Keith and Greg do a great job with their plants. They keep their seedling plants crowded in 4" pots or 6-pack, ground-cover type trays outdoors in shade houses until they are larger. This allows them to develop an established, thicker root system and progressively larger, hardened leaves before they have to suffer the trauma of being divided and transplanted into larger pots. They are also hardened to the vagaries of the temperature ranges outdoors. Naturally, this takes more time!
You could also "force" seedlings in heated greenhouses until they become large enough to at least fill a 4" pot, then move them outdoors into shade to finish hardening in the spring once over-night lows move consistently into the fifties. Of course, these delicate plants need constant monitoring; a couple of days of excessive drying out or "too bright" conditions and the plants will be "heading south" in a real hurry!
The Monger
