Which is the best way to grow?

Should I start my kitchen garden with seeds or seedlings?

Take a look at the pros and cons of starting your garden with either seeds or seedlings before making your own decision.

Cost
If you are looking for the least expensive way to get your garden growing, seeds are definitely going to be the way to go. Most seed packets cost around $2.00 or $3.00 and good shoppers know where to buy them for even less than that. If you have one or two friends who garden, you can save even more by sharing seeds. Most types of vegetable seed packets provide many more seeds than the average home gardener will use in a season. Splitting the cost can save you a bundle. While it’s true that seeds can be saved and used the following year, fresh seeds are always the best way to go because you will get a higher percentage of seed germination per number of seeds in a packet.

Ease in Planting
This would be a toss up. While simply purchasing a seedling and planting it into your garden is easy, getting seeds to sprout is also a simple task. To compare seeds to seedlings for ease in planting, you have to look at the types of vegetables you are planning to plant.

A simple rule of thumb for me is, the bigger the seed, the easier it is to plant directly into the soil at planting time. Cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, corn and peas all have fairly large seeds that germinate quickly. These make good choices for seeds to sow directly into the soil of your garden.

Tomatoes, eggplant, and parsley have smaller seeds which for the beginning gardener can be harder to deal with. Also, certain vegetables when started indoors need a consistent amount of sunlight every day. Plants like tomatoes and broccoli can become long and leggy, very quickly, if your area suffers a few days of cloudy skies. Purchased seedlings might make the better choice for these plant types because they are grown under invariable conditions and sold at prime planting time.

Time to Harvest
Another thing to check into before making your decision whether to start your garden with seeds or seedlings is the amount of time each vegetable takes to reach its peak harvest time compared to the length of the growing season where you live.

Radishes only need about 25 days in the ground before you can begin harvesting them where some of the larger pumpkin varieties need upwards of 120 days. While most common vegetable crops such as beans, lettuce and cucumbers only need approximately two months from seed to harvest, many tomatoes need closer to three months before they peak. Before making your decision to use seeds or seedlings, know the length of the growing season in your area and research the amount of time until harvest for the vegetables you are trying to grow.

When the amount of time until harvest is an issue, seedlings will make the best choice.

Variety
When it comes to variety, you will always have the biggest selection if you choose to start your garden from seeds. Most local gardening centers only sell standard hybrid varieties of most vegetable plant seedlings. If you are interested in growing Heirloom tomatoes or some of the more exotic purple vegetables, your only choice will be to start them from seeds purchased through catalogs or online resources.

While there is nothing wrong with planting and growing the basic varieties, most gardeners like to experiment a little when it comes to plant varieties. Some of the home gardening centers are beginning to realize this and are providing more and more exotic types of seedlings but your largest choice for variety of vegetable types can still only be found in a seed packet.

Personally, I like to use a combination of both seeds and seedlings when starting my own garden. Perhaps you will decide to do the same.

A greenhouse is a great way for the home gardener to get their garden growing early in the season and also to extend the season past fall. It’s small and economical and will save you even more at the grocery store by allowing you to grow more of your own.

Photo appears courtesy of amandabhslater and was found through a creative commons search.