Regarding the earlier garden... have you ever tried Winter Sowing? It works very well, esp for the early crops. Some people direct-sow in the ground (usually milder areas where the ground doesn't freeze badly), but most use containers left out in the open and just transplant the seedlings. To me, the biggest advantage is not having to harden them off before putting them in the ground -- I always end up accidentally leaving them out at night, or too long in the sun during the days.

It's not so great for the tropicals like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, or the seeds that rot fairly easily like corn and beans. But for the cool-season stuff you can start sowing in containers on the kitchen table when it's too cold outdoors to do much, and put the flats or containers immediately outside, exposed to the weather, and be that much further ahead when spring arrives.

Trudi Davidoff's WinterSown site: http://wintersown.org/

Winter Sowing FAQs at GardenWeb: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/wtrsow/

Sue