"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
Anonymous said:

I'll be trying out starting my own seeds indoors this year. I can
usually
plant outdoors about the last frost date (raised beds / sheltered
location
and so on) so when should the 'maters go in the potting soil?

I don't start mine until April. Start them any sooner and they just
get too
tall and lanky -- despite my high intensity light -- and threaten to
get root
bound (in the biggest pots I can manage to use and still fit all my
plants
under the lights).

I wouldn't start them any earlier unless I was planning to set them
out
in tunnels or something of the sort. The go out when the expected
night
time lows are 50 degrees and I still have to cover them over at some
point most years due to a late frost. (My garden is in the sunniest
part
of the yard, which is also a frost pocket.)

Have you ever considered making a portable hoop house? I think we
Michiganders can add a month or two to the growing season by putting in
a small hoop house in early spring, removing it when it gets warm, and
putting it back up when nights get cold again.


--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Ray in Cadillac, Michigan (just moved from about twenty miles south of
Pontiac)