Hey have you checked out the growing from seed forum? Really helpful place

As far as why the stores plants are bigger..they grow em for a living lots of practice and perfect light heat water plenty of space..

You can get good results at home that catch up to store plants.. Wintersowing is not a bad way to go either. I plan on starting my Toms and peppers under lights in the next week or so.

Vobutts, another member, Tree Oracle, was just talking about looking for more posts on vegetable growing a couple of days ago, so don't go off too fast. :-) Maybe he would like to compare notes. I think there are a few members who grow vegetables here.

I grow a small amount. I have started them both indoors and under lights in the basement, and direct sow some. Each method has it's advantages. I had good success under lights, by using a fan to keep the air moving to prevent any kind of disease problems. When you start them is up to you, how large you want them to be when you plant them out, whether you are willing to keep potting them up to the next size, how much room you have and time.

I have winter sown tomatoes and peppers before. They end up very small to start the season, but they seem to catch up in the end. And are healthier and a lot less care. There is a very active winter sowing forum if you want to see what it is all about and whether it would interest you.

Wow - thank you both so much for your thoughts. I will look into the winter sowing and am excited about starting my tom and peppers soon.
Thanks again and I will stay tuned.....

The plants that you see in a nursery were either grown in a greenhouse or shipped here from a warmer climate. Since New England is short on heat until late May or so (July this past year), it's not easy to get an early harvest by starting from seeds unless you want to dedicate a warm, sunny spot in your house to doing so. Alternatively, you go buy or build a small greenhouse or coldframe to start your seeds outside. You could also rig up some hoops over the rows in your garden and cover the hoops with plastic to essentially make a greenhouse.

I grow essentially all of my vegetables from seed. I don't worry about the timing with vegetables that grow like mad and produce quickly like cucumbers and squash. For those types of vegetables, you can start them in early May inside and still get quite the harvest over the summer. For tomatoes, you want to start those in early April at the latest or earlier if you have room in your house. Tomato plants can get leggy unless you have them next to a very bright Southern or Western facing window or if you use some overhead lighting. The great thing about tomato plants is that if you bury any part of the plant, then it forms roots instead of rotting. I start mine in small peat pots and as they outgrow their pot, I bury the entire plant up to the top two sets of leaves in a bigger pot. After do this a few times, the plants are fairly large when they are ready to be put outside. You have to harden them off though when they're ready to transplant outside. I put mine in semi-shady area for a day or two (bringing them back in at night) and them expose them to full sun for a couple of days and they are usually good for go after that.

Unless you live a very cramped existence, do seriously consider buying lights.It doesn't have to be anything fancy. For years, my light setup was a regular shop light hung from the sides of an Ikea ladder style shelving system. The big money was in a light timer and extension cords. Very slow growing annuals I've started as early as mid-January.

I do have lights, thank you mad gallica. Thanks again to everyone for your response.

Alot of times the plants in the garden centers have also been over fertilized to speed up growth and green up leaves to make them look better. I have had great results from home grown seedlings comparible if not better than from store bought plants. That being said if you do buy transplants go to the local mom and pop type garden centers, you may pay a little more but they do not over fertilize to make thier plants look better and they start all their own transplants to sell. I have had better luck with them then the big chains who order thier plants.

Hope this helps and
Happy Gardening
Mark