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kath · January 25, 2011

I certainly can't give advice about your timing for plant out in TX, but there's nothing wrong with pushing the envelope with some of your plants.
Last year I planted all my seeds early for this area and was happy to see a frost-free 10-day forecast ~ May 4th, so I planted them all out. We got hit about a week later with a killing frost and ~ 50% were "goners".
Once I got over the initial shock, I re-sowed all the ones I lost plus extras because some of the "survivors" looked pretty bad. Only 4 weeks later, they were ready to go into the garden because they spent nearly the whole growing time outside in the sun during the day with some supplemental lighting for a few hours in the evening. Those plants nearly caught up and produced like crazy, yet people around here would have told me I was crazy to sow tomato seeds in mid-May. The early survivors produced tomatoes weeks sooner than I ever had before, but at the time I made a mental note that it really wasn't necessary for me to start all the tomatoes in March and use the grow lights for 2 months. Like I'm going to be able to wait.

I don't have a firm plan yet, but this thread is reminding me that staggering is a smart thing to do.

January 25, 2011	#6
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	I certainly can't give advice about your timing for plant out in TX, but there's nothing wrong with pushing the envelope with some of your plants. Last year I planted all my seeds early for this area and was happy to see a frost-free 10-day forecast ~ May 4th, so I planted them all out. We got hit about a week later with a killing frost and ~ 50% were "goners". Once I got over the initial shock, I re-sowed all the ones I lost plus extras because some of the "survivors" looked pretty bad. Only 4 weeks later, they were ready to go into the garden because they spent nearly the whole growing time outside in the sun during the day with some supplemental lighting for a few hours in the evening. Those plants nearly caught up and produced like crazy, yet people around here would have told me I was crazy to sow tomato seeds in mid-May. The early survivors produced tomatoes weeks sooner than I ever had before, but at the time I made a mental note that it really wasn't necessary for me to start all the tomatoes in March and use the grow lights for 2 months. Like I'm going to be able to wait. I don't have a firm plan yet, but this thread is reminding me that staggering is a smart thing to do.