Bi> Living in Minnesota, I've been reading with envy all the reports
Bi> of those you from other parts of the country who already have your 
Bi> gardens in. We've had to wait both for the ground to thaw and for the 
Bi> resulting slop to firm up enough to work.  Also, night time temps still 
Bi> dip into the thirties on occasion.  This weekend, things were finally 
Bi> right.
EB> I know how you feel.  And it surprises me that you live so far
EB> north(shorter  growing season).  Do you live on a farm or are you a
EB> suburban gardener??  How can you start plants when you still have 40/30
EB> temps?  Do you do some  indoors and plant outside?  All your posts
EB> sound like you have a full fledge  farm.  I've been wanting to grow
EB> jalapenos and some other things for myself  because I like the
EB> connection with the earth I get from growing and  cultivating plants.
    See my response to Leah as to where we live (18 acre hobby farm).  As for 
starting plants in a cold weather area, we use a cold frame to start the 
plants that need warmer weather to grow (tomatoes and peppers at this point) 
and put those that tolerate cold weather (peas, lettuce, carrots, radishes 
and beets) right into the ground.
    We've had one frost since we gave things a start and since nothing has 
sprouted yet, everything seems to be doing alright.  Even the strawberries 
which have begun to grow again seem to have survived.  There were too many 
of them to cover (some 200 plants planted in the edge of the hayfield by the 
previous owners) so we just risked it.
        Byrd Mann
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