I've had some success with using red plastic. This year, I'm going a step further --- I'm starting the plants in Wallowaters. These are plastic tubes in a circle. You feel them with water. They absorb heat during the day and radiate it at night. You can plant warm weather crops 4-6 weeks before your last frost date.

I've now got peppers that are huge and setting fruits. And, my tomatoes are setting fruit. And, my squash are starting to flower. I'm going to leave the Wallowaters on throughout the season.

Anyway, my thoughts.

I use those in my garden also, we call them Kozy Koats here. I can get a head start for my melons and zucchini and even cukes. My neighbours couldn't figure out why I had early cucumbers every year, now the secret is out.

We're in Zone 5 and our secret is planting peppers and eggplant in white 5-gallon buckets. We get a very good harvest of large, ripe fruit either because the roots are more confined in the buckets causing the plant to bloom and fruit earlier, or because the soil in the buckets is exposed to the heat from the sun on all sides.

We use a mix of equal parts soil and composted manure and fertilize regularly during the growing season.