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New comer here. Thanks in advance.
I have been using organic raised beds for two years now with varying success still learning how not to kill my plants. This spring I attempted to grow some seedlings indoors and had little luck so earlier this month I decided to sow some seeds directly into my beds and I had a few questions.

Most of the info I have found suggests that starting Eggplant, Peppers, & tomatoes in the bed isn't the way to go what can I do to make these plantings successful? I bought some heirloom seeds this year and would like to actually see it grow.

I planted my seed the week of 3/6 and they are all about 1 inch tall with 2 leaves.

I planted in groups of 2 or 3 with proper spacing between groups. when should I thin?

The tomatoes I started from seed I started in a recess about 3-4" below the top of the bed so I could cover up the stem to get more roots growing.

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated!

Should I just try & start more seedlings?
[img][url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/76528600@N02/7017889065/][img]https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6055/7017889065_ac91f0ef2d.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/76528600@N02/7017889065/]Eggplant FL Bush[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/76528600@N02/]johnekeane[/url], on Flickr

I usually start the seeds indoors 8 weeks before planting outside. But with you living in Florida, as long as you get germination they should work. If the weather is cool at night they will be slower growing. They like the nights to be in the 50's. The warmer the temperatures the faster they will grow.

Your lucky, I can't even put my plants out till June.

Basically same response, but the reason tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants re started indoors is because they take a fair length of time to mature.

In northern locations, starting indoors gives them a headstart so they would start bearing fruits some time around July until frost -- in some areas as early as late August/early September.

In the southern locations, tomatoes and sweet pepper languish in the heat and either die or go into summer dormancy. So the head start indoors allows them to be planted early and get them fruiting in spring before the heat arrives. At that point, some people will have a second wave started or will start them indoors and plant again in fall.

I think eggplants are likely different. They need lots and lots of heat.

That said, seeds started in the ground will have no transplant shock and their taproots will be intact, which suggests that they will be much more able to cope with heat stress. And the growing season is long enough that there'll be plenty of time after maturing to harvest.

Oh, thinning -- usualy done after first set of true leaves (these are seed leaves). I recommend clipping the cull at soil level rather than uprooting them which will disturb the roots of the one you want to keep, which defeats the purpose of starting in the ground. But I might just clip the one in the middle right now. All three look healthy and this way, the outside two will be stronger and you can choose between the two when their true leaves are out.