I'm in NH and a zone cooler than you. I used to direct-sow everything with no issues. The only things I'd purchase were tomatoes & peppers. Since I discovered winter sowing, I do everything in containers outdoors. I will WS my tomatoes ASAP, but I have given up on the peppers, since I just can't seem to do those so well. I haven't got the patience or discipline to do an indoor setup, so this works for me. I started my cool season stuff (lettuce, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, radishes) end of march, and just put the seedlings in the ground this past weekend. I'll WS the rest of my veggies in the next week or so in containers, and plant them out as soon as they have true leaves. (I also have no interest in spending the $$ on 'starts' of plants at a garden center/nursery because the things that I grow (corn, toms, brocolli, zucchini, squash, melons, cukes) do just fine from seed.) Good luck with your garden!

I guess I am a plunker. I keep buying things that remind me of something when I was a kid or is just pretty then before you know it I have 20 or 30 things in pots and have to make a new bed for them. Then I put in stuff and still don't have room for it all so what do I do? Put it in bigger pots to hold them over til I get another bed made and then go buy more, lol. My patio looks like a jungle. Oh yeah did I mention I need more beds. I am trying to talk my hubby into making me one the entire length of the back of the house and clear out the shrubs on each side. Then I want to yank out all the ugly shrubs across the whole front and make those flower beds too. Poor thing he agreed to buy this house out of all the ones we looked at because he thought he wouldn't have to plant anything since it had mature trees and shrubs already. I just said thats right and let him dream til we actually got it. Now I am slowly filling him in on the real plans I have for it all. I love my trees but hate the shrubs. Especially since he doesn't like to trim them. I would much rather have pretty plants there. This is my first house and I have been waiting a long time to have a place to plant things so I am really enjoying it. I had neck and shoulder surgery recently so I can't do my own digging or I would be done already. Sorry for the rambling post.

byrd2park where's your garden plan? Interesting to hear how others plan or don't plan your gardens. My garden was once much bigger, and I tried a lot of different things, but I've simplified it. I change it up a bit year to year, like last year I grew corn. It's a soaker hose layout, using some plastic and then mulch in between the rows. 2017 Back row of sunflowers Trellis for cukes and green beans 8 tomatoes 3 peppers and 2 summer squash An area for the sprawlers, Delicata and Spaghetti Squash, along with ornamental mini pumpkins (for fall decorating). Tomatillos to make and freeze some more salsa verde And a row of Zinnias across the front, which is along the street. Zowie this year. I grow snow peas and herbs in pots on my deck.

I'm not trying to solve a problem with my post (I'm just being conversational, since I thought that's how the OP was meaning to be). I get seeds. I decide where to plant them. I repeat this process throughout the previous year and the winter. I plant them. I usually rotate crops, although I've had good success with certain kinds of crops in the same place two years in a row. I strategize as to how to avoid cat problems. I mostly grow Solanaceae (esp. tomatoes) and Cucurbitaceae plants, but I grow a bunch of other stuff, too, like basil, okra, corn, radishes, and bunching onions. I have to plan what to grow in more shaded areas, what to grow in containers (usually peppers), what to grow in the raised beds, etc. I have to plan how and if to amend the soil. I tend to till the soil (with a shovel), and do a lot of weeding. I experiment a lot. The garden isn't all about this year, in my view. Learning can help for the future. I'm not usually conventional in the way I garden (this is partially because the growing conditions and my resources aren't conventional, but also because I'm not the most conventional person out there). I don't mind taking risks if I see possible gains that I like enough. I actually grow F2 hybrids, sometimes. I save seeds from most things. I grow a lot of varieties to learn about them, and for genetic diversity in breeding projects. I keep records of results and what I have. I'd like to get into cover crops more. I make sure to plan when to start seeds in cells/trays in my small, unheated greenhouse (to be transplanted out of it later). March or early April seem to be good times for what I start in it. I plan my seed-starting mix, containers, etc. I plan when to fertilize my seedlings for the first time (if they're in the greenhouse long enough). Of course a lot of stuff you just have to plan until you find something that works (and then you can do that stuff that works again instead of planning all over). What works for one person or in one garden may not work for another in another.