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I've only ever started toms, peppers, and flowers in the house. This year I'm also starting onions (which should be happening NOW but none of the stores have seed starter yet...).
I swear I've read about people starting broccoli, lettuce, and some other things in the house as well. Does this just help with succession planting so you have more time to plant something else after the broccoli, etc is done since it's done sooner??
What do you start in the house?

I don't start outside-bound lettuce inside, but I do continue to grow it in the cool basement while the outside batch has long bolted.

I start several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, herbs, wildflowers, annual and perennial flowers, beans, and adding cuc's this year.

Gonna be a lot of green under the lights real soon!!

I start everything except for root vegetables and peas.

I keep reading about how you shouldn't transplant squash, watermelon, corn, beans and the like, however most people who say that don't have 7 and a half months of winter, and a 150 degree swing between winter and summer (Fareinheit. The Celsius is only 70 degrees) . If I want a chance to harvest, I pretty much have to start it otherwise it bolts before I can harvest, or gets hit by the frost.

I've rarely lost anything due to transplanting what I shouldn't. The trick is to find the point where the root ball is solid, but not root bound and pray that it's not snowing when that happens.

I swear I've read about people starting broccoli, lettuce, and some other things in the house as well

Guilty as charged. I will be starting these very soon. Also chard, spinach, cauliflower, early cabbage etc...


Eric

FailedSlacker wrote: I keep reading about how you shouldn't transplant squash, watermelon, corn, beans and the like

I couldn't grow melon if I couldn't transplant it. But I need to use a shorter season watermelon, mine didn't ripen before frost last year.
Unripe watermelon is NOT good.

In the last two years, besides probably more than two dozen different types of peppers and toms, I've also started:

Broccoli
Strawberries
Yicama
Rice
Sorghum
Peanuts
Hibiscus
Angel Trumpets
Datura
Basil
Cilantro
Marjoram
Chard
Lettuce
Cotton
Cockscomb
Azalea
Beans
Cucumbers
and probably a few I can not think of!

Mike

I need to start brassicas and heading lettuce -- including bibb type -- ahead of time indoors because we have no spring season to speak of. We have lingering hard freezes, and then we might have two weeks between unexpected frost or even snowfall once or twice and 80's or even high 80's to 90's freak heat wave that lasts for 3 or 4 days.

yeah, what you need to start indoors varies widely with your growing season. Mg in Texas doesn't need to start much indoors. In zone 4, you definitely do if you want to have much ripe by frost.

What I start indoors: broccoli, cabbage, onion*, basil, tomatoes, peppers, lavender, rosemary, petunias, impatiens, a variety of annual vines for my trellises, squash, dill, fennel, parsley, thyme, chamomile, geraniums, statice, salvia, tithonia,coleus, marigolds, nasturtium, millet, nicotiana. This year I'm going to try to start a bunch of wildflowers from seed that I haven't done before - gentian, skullcap, sweet cicely, anemone, goldenseal and a few others. They are a lot harder to do and require cold stratification and lots of special care.

What I direct seed outdoors: lettuce, spinach, chard, zinnias, cosmos,california poppies, peas, beans, carrots. I planted garlic cloves outdoors last fall. Hopefully it is overwintering.

I might later look through my seeds and update this a bit, but that's the basics.

I'm in zone 6b, so it may not directly apply to you in zone 4.... And there are some things like melons, pumpkins, corn that I don't grow at all, because I don't have room (not being willing to do without flowers, herbs and trees!).

*That's new this year, on Applestar's advice; in the past I direct seeded it outdoors when I did lettuce, spinach, and chard.

AS (and others who do it) Do you start your brassicas in the house so you have more time to succession plant? I've never had a problem getting my broccoli or cauliflower to grow direct seeding it in the garden.
I also start my onions in the house, our season isn't even close to long enough to grow them outside and get decent bulbs.

Will garlic overwinter in zone 4? I've been having some problems finding information on it

We don't have long enough cool spring, is th problem. The freak heat wave arrives in a hurry and lasts long enough to shut them down or trigger bolting where they don't form tight buds but begin to turn bitter and elongate. we might then resume th spring weather, but too late!
There's no opportunities to succession plant either because the REAL summer arrives after the brief interval.

Garlic -- I think you'd be OK if you source them locally. It looks like the cold hardiest are German varieties. Try Maine Potato Lady or Johnny's. I suppose Fedco too though I only learned about them last year and have insufficient experience with them.

Agree with AS. Also I want to get my broccoli done and out of the way pretty quickly. I plant it right in front of where the tomato seedlings will go later. By the time the tomato plants are getting big enough to crowd things, the broccoli is finished and gets pulled. One of my space saving techniques...

Here's two cents from the tropics.

Theoretically, I could decide to direct-sow everything and it would probably work out just fine (except that the sparrows seem to like my corn seeds). However, I don't, because I like to have a bit more control over some things (and because Basils just won't start in the garden, for some reason).

In the house, I start: Basil, Sage, Corn, Squashes and Zucchinis, Bush Beans, Tomatoes, Peppers, Hops, and some flowers. Oh, and Bananas, until they adapt to my altitude and show a reasonable growth rate.

Everything else gets direct seeded - Chard, Radish, Daikon, Carrots, Beets, Lettuces, Cukes, Pole Beans, Peas, Canna, and most flowers.

Garlic grows here in zone 2, so you should be fine. I suggest getting your cloves from the farmer's market since you know they are a variety that grows where you are.