This year I'm betting on the advantage of starting squash and cucumbers indoors. But for beans, I had good luck last year planting them in early May under a fabric covered low tunnel. The fabric is Agribon that I got from Johnny's. We had a cold, wet May but the beans did fine where I heard other gardeners say their's didn't germinate or rotted.

for me, the beans would be too much of a hassle. I`ll wait until it warms up. For the cukes the advantage is once they have a true leaf or two they out grow beetle damage better. Same can be said for melons and squash, but I do melons and squash more because of the short season here. For squash I plant 3 seeds to the 4" pot. I don`t thin them. I do my melons and cukes individually in 6 packs. Gotta be careful transplanting them as they don`t like root disturbance. And don`t start them too early. Your mileage my vary.

I started them all indoors last year and they did fine. Its about stretching the season for me. Most of those I grew in 6" peat pots so that there would be little to no transplant stress.

I NEED HELP! I started my garden from seed for the first time and all was going great. Suddenly, my cucumbers aren't looking so good. They are about 3" and they are getting limp at the steam and falling over and I think dying. What went wrong? What do I do?
Thanks!

SaraSchones, if I had to guess, too much water. There is a thin line between too much water and not enough.

I transplant cucumbers, squash, and zucchini. The trick is to keep them small and transplant out 2 to 3 weeks after they come out. Longer than this and you will have trouble, IMO.

Jay

Thank you! They have been growing for about three weeks. They took off at first, but they have been looking pretty sad the past two days. I think i will transplant to a bigger container today and hope for the best!

Beans are not recommended for transplanting at all. If you are worried about the local birds and bunnies enjoying bean sprouts at your expense, put bird mesh over it for now.
I probably don't NEED to start cukes and sqsuash etc indoors but I do it just because I like to.

I have successfully grown all sorts of beans starting indoors using plastic cell trays. The starts come out with a very vigorous roots system which I plant "bare root" with a nearly 100% survival. This allows me to layout a grid system with whatever spacing I need. We have cool wet springs here and this is a proven method in this area.

I DO NOT like peat pots (for anything) for a number of reasons which have been articulated by others in the forum.

I did Beans and Cucumbers directly sown. I'd do Melons indoors, and maybe Pumpkins indoors. I tried the Pumpkins outdoors, but they didn't germinate.

I do some of both. I start some cantaloupes and honeydews from seed and transplant them to get an early harvest and I also direct sow more to get a second harvest.
I start my pickling cucs inside and transplant them so I can get started canning early, and I direct sow my slicing cucs in the garden.
My squash I transplant, so as to avoid problems with pests as mentioned in an earlier post.

http://agrowingcuriousity.blogspot.com/

lonmower,
really? I was always under the impression that you couldn't do that with beans. Might have to try that...

I have also started bush beans indoors with great results as well. As long as they are transplanted when the soil is warm, I have not witnessed any ill effects. Last year i started around 40 plants inside and only lost one during the transplant.

I use 16 ounce plastic solo cups, that I split in half lengthwise. I hold them back together again with a little tape. Then when its time to transplant I slit the tape on one side and the cup folds open. Almost zero root disturbance.

I don't wonder that you can make it work, but where do you find all the indoor space with enough light? I start the things inside that need it (tomatoes, peppers, some herbs, perennials), but the stuff that can be direct seeded, I sow when the weather is right.

It might be worth the effort if you have a spectacularly short growing season and your timing for getting them in the ground is good.

I'm one with a spectacularly short growing season. :) My bush beans can be sown directly, but by the time the soil warms enough for the pole beans, there's not enough season left. I've had great results germinating them inside (one per 3.5" pot) and then sticking them straight out (still in their pots) into a low hoop house. They've got a couple of true leaves by the time it's warm enough to transplant them out. They're not bothered at all by the transplant.

I start pumpkins and other squash the same way. We don't grow melons here because we can't without season extenders.

I presoak my beans seeds for 1 day and then put them in a tray with a wet towel over them for about 3-4 days before direct sowing outside.

The get the point of almost sprouting, you can see the root form inside the seed skin, almost popping through.

This way they start off fast in the ground without a chance to rot.

I also do this with squash and cuke seeds.

I always jump the gun on our lat day of frost by about a week..just can't wait!
So I started pole beans last week. They're easy to re-plant in case of a frost or something.
I just planted 6 of my poles with about 6 seeds each, but, not knowing what the weather will hold, I covered them with milk jugs with the bottoms cut out and a stick poked into the top to keep them from blowing away.
Ummmm, can't tell you how they are doing, cause winter has come to visit No Ca (finally) and it's been raining all week! We usually don't get ANY rain from April til October!
Well, I don't have to water them! We'll see how they do! It's supposed to be very nice this weekend and most of next week!
I try to direct seed all that you mentioned, but have transplanted them on occasion. If I had more zucchini I'd be drowning (even more) in it! Nancy

Just wanted to post a pic of my bean and other seedlings. Using the advice from Pitcom, I used styrofoam cups, cut up both side and taped back together. I didn't soak the seeds but put them on my heat mat. Once they sprouted I brought them outside and that's where they'll stay for a couple more weeks. They all came up great including some I got a few years ago as cooking beans from Rancho Gordo. Temps have cooled off here somewhat and we're seeing daytimes in the 50-70's and nights in the 40-50's but I have been bringing them in at night so not too concerned.

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Happy looking beans, misterpatrick.

trishcuit - it seems to be widely assumed in the US that beans don't transplant well. But if you live in a place where it takes months for temps to reach high enough to germinate beans it is standard practice. I sow some runner beans inside to start with then later in the season direct sow them. I started 6 runners last week. When they appear I will sow 6 more and when they appear 6 more. AT the same time as I plant these out I will sow 6 in situ and when those appear 6 more in situ and then one more lot when they appear. That way I get a double row of beans 36 bean plants of different ages. The earliest sown will start to produce in June and then the other plants will continue in succession until frost kills the vines. I do not possess any lights but I do have a small electric propagator. I start the beans in a glazed porch where I also do my tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, brassicas and lettuces. I start green beans outside in June because I need so many more plants to get a reasonable crop.

Nice cups misterpatrick, they work great. I have all of my melon and cuke plants in cups now. I have not lost a transplant yet using the split cup method, and they best part is they are reusable every year.

Rancho Gordo is a great company. I love their beans and have tried most of the ones they offer. The Goat's Eye and Good Mother Stallard are among my favorite.