The days are growing longer and spring is finally here. Now is the perfect time to begin gardening from seed. For many, starting a spring garden begins with a trip to the local store to pick up this year’s plants. While buying garden plants and herbs offers a convenient way to start this year’s growing season, it does come with some drawbacks. On our little homestead, starting our garden from seed is a family event that many of our kids love to take part in. Here we’ll look at some of the pros and cons of starting your own garden from seed.
Pros
Affordability – When it comes to gardening, many don’t think about it putting a dent in their wallet. The fact is, though, gardening is a multi-billion dollar business, and corporations rack up tremendous profits on providing us with those little garden plants. In the wake of the recent pandemic, I was shocked to walk through the gardening section of local stores and see tomato and pepper plants selling for $5-10 a piece. That’s crazy! It’s even crazier that companies capitalize on their customer’s fears, and people are willing to pay it. Starting garden plants and herbs from seed are a much more affordable option. Most seed packets contain 20-25 seeds and run around $4 per packet. That comes out to about $0.16 per plant.
Variety – Gardening from seed opens upon a world of variety when it comes to garden plants and herbs. I’ll be honest, I had no idea that tomatoes came in any other color than red. I was blown away when I first saw purple carrots and potatoes (again as an adult). The fact is, these varieties were always out there, but they were nowhere to be seen in our local store’s gardening section. Garden seed companies, however, do offer thousands of varieties of fruits, veggies and herbs to choose from. Baker Creek Seed Co., for example, has over 1,500 varieties of organic heirloom seeds. In addition to growing unique varieties that best suit your tastes and needs, gardening from seed allows you to choose between both heirloom and hybrid plants. This can be valuable to anyone looking to save their own seeds for next year’s garden.
Satisfaction – One of my favorite things about gardening is sowing seeds. Since childhood, I’ve been amazed by the fact that the wonder and power of life is encapsulated in a little seed. Starting a garden from seed always seems to bring me back to that childlike wonder and appreciation of nature and life, and best of all, I get to share that with my kiddos.
Gardening from seed is also satisfying from a self reliance standpoint. Harvest time always brings a sense of satisfaction in knowing that everything we’re harvesting was grown with our own hands. We didn’t need anyone to get things started for us.
Cons
It’s More Work – If you’ve ever grown a garden, you know very well how much work a garden requires. Gardening from seed does increase that work load. This can be a good thing or a hassle depending on who you are. Simply put, starting your own seedlings adds several more weeks of work to your gardening season. Though much of this work isn’t terribly hard, it is still more work than going to your local gardening section and picking up plants that are already a few weeks old.
Forethought – Gardening from seed requires a little planning and forethought. Many things with gardening are time sensitive. When it comes to starting garden plants and herbs from seed, you’ll have to start anywhere from 4-8 weeks prior to the last frost, depending on your climate zone. Getting a late start on planting seeds usually ends up shortening harvest season and diminishing yields.
Risk of Loss – This one hits pretty close to home for me. I’ve had years where I lost hundreds of plants days before putting them in the garden. About ten years ago, I had set about two hundred bell pepper plants out to get acclimated to the outdoors prior to planting, only to forget about them before heading off to work. About halfway through my shift, a nasty cold front blew in and covered everything with a few inches of snow. By the time, I got home every pepper plant was dead. The following year, our house cat at the time decided to make herself a tasty salad and ate most of our seedlings. The point is, plants are their most vulnerable in the early stages of life, and sometimes things happen.
Do What Works For You
Gardening from seed definitely offers growers some significant advantages and also a few challenges and risks. I, personally, love the challenge and fun of growing our garden from seed to harvest, but I know that’s not for everyone. Every gardener’s situation and goals are different. The point is, regardless of whether you want to start your garden from seed or pick up your garden plants at the store, the important thing is that you get outside, get your hands into some dirt and grow something. Happy Planting!
How much space are you using for growing from seed, and where? Without a basement, I am at a loss where I would even put them.
Hi Brianne, Josh here. Thanks for the comment. We totally understand how space can be an issue, even when it comes to growing seeds. We try to make use of any shelf space we can find. We’ve also made space in our garage at times and used small patio greenhouses. Once it gets a little warmer outside and the threat of frost is gone, all of our seed trays get transferred to the back patio. It also helps that not everything has to be planted at the same time. Early spring, we usually plant cool season veggies like lettuce, cabbage and broccoli. Later in the spring, we’ll start the faster growing stuff, like pumpkins, cucumbers and zucchini. Once the cool season plants are heading outdoors, the other plants are just getting started inside.