Everyone has to develop the methods that work best for them in their climate and, as Judy says, regarding how much they want to be tied down all winter.
Jeff, I was planting 3 seeds to a 12-oz Solo cup, actually a method that Judy, who's been at this for a long time, shared with me, as she kindly answered hundreds of newbie questions from me in the early years. I used regular gro-mix. (An experiment using coir my first year was wildly unsuccessful.) Over the years I've learned to keep my gro-mix outside for at least a month of freezing cold weather prior to planting to kill fungus gnat eggs, then, upon planting I put sticky traps everywhere and regularly watered with Gnatrol. This prevents maybe 95% of fungus gnats for a long time, but somehow they always turn up. I don't know what caused some seedlings to start looked peaked after three months or so in the cups. Personally, I think it's not optimal for them to be in cups, under artificial light, and while they can grow and thrive for a long time, six months is too long for that. They get tired of it. I'm sure if they were in larger containers with more leg room, they'd do better longer, but what is the point. For me, with a very short growing season, there is no advantage in trying to get them to bloom the first year. The few times that has happened, the seedling died over the following winter - it was too much energy expended too late in the season when they would have been much better off growing roots. So now, if a seedling does happen to send up a scape first year, I cut it off. At this stage of the game, in zone 4, I have learned that seedlings take 4-5 bloom years to fully evaluate, so there's no reason to try to rush a preview the first summer. They're not going to tell you much until they've been through their first winter to fully develop anyway, at least when you work with a lot of dormants as I do.
Curt plants in November. He collects seeds in Aug and doesn't chill them - he just keeps them in paper coin envelopes. Right before Thanksgiving, he plants them VERY THICKLY in the ground. He has worked so long to develop his enormous garden, that the soil is excellent and well-drained. He digs up the seedlings the following summer - I helped him do this one year in late July - and then replants them in prepared rows where they are well spaced. So they don't bloom until the year after transplanting, either. He doesn't gain time by direct planting, he just avoids all the work of starting indoors. I was going to try this method, but then Pam Hoffman outside Buffalo tried it, and torrential rains washed all her seeds away. Plus, I'm always too busy in the fall to prepare beds and plant seeds. I barely can get all the other jobs done.
I had the same reaction as several of you - why plant in January and risk problems with foul weather? All I can tell you is that Dave said the ones he planted in January did much better than ones started in March - the seedlings were much bigger and very heathy. I don't know why that is. I expect this method means they'll germinate at the earliest possible time and get the maximum head start. I did mine in March and believe me there was plenty of rain and freeze/thaw as there always is here in March and April. I was amazed how well they did. I also only did a dozen or so crosses to try it as an experiment because I was skeptical too. But this year I'm doing them all this way. I have a deck right outside my kitchen window where I can keep an eye on them.
I think the cold frame is a great idea - very similar in terms of being able to leave them in place - stratifying and hardening off all taken care of as part of the process.
