Since this is the Vegetable Gardening Forum I'll stick to talking about the tomato seeds. Check out the Bulbs and the many flower forums for more info on them. ;) The tomatoes can be started from seed 6-8 weeks before your plant out date - which usually 1-2 weeks after your last frost date. In your zone I am guessing that is the end of May? That would make it too late to start tomatoes from seed for the best results. But if you have some seeds for some early varieties you could try them and still get fruit from them before your first fall frost. Otherwise I think I'd plan to go with tomato transplants this year and save the seeds for next year. Good luck with your garden. Dave

I do it because I get unusual plants/exotic colors only catalog seeds can give me. I do it because I like doing it. Yes, you can get earlier bloom with some plants. With others (like cosmos and zinnia) I find they do best planted directly outside. You learn from experience. Lately (after doing it for 30 years) it's become a bit of a chore so I stopped doing seeds that need to be started before March 1st and buy those plants in the nursery. I use an 8 tray light setup with two shop lights next to each other on each level, each light with one ordinary 40 watt tube and one full spectrum tube. Keep a list of when each plant needs to be started (by weeks before last frost), keep the lights no more than an inch from the plants, and always have a fan or slightly open window in the plant room to prevent fungus. Try to water from the bottom and without soaking the top of the soil. Have as much fun with this and go nuts obsessing over whatever you feel comfortable with. Rewmember, it's for pleasure!

Hi hanzrobo, I have an east facing and a huge south facing window. I was a little concerned that if they slow down in the heat of summer, seedlings may have a tough time right now. We are already 100+ and the room they will be in is warm! It's an add on to the house, but no cooling attached. I'm thinking of ordering seeds from Mesa Garden , unless someone has a better suggestion. :-)

Large seeds are probably better sowed directly where you want the plants to grow. Very tiny seeds can be difficult because of the possibility of drying out. So it depends how diligent you can be, and how organised. Are you going to remember where you sowed things and where you need to keep the area moist? Or are you going to be like me, wandering around the garden in a vague way, trusting to memory, getting side-tracked. And wondering why the ___________ [fill in blank] never germinated. Another thing you have to watch out for is the frustrating cutworm. He is a caterpillar, in his larval stage, and will become a moth. But on the way to getting his wings he spends his time slinking about chomping through the stems of the very plants that you have sown. Like cucumber seedlings. You will see them - both the felled seedlings and the caterpillar - but you won't suspect the caterpillar because of his air of innocence. And he's so smooth and attractive. (You probably only see them though if you've got your hands in the soil, fiddling about.) So, you need to protect the seedlings of things like zucchini, pumpkin, cucumber - all those nice fleshy seedlings. Little seedlings possibly aren't attractive to cutworm. (You can use something simple like a plastic milk bottle with its base removed, and no lid.) So, in summary, the main thing is to keep the area moist. And to know how deep to plant seeds. Little ones are planted very shallow. Big ones, about .5 to 1 inch. Don't walk on them. Don't stand on them admiring the garden. And there is just one exception when it comes to watering: with peas or beans, water at sowing but not again until they have germinated, or they will rot.