Starting tomatoes outside
Over
the years, I've learned that putting tomato seeds in a cold frame (or,
this year, a quick
hoop) in early April
results in sets that are smaller than those started inside but more
ready to hit the ground running when it comes time to transplant them
into the garden in mid May. It sounds counterintuitive --- start
with smaller plants, end up with more tomatoes --- but my cold frame
seedlings tend to have more roots and to be healthier than seedlings
started in flats indoors.
Cold frame tomatoes
don't send up leaves until mid to late April, so they never get
leggy and aren't exposed to any low temperatures that can stunt their
growth. During the years that I started tomatoes indoors, I often
ended up with plants that grew slowly even once I put them out in the
garden since night-time temperatures in the trailer in April can easily
drop down into the thirties or forties, doing long term damage to the 
tender
seedlings. If your tomato seedlings have a purplish cast to their
leaves, they've been stunted by cold weather.
The only really hard
part about starting tomatoes in a cold frame is hearing from your
friends about how they started tomatoes two weeks ago, and not giving
in to peer
pressure. I
just remind myself that my method not only works better, it's also less
work and requires no electricity, and I manage to hold firm until the
soil temperature reaches 50 degrees. For future reference,
asparagus shoots up at the same temperature tomato seeds need for
germination, so I won't need to relentlessly check soil temperature
next year. (And, look, asparagus!!)
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Well, you wouldn't want to start them outside from seed with no protection, or you'd be envious of your neighbors' early tomatoes.
But if you're willing to make a quick hoop or cold frame, you'd be surprised at how well it works!
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