[-Cat-]

Okay sorry for the complete novice questioning. It was a while since I last grew veg and I have forgotten how!!! Still hunting for my old books.

I remember last time starting things off in propagators indoors. Now I have two very small children and very limited space this will not be an option. Im guessing that some things cant be planted straight outside, plus I would have bare beds for quite a while. Would one of those shelf things with the plastic covers outside work or a couple of coldframes? How long generally would It it be between planting seeds and being able to plant them out in their final positions in the garden?

Im just thinking I should brob start planting seeds in this way sooner rahter than later so that once my beds are made I have stuff ready to put in them.

[noshed]

Cold frames are very handy but be careful to get plastic ones if you have small kids (you can use old bits of plastic on a frame if you don't want to buy one). Furniture shops often have big bits of plastic they're chucking away.
I do lots of things in plug trays and have found this gives more success than just sowing direct (apart from carrots etc). All the cheap shops sell plastic plug liners but I would recommend getting sturdy seed trays (Wilkos have good ones) because the cheap ones break easily when full of compost.
Those plastic greenhouses are great if you tie them down firmly.

[-Cat-]

Would a cold frame outside protect seedings from a frost though?

[noshed]

All but the most diabolical. You can always put some newspaper over if there's a bad forecast.
Bear in mind some things need heat to germinate so you're talking windowsills. Maybe hard with small kids unless you have some high windowsills.