I'm in Maine, zone 5b and this is what has worked for me. I start seeds around the last week of march and plant out into pots around the last week in May to the first week of June depending on the weather. I like 10 gallon pots using ocean forest with 30% extra coarse perlite. I don't use any nutes except the occasional spray down with fish/seaweed emulsion and compost tea. I have a spot that gets early morning sun and late afternoon sun, the rest of the day is shade. I've started spray painting the pots white and feel that has helped keep the root zone cooler in the late afternoon. I think a younger healthy plant does better at hardening off then older larger plants and is faster to grow and set fruit. Cheers
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