When Should I Buy Seeds Versus Starter Plants?

It is time to plant your garden. And so you're probably asking yourself, should I start with seeds or should I go to the store and buy some plants? Well, today I'm going to answer that question for you on the Grow Yourself podcast. If we haven't met yet, my name is Nicole Johnsey Burke. I'm the founder of Gardenary Incorporated. We're on a mission to help you start your garden, make your garden better, and just make the garden an ordinary part of your life. And that comes down to seeds and plants. So I have talked to so many students over the years and clients, and I get asked this question, so very often, do I go to the seed catalog and just order a ton of seeds, or should I go to the plant shop and buy a ton of plants? Well, today I'm going to help you understand the answer. And it's a little bit more complicated than just saying seeds or plants. So first off, I want to explain my plant labeling system. You'll find it in my second book called Leaves, Roots, and Fruit. And that in itself is the plant labeling system. Leaves and roots and fruit. So in this book and inside of Gardenary, we explain how you can basically categorize plants and based on their stage of growth. So if you think about way back to, like, you know, third grade science, right, Life science, maybe, where you learned about the way a plant grows, we all figured out that a plant goes from a seed. It creates a little small root and a little shoot, and then it grows lots and lots of leaves, right? And as it's growing those leaves, it starts to build bigger root systems, and it will start to get pretty nice thick roots. And then once the plant is fully established and it's got its leaves, it's got its nice thick roots, then it's going to produce flowers and fruit. And so if you were to look at the life cycle of a plant, you're going to see leaves come first, deep roots come second, and then flowers and fruit come last. And that in itself is the answer to whether or not you're going to start a plant with seeds or with a plant. And I'll explain to you how. So when we're thinking about the leaves we're going to grow in the garden. So any kind of plant that you're growing. Now, we know every plant grows a leaf, duh. Right? But when you think about the plant you're going to be growing in the garden, are you going to be harvesting the leaves? Is the main production from that plant going to be leaves? So a couple of Examples, if we're in a cool season, the leaves we might harvest would be arugula or romaine or butter crunch or spring mix. We might have cabbage or kale or Swiss chard. We might be growing cilantro or dill or parsley. We might have some chives, some green onions. All those are considered leaves, right? It's the green thing that we're going to cut and enjoy inside our kitchen. So anything that you're going to grow for the leaf itself, we're going to consider that in its first category, in that first category of plants. And for those in general, we want to start them with a seed, with a seed that goes directly into the soil. The reason why we want to do this is because most of these plants will actually do best if they're started from seed. So a lot of these plants, especially your leafy greens, they have very tender root systems, and they don't make the transition very well from a pot or a little starter position moving into the garden instead. Their roots like to stay exactly where they start, and so in general will stress out these plants less. But also it works to plant directly from seed, because most of these plants grow in a very short period of time. If you think about it, we're capturing the harvest for this plant at the earliest stage of its growth, right when you're harvesting a plant for its leaf, you're literally catching it in its baby and childhood stages of growth. And so you have plenty of time to get to the harvest, even if you're planting in the middle of the season. Now, if you think about the warm season for these plants, you'll still be able to do things like kale or Swiss chard and arugula. But then we're moving into some of the bigger herbs, like basil. We also, at this stage, if we think about leaves, have what we call perennial herbs. These are herbs that will come back into the garden year after year after year. And these would be the exception to the rule when it comes to choosing between cedar plant for leaves. So when you look at the perennial herbs, you've got thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage, mint. All of those plants that are in the same family, they're all in the Lamiaceae plant family, the mint plant family. They come back year after year. Now, you could start these from seed, but almost all of them grow pretty slowly from seed, and they are absolutely worth your dollars spent if you buy them from a plant. So they're harder to start from seed, and they like to be. They don't necessarily like it but they don't mind being transplanted. So these are plants that you can buy from the store, put into your garden. And the fact that they're perennial means that you're going to get a ton of value for your money put in. So for just spending two or three dollars on an herb plant, you're going to get to harvest from that plant for years, not just for months, not just for one season, but for two, three, maybe four or even five years. So the perennial herbs are the one exception to whether or not you should buy a seed or a plant when it's in the leaf category. So if you're harvesting leaves in the cool season, you've got all your lettuces, you've got cilantro and parsley and dill. In the warm season, you've got your bigger greens like kale and Swiss chard, you've got basil. But then you've got your herbs and those perennial herbs. We're going to switch it and buy plants for those. Now, the next stage of growth for the plants, we've passed the leafy stage. Now the plant is starting to produce roots. For those plants that produce roots in general, especially all of the ones that produce roots within two to three months, we also want to start from seed. And that's because most of these are very similar to those leafy greens in that they don't like being moved. If you think about growing a radish or a beet or a carrot, it would be a pretty tender thing, right? To pull that out of a starter pack or out of a pot and put it into a bigger garden, that plant is going to struggle with, like, resettling itself, because putting its root down into the soil, attaching it to the soil, and pulling nutrients from the soil, is literally the way that that root is becoming big and strong and harvestable. And so in general, for all those annual root crops, those ones that are two to three months, it generally works best to plant directly with a seed. Now, there are plants that I categorize as roots, but they're actually more like tubers or bulbs. And that would be things like garlic and potatoes and sweet potatoes, ginger, turmeric. These you could start. We're still generally calling it a seed, but the seed is a little bit different. The seed is going to be like a little bulb or a little clove. So it'd be like a clove of garlic or a little hand of ginger or turmeric. And. And so for those as well, I wouldn't buy a whole plant. I would just Buy the piece that you'll put under the ground to start that plant growing. So for the root crops in general, almost all root crops, I would start them from seed or from the original tuber or clove, and you're going to get great results. You're going to have plants that aren't going to be stressed out. And in general, it's just really not worth purchasing a plant. I remember when I first started gardening, I was so excited to grow carrots. And I was at the plant shop and they literally had little four inch pots of carrots, like 10 carrots inside this little four inch pot. And I think it was four or five dollars to buy that pot. And I'm like, I bought it. And I look back, I'm like, what was I thinking? That was such a waste of money. So don't spend your money that way. Buy the seed packet. You'll get way more for your money and actually healthier plants as well. So now we've covered the leafy plants, then the root crops, then we move on to the final stage of the plant's growth and that's when it produces flowers and fruit. So these are the plants, no matter the season, that in general, we're going to buy plants for now, there are a couple of exceptions, but for the most part, if you're entering a new season, you haven't planned ahead, you're not a month or two ahead of the game, then you're going to be purchasing plants for these because you need these plants to get going very quickly. Because these are the plants that we're taking all the way to fruition, right? We're taking them all the way to the very end of their life cycle and we're harvesting them not for the leaves, not for the roots, but for the fruit. So in a cool season time, that's going to be things like sugar snap peas and fava beans. And in a warm season time, that's going to be things like tomatoes and peppers and eggplants, zucchini, zucchini, squash. And then in a hot time, that's going to be things like eggplant and okra. So for the plants that are going to be fruiting plants, where we're harvesting the fruit from those plants, generally speaking, we want to start with a plant. Now, there are a couple of exceptions, and that would be in the cool season in general, any kind of pea plant or bean plant, I start from seed because they do really well from seed and you can get way more for your money. Plus sometimes those plants have A hard time transplanting. So for peas and fava beans in the cool season, and then just bush beans or pole beans in the warm season, I would start from seed and then also all the plants in general in the cucurbit family, the squash plant family, especially cucumber. Now, for squash, zucchini, melons, and gourds, you may need to start those seeds indoors and grow plants and. But I found that it's hard to find healthy plants of that family from a plant shop. Generally, they dry out, they're not ready to be transplanted, or they packed two or three into one pot, and so they're not that healthy when you bring them into your garden. I've literally had times where I bought a squash plant from the store and had a squash seed and planted both of them simultaneously. And at first the plant looks like it's going to outperform, but within a couple of weeks, maybe four weeks, the seed is a bigger, healthier plant than the one that I transplanted. What happens is those plants go into some transplant shock. And so it really, like, makes up for the fact that it had a jump start that it was already, you know, grown into, like, a pretty mature size. It gets stalled out with the transplant, whereas the plant that's directly planted from the seed in the soil, and it just takes off and never gets interrupted. So for the most part, unless you have to do it because you need a jumpstart on your season, I would start anything in the cucurbit family, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, and melons, I would put the seed directly into the soil as soon as you possibly can, given the temperature. So that covers our leaves, our roots, and our fruit in general. The overall rule, there's some exception. Leaves are going to be started from seed, roots are going to be started from seed, and then fruit is going to be started from plant. Another way to think about it is small, medium, and large. The small and medium sized plants can be started from seed, and the large size plants should be started from plant. Now, it could be a plant you grew yourself. It could be a plant that you started indoors, grew to be a nice mature plant, and then you put it out into the garden, or it can be one that you buy. But in general, when we're growing for the fruit, we're looking at 70, 90, 100 days before we get to the fruit. So we want to give ourselves a jump start by putting that plant directly into the garden. Now, the other two categories, and I already touched on one, which is the perennial herbs the herbs and the flowers, those kind of are in their own category in the garden, especially for the gardenary way. And so for herbs and flowers in general, if it's that perennial herb, we want to start with a plant. And then if it's a flower, I usually start with the plant as well. There's a couple of exceptions. One would be nasturtiums. Those do really well starting from seed. Zinnias do really well starting from seed. And calendula does as well. But for the most part, the other flowers I love putting into a raised bed, kitchen garden, those I love to start with a plant. Those are very similar. If you think about it, it's at the same stage as those fruiting plants, right? They've already created leaves and roots, and now they're at the flower and fruit stage. And so purchasing a plant for those flowers is going to give you a jump start on the season. It's going to give you that beauty right away, and it's going to give you that extra protection to your garden by having those flowers and herbs around the exterior of your bed. So there you have it. That is my system. When I'm trying to decide should I buy the seed or should I get the plant, I think about its category. Is it a leaf, root, fruit, herb, or flower? And if it's a leaf or a root, in general, I'm going to start with the seed. If it's a fruiting plant or an herb or a flower, I'm usually going to start with the plant. You don't have to be confused when it comes to setting up your own garden. We have got all the resources you need here at Gardenary. You can check out the link right below this video. We've got a free resource to help you grow to the next level and you can check us out more@gardenary.com I cannot wait to see the seeds and plant you put in your garden this season. And I especially cannot wait to see you right here next time. Thanks for listening and watching the Grow youw Self podcast. I'll see you in the garden. Thanks so much for listening to the Grow youw Self podcast. You can keep listening anywhere. You love getting your podcast delivered on Apple podcasts on Spotify, iHeartRadio, you name it, we are there for you. And if you want to read the notes and get our free resources to help you grow more, you can go to gardenary.com podcast.