Zone 6 seed starting

[Summerpartyof4]

Hello! I'm new here. I've been gardening for a few years off and on. This year I'm planning a fairly large veggie garden for our family as we're trying to stay away from any franken-veggies and it always helps out our grocery budget immensely.
My question is how soon can I start seeds in zone 6? I've scoured the internet and every website seems to have a slightly different schedule or different veggies to start. What do you all use for a seed planting calendar?

-Dee

 

[Chuck]

Hello! I'm new here. I've been gardening for a few years off and on. This year I'm planning a fairly large veggie garden for our family as we're trying to stay away from any franken-veggies and it always helps out our grocery budget immensely.
My question is how soon can I start seeds in zone 6? I've scoured the internet and every website seems to have a slightly different schedule or different veggies to start. What do you all use for a seed planting calendar?

-Dee

You can start tomatoes and peppers now, IF, you can give them plenty of light, your seed starting medium is warm and you can keep them warm without cold drafts. Getting the seeds to sprout is easy, just put them in your oven or close to heat. They don't need light to sprout. The secret is, once they sprout, is giving them enough sunlight and heat. To make them sprout quickly make sure you soil temp is maintained at 72F+. Once they sprout and are growing an average temp should be no lower than 68F. A lot of light is the key.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

If your going to start them in pots you can do them any time now, I'm in zone 6b but I don't starts veggies in pot I wait until the end of April to do my seeds in the gardens. In New England you never know what the weather is going to do so I wait until its starts staying above 50 at night before doing any veggie gardening.

 

[Nancy]

I am in Missouri. I start cold weather plants (cabbage, brussel sprouts, etc) in January to plant in March. I start warm weather plants (tomatoes, peppers, etc). In March to plant in May. We used to plant them outside May 1st, but the last few years have waited until Mid-May due to late frosts.