provide the last expected frost date range for your area and recommended vegetable variety list. In my zone 8b, peppers like more heat than tomatoes so I start those seeds about 2 weeks later than my tomatoes. I use 6 packs planting 3 seeds per cell thinning to the strongest as they grow on and bumping up as needed before planting outside. Tomatoes can be bumped up into larger pots (community pot > deep 4" or deep coffee [plastic or paper] cups > 1 gal - set deeper each time to encourage more root development before setting them out in garden or giving them to gardening friends! I have an indoor seed starting arrangement made from metal shelves, each with 2 stoplight fixtures equipped with daylight spectrum bulbs or 1 warm & 1 cool bulb (set about 3 inches above seedlings and left on for 14-16 hours daily) and seedling heat mats with thermostats to control soil temperatures. After the seeds emerge I remove the clear plastic dome and turn on my small circulating fan for an hour daily to provide air movement which strengthens seedlingÂs stems; as seedlings grow on I bump them up to individual pots at the 2 true leaf stage, start ¼ strength liquid balanced fertilizer, lower the soil temperature and keep raising the lights to maintain proper distance. Be sure to label each pot or youÂll loose track of varieties. Take pictures and keep notebook of what, when, where so you can make adjustments in the future. Note: All seedlings need to be hardened off over 7-8 days before finally planting out in the garden  less transplant shock that way! Tomatoes only can be planted deeply leaving 2 sets of leaves above ground; in no time youÂll have big, healthy plants and early tomatoes provided you keep soil moisture even and drench soil with Epsom salts (2 T./gal) to keep blossom end rot at bay provided itÂs a problem in your garden! Beans and cucumbers are easily started in the garden after soil has warmed a bit  they hate cold wet soils. Happy Gardening! TJ

canadianchiliehead, I'm in 5a as well but, there is a bit of a range within 5a. I'm in Ottawa but do not get the advantages another 5a grower would have by the Great Lakes (gotta love the milder lake effect). It all depends where you are within the zone. As booberry suggested I start most of my peppers in the late Feb. time range. The one exception are my notoriously slow super hots. I start my Bhut Jolokia, Seven Pot and Scorpion seeds early January. I need them to have a really good start early inside to get fruit end of September. FWIW, Bill