Out of busyness, I skipped last week’s garden update. Rather than mail it in with a very light garden update, I ended up taking a week off and coming back this week with a full update. I apologize for skipping last week’s post. We worked on screening in our back porch last week, and it was time-consuming and tiring. In this week’s update, I learned that I’ve made a mistake when it comes to starting seeds, started a bunch of new seeds, and continued learning the importance of patience with gardening.
Seed Starting Mistake
Each day, I check our seed starting trays to see if the plants need water or can be transplanted to a larger growing cell. Two weeks ago, I noticed that a few were a bit laggy and didn’t look as healthy as they did at the start. Since starting the seeds, I had kept the trays on the heat mats and under the lids. I also turned on the grow lights once germination happened. I did a quick Google search and was reminded that the heat mats should be switched off and the lids removed as soon as germination happens. I immediately unplugged the heat mats and removed the lids, but it was too late for some of the starts, and I needed to restart some of them.
When this happened, I was down on myself. I really hate making mistakes when it comes to gardening, especially when starting seeds. Maggie reminded me to be nicer to myself, which is something I always need to be told. It’s incredibly comforting to know that mistakes are okay. I have to remind myself that it has been three years since we gardened, so it’s natural to forget some of the details. And I suppose that if mistakes are going to be made, it’s best for them to happen at this stage rather than when they’ve been transplanted and are a lot further in their development.
Transplanting, Restarting, and Starting
After learning that I needed to restart some of the seeds, I kept looking for opportunities last week in between the porch project to transplant starts, start new seeds, and restart some of the ones that failed. Sadly, it took until Friday, when the weather wasn’t great and we needed a day to rest, to find that time. That afternoon, I transplanted a bunch of tomato, pepper, and cantaloupe starts. I even transplanted a dahlia start that had outgrown its small starting cell. We didn’t buy any larger planting pots for this year’s garden after finding 10 or so of the peat pots from our previous garden. Beyond those, we’ve been reusing plastic containers that would otherwise be recycled.
Then, on Saturday morning, I took the time to restart the seeds that had failed and start some new ones that I hadn’t been able to get to. The ones that needed to be restarted were some tomatoes, peppers, cantaloupes, and dahlias. We also had to restart all of the eggplants, tomatillos, ground cherries, broccoli, and onions. The new seeds we started were our cucumbers, winter squash, pumpkins, and melons. We were originally going to start our beans at the same time; however, I read that they don’t need to be started indoors since they grow so fast. Instead, we’ll wait to direct sow them in the garden. With the newly remembered knowledge about heat mats, domes, the importance of air circulation for starts, and watering needs, we wait.
Gardening Requires Patience
I am not a patient person. I struggle to give things time and want to rush them. This is the case for gardening. At this time, we have a few plants that could be transplanted into the ground outside and other seeds that can be directly sown into the garden. However, the weather has been uncooperative, with cold temperatures at night that keep the soil temp low and consecutive rainy days, which isn’t ideal when seeds are trying to germinate or young plants are trying to establish roots. The rain has also prevented us from tilling the last two garden beds. I know that we’ll be able to get all of this done, but not rushing the process is difficult for me.
Up Next
This week, we wait for the recently-planted seeds to germinate and to see how the starts do after being transplanted. The healthy ones have done very well in the first few days, while the ones that weren’t looking great in the original cells still don’t look too good. We also need to mow our grass for the first time this year, which will include mowing down the areas for the new beds and handling some of the grass that has regrown in the existing beds. Finally, we have plans to finish our screened-in porch when we can get to it and to work in the garden. We had success with setting up our rain barrel and have noticed its impact on the ground around where the downspout originally deposited water. I’m hoping for a pretty eventful week in the garden. Happy gardening to you.
I hate to say it, but I forgot to start this week’s update until Sunday night. Typically, I will start these on Saturday evening, but as I sit here watching the Boston Red Sox lead the St. Louis Cardinals 18-3 on Sunday Night Baseball, I am much later than usual. So, I apologize if this update ends up being shorter than normal, but I was unwilling to push the update back a day or two or not publish one at all this week. To those who read my gardening content: I can’t thank you enough. Writing here has been a relaxing break from work and helps remind me of why I like writing. I don’t want to postpone it any longer: Here’s this week’s update.
Much Germination
In last week’s update, I discussed the difficulties we were experiencing with getting seeds to successfully germinate. This was largely concentrated to our peppers, where we only had two of our 12 pepper cells germinate. I’m proud to report that after we altered the watering process and re-sowed the seeds, we’ve had much better germination. All six of our bell pepper cells, two of the Scotch Bonnet cells, and one of the Hungarian wax cells have sprouted. The bell pepper seeds have been successful enough that earlier today, we thinned the cells so that only one plant per cell will grow.
Germinated peppers, dahlias, eggplants, and onions
We also had successful germination with all three dahlia cells, all six eggplant cells, and all 21 bunching onion cells. We feel so blessed that we’ve been able to turn the poor germination rate around and have successfully started many other seeds.
We also started some new seeds earlier today:
3 cantaloupe cells
3 ground cherry cells
3 tomatillo cells
6 broccoli cells
And all of our tomato seeds (6 principe borghese, 3 Queen Aliquippa, 3 indigo pear, 3 blue beauty, 3 yellow pear, 3 black krim, and 3 mushroom basket)
We’ve been very careful to track what we’re planting in each cell. We use a piece of paper with a hand-drawn chart on it for the one tray, and our other tray came with a cardboard chart. I’m also tracking these on a spreadsheet in case the physical copies get destroy or the ink smudges.
Seed Tray ChartSeed Tray Chart
Cleaning Out Our Garden Tote
This weekend, we spent some time in our garage (also my woodworking shop) cleaning it out. I recently finished a guitar stand project, and when I’m wrapping up a project, I tend to make a huge mess and not worry about cleaning up as I go. That leads to a lot of sawdust, tools, and scraps being spewed everywhere. I needed to clean everything up from that project and reorganize everything so that the spring and summer things are at the front, with the winter items moved to the back. In doing so, I uncovered our tote of gardening supplies, which was pretty cool.
I didn’t forget that we have this tote, but I did forget some of the stuff in it. There were a lot of supplies that we used when we had our container garden in 2022, including soil amendments, organic fertilizers, and hand tools. Some things weren’t worth using anymore, such as the open bags of seed-starting mix and peat moss, but the amendments were still good. I actually repurposed the peat moss and starting mix by pouring it on our garden beds. We’re also able to use the larger seed pots by transferring our pepper plants into them when the time is right. It was fun remembering everything we had bought for that garden three years ago. It helped me to realize how far we’ve come in three short years and how thankful I am to be able to garden again, especially with some of the same items.
So Much Rain…
In last week’s update, I said that a goal for the week was to get gypsum into garden beds 3 and 4 and do the final tilling. I was able to do that on Monday before a large weather system entered the area and brought a lot of rain. I estimate that we received somewhere between 2 and 2.5 inches total from Monday afternoon through Saturday. It made our garden beds nice and muddy, so we can see that we’re still having some drainage problems, but it’s a work in progress. Also, it’s been a very wet spring that has arrived on the back of a snowy winter, so the ground was already pretty wet. As the ground dries out this week, the goal is to get back into the garden and till the final two beds and perhaps even get some seeds in the ground. We also need to get the parts we need for the rain barrel, which will help with some of the moisture problems.
Up Next
The weather forecast is much better this week, so hopefully, the garden beds and yard can finally dry out. If that happens, we’ll likely try to start beds 5 and 6. If that happens, it’ll be great, but if not, that’s okay too. We’re in a great place at this time and need to be patient. In the meantime, we’re going to be screening in our back porch in a few weeks and need to get it prepped by taking measurements, cleaning everything, and making sure we have our supplies list figured out so that we can get everything we need. When we pick up the supplies for that project, we’re also going to get some materials to build some planter boxes and a trellis or two.
In this week’s garden update, we continued our journey of tilling all the garden beds we need. We admitted defeat with some of the pepper seeds and decided to re-sow a few of them. We also started two new seeds inside and celebrated that two of our eggplant cells have already germinated.
Continuing to Create Garden Beds
After a few discussions and planning sessions, we determined how many garden beds we need and where they are going. Essentially, we are turning about half of the second lot we have into a garden, which will be divided among six beds, plus one for wildflowers that will attract pollinators. Heading into this past week, we had three started, but none were completely ready to go. At the end of this week, we have four started and two ready to go with rows tilled.
Our process for tilling the beds looks like this:
One initial till that removes the bulk of the grass followed by raking to scrape the grass away from the soil.
A second perpendicular till that goes across the original one. This tilling is deeper than the first one and helps to clean up any strips of grass that were missed on the first pass. The bed gets raked after this pass as well.
Apply a layer of gypsum.
A third tilling that works the gypsum into the soil and establishes the rows we’ll plant in.
We may do a light fourth tilling right before planting to work in any soil amendments we use.
It’s been interesting to see how the soil and bed change after each pass. The first two passes leave the bed moist and muddy. But within 30 minutes, the top layer of soil begins to dry. Then, after the third pass, it starts to look like a garden with loose, workable soil between walking paths.
We’ve developed a good system for creating the beds when we’re both available to work on them. I’ll go around and create the border for the new bed. Magz follows that up with the first pass, and I’ll rake behind her. She’ll also do the second pass that runs perpendicular to the first one. I’ll then rake it off again, add the gypsum, and handle establishing the rows. It’s been a very productive system.
Eggplant Germination
In last week’s update, I wrote that we started our eggplant seeds on Saturday, March 22. These were supposed to take 10-15 days to germinate but ultimately sprouted in seven days with the first seedlings breaking through the soil on the 29th. That is a big change from the experience we’ve had with our pepper seeds, but more on that in the next section.
A look at our germinated pepper and eggplant seeds
The eggplant variety we’re growing is Ping Tung from Baker Creek. They are an Asian variety named for the location in Taiwan where they originate. They are a thinner eggplant than the bell-shaped varieties that most are familiar with and can grow up to 14 inches long.
Re-Sowing Seeds & Starting New Ones
I alluded to this in the previous section, but we’ve had some difficulty with our pepper seeds. Of the 12 cells we started, only two have germinated after three weeks: one sweet bell pepper and one Scotch Bonnet. We haven’t had any of the Hungarian wax peppers germinate. Yesterday, we made the decision to re-sow the cells that hadn’t germinated yet – five sweet peppers, two Scotch Bonnet seeds, and three Hungarian wax seeds. I’m not entirely sure what caused these seeds to fail, but I think it was inadequate moisture. I intended to pre-moisten the seed starting mix before starting the seeds but forgot to. I also used a spray bottle to water the seeds, but I don’t think I was giving them enough water at a time. That changed when I started the eggplant seeds. Instead of using the spray bottle, I started pouring water on the cells and letting it drain through the soil. It meant I only needed to water the seeds every few days rather than daily. We’ll see how the pepper seeds do with this change in the watering process.
That day, we also started two new seeds. One is the Ishikura bunching onion, which is a Japanese scallion-style onion that grows like a green onion rather than a long day onion. This onion doesn’t develop a bulb below the soil, but instead, the tops can be cut and will re-grow. We started 18 cells of these and will sow additional cells in the upcoming weeks. We love spring onions and want to have fresh ones all growing season.
The second seed we started is a dahlia. In addition to growing vegetables, we are growing quite a few flowers this year, mostly perennials that attract pollinators like butterflies and honeybees. We have very little experience growing flowers, especially from seed, but we’re excited to see how it goes.
Up Next
The goal this week will be to create rows in garden beds three and four. If we’re able to get started on the final two beds, that’d be great. It could also be overly optimistic, though. We also want to direct sow some seeds in our garden beds. Some of the greens and flowers can be started this early.
In this week’s garden update, we have a lot to go over. We have updates regarding our seedlings, began creating our garden beds, realized what our soil is like, and began addressing a water runoff problem. Finally, which seed did we start? Let’s dive in.
Houston, We Have Liftoff! (Or Germination)
It was touch-and-go for a bit, but our first seeds have started to germinate. On March 8, we started 12 cells of pepper seeds – 6 sweet peppers, 3 Scotch Bonnets, and 3 Hungarian Wax. The seeds were supposed to take 10-15 days to germinate, so as we got to the 2-week mark, we started getting a bit nervous that they weren’t going to germinate. However, when I checked the starting tray on Saturday (March 22) morning, one of the sweet peppers seeds had germinated. Wonderful!
Pepper Germination
Then, later that day, I went down to check the tray again and one of the hot peppers had sprouted! The next morning, I set up our grow light and configured the settings so the light stays on for 12 hours, so the plants should begin to take off. The first seeds to germinate each year is such a monumental occasion. It feels like it takes the concept of a garden and turns it into a reality.
Starting to Till the Garden Beds
In last week’s update, I shared that we received our rototiller and were waiting to begin the tilling process. Last Wednesday afternoon, we got it in the ground, and it was more difficult than I anticipated. I believe I have used a tiller before but can’t remember with 100% certainty, and if I have used one, it was only to turn over soil that had already been used for gardening. I’ve never established a garden from scratch. And if you haven’t used one, lugging a 30-pound machine around and preventing it from bouncing is a workout.
Our lawn has very thick grass and the ground below it is soft, almost like a peat bog with compacted soil. There is basically no top soil, so if there’s any moisture in the ground, it’s essentially soft, muddy clay. Your feet sink into, and the soil sticks to your shoes. It was a bit disheartening to realize the soil’s composition, but not unexpected given that loamy clay soil is common in this part of Pennsylvania.
First Garden Bed
We began by roughly determining where we want our beds to be, and on the first pass, we focused on removing the grass. That was largely successful, and after raking, we could see the soil. The second pass was deeper and started to turn the soil over, which is when we noticed that we need to address the moisture/drainage issue of the soil. Clay soil is wonderful because it’s full of nutrients and minerals, but not so great because it doesn’t allow excess moisture to drain. Over time, this will be resolved through the addition of organic compost, natural soil breakup from plant roots, and cover crops in the fall and winter.
Immediately, though, we have to address the issue before planting this season, which we’re going to do with gypsum. Many of the Google search results I found pointed us in the direction of gypsum, which is a naturally occurring mineral that breaks up soil and improves drainage. Thankfully, it’s also cheap at $10 for a 40-pound bag. Our plan is to spread it on top of our garden beds and till it into the soil a few inches. In the meantime, though, we’re already starting to see the soil dry out. Within 15 minutes of removing the grass, the top layer of soil starts to dry out, which is a remarkable improvement.
Diverting Downspout Runoff
Compounding the issue of our loamy clay soil and thick lawn is that one of the downspouts on our garage directs water into the part of the yard where our garden is going. Our garage roof isn’t big, but the amount of water draining off it is enough to exacerbate an existing problem. One option is to divert the downspout to have the water exit in a different location, but it would still make our drainage problem worse. Instead, we decided to use a rain barrel as a catchment device. On Saturday, we bought a 55-gallon blue plastic barrel from Rural King that was previously used for food, so once we thoroughly clean it, it’ll be safe for watering our garden. We have discussed having a rain barrel, but the plan was expedited as a result of the downspout and drainage problems. We still need to buy a spigot and filter, plus we need to figure out a platform, but we’re on the right track. We’ll provide more updates once we install the rain barrel.
Starting Eggplant Seeds
Saturday was also the day we started our second type of seeds: eggplants. Like the sweet peppers, we started 6 cells of these with 3 seeds in each cell. These will take 10-14 days to germinate, similar to the peppers.
Up Next
We won’t be starting any more seeds indoors until April, but if we get our garden beds prepped in time, we will be planting mustard greens outside. On Friday, Magz also tilled a bed at the back of our property, which we’re going to use for wildflowers that will benefit pollinators like butterflies and honeybees. That area of our property doesn’t get the best sunlight (partial) and is close to a drainage ditch, so we don’t want to grow vegetables there. We’ll be ready to plant those flower seeds as soon as the weather is consistently warm enough and the soil is where want it.
We’ll also continue to prep our garden beds with the tiller and gypsum. In the meantime, do you have any experience with a rain barrel or other catchment system? How about poorly draining soil? We’d love to hear how you’ve navigated it and apply any tips you have. Happy Gardening!
After writing about starting our first seeds for the season, I thought it’d be helpful to discuss our seed-starting setup. Although everyone will have a unique set of equipment, the basic items will generally be the same for everyone. The equipment I discuss below is what Magz and I bought, but you’ll want to determine what best fits your needs. That can be based on how much you want to invest in seed starting at this time, how many seeds you want to start, and how large your seed-starting space is.
Necessary Equipment
Regardless of how big or small of a garden you’re planning, these are the essentials you’ll need.
Heat Mat
Although many people will first think of a grow light when buying seed-starting supplies, a heat mat is equally as important. A heat mat warms the soil to the appropriate temperature for seeds to germinate. They are great because they maintain a temperature of about 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit. They are also waterproof and can be wiped clean, so you don’t have to worry about getting wet soil on them.
Our seed starting equipment for the 2025 garden.
They’re very easy to operate since the ones we have don’t have a temperature controller. Rather, you simply set them and forget them. Once you plug them in, they stay on 24/7 until you begin seeing your plants poking through the soil. We bought ours on Amazon in Feb. 2022. They are 10 inches by 20 inches, came in a 2-pack, and cost $27.99 at the time. They’re actually cheaper now than they were in 2022 at $23.99. Here is a link to them.
Grow Light
The grow light works hand-in-hand with the heat mat. You don’t need to turn on your grow light when you first start your seeds. That’s because its purpose is to help the plants grow through photosynthesis, and until the seeds germinate and poke through the soil, the grow light has no job. Instead, you wait for germination and see green through the brown soil. At that point, you can begin using the grow light, which you want to mimic the sun by not having it on 24/7. Ours is set to be on 12 hours and off 12 hours. The grow light will be used until you transplant the plants into your garden. Like the heat mats, our grow light also came from Amazon. It was $25.99 when we bought it in Feb. 2022. The exact light we got is no longer sold; however, here is one very similar and is only $23.99. There are different styles of grow lights, but I prefer the ones that clip on tables to the ones that hang. Hanging ones are great because their light is spread across a larger area, but you have to have the right setup to hang them. Meanwhile, the clip-on ones can be attached nearly anywhere and you can angle the lights to fit your needs.
Dome & Tray
You’ll almost always find these sold together as a set. The tray holds your seed-starting cells and will prevent excess water from running onto the table or surface you’re growing them on. The dome, or lid, works like a greenhouse and keeps moisture inside. This is essential during the germination process as the seeds need consistent moisture. The dome can only be used until the plants reach a height where they are pushing up against it. You’ll also want to be careful when using the lid. Keeping the lid on can lead to mildew or mold problems if your soil is too wet. Mini greenhouses are the perfect environment for mold to grow because the soil is warm and wet, and until the grow light is turned on, there are no UV rays to kill said mildew and mold. So, just be sure to monitor your cells each day. The underside of the lid should have condensation on it and the soil should be damp but not soaking wet. If you notice that the soil isn’t drying out within a few days of watering, adjust the lid a bit to allow some airflow. That will dry it out. Seed trays and domes are very easy to find. Your big box stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot will have them, and you can also find them at feed or farm stores, such as Tractor Supply and Agway. They’re very affordable. Here’s one from Tractor Supply for $12.69 that holds 72 cells and includes the compacted soil pellets, so a seed-starting mix isn’t even needed.
Seed-Starting Mix
It’s important to have the right soil mix when starting seeds. It may be tempting to use soil from outside or regular garden soil when starting seeds, but you should resist that temptation. MI Gardener explains it very well in a YouTube video, but the gist is that outside soil and compost will have microorganisms, bacteria, fungus, and bugs in them that can lead to damping off and other diseases in your seedlings. Not to mention, you probably don’t want bugs in your house. Instead, you should use a dedicated seed-starting mix that has things like peat moss, vermiculite, perlite, and coconut coir in it. These give the starting mix a light and airy texture that allows seeds to germinate and grow while also draining well. We look for organic bags of starting mix. Is it necessary? Probably not, but starting mix is so affordable that there isn’t a good reason not to. We bought two bags of Jiffy organic starting mix at Lowe’s. Each was $7.28 for 12 quarts of soil. We’ve used several different starting mixes in our gardens and haven’t found one to be better than the others.
Water Source
This is pretty self-explanatory, but you’ll need a vessel for watering your seeds. In the past, we used small cups to pour the water. This year, we changed to spray bottles and have enjoyed it more. We find the bottles to be better because they don’t spill or flood the seed cells. You don’t want to overwater your seeds, so spraying is a more controlled method. We bought a 2-pack on Amazon that is currently $7.56. Any spray bottle is work, though.
Surface to Set Everything
I’m including this because it can be easy to forget, but you’ll need a good place to set all your supplies. This can be a table, counter, desk, or shelf, but keep in mind that you’ll need to have everything out for several months and there will be UV lights that can be a bit annoying after a while. In the past, we have used a dining table and a collapsible hard plastic table that is nice because it can easily be cleaned. This year, we switched it up and are using a piece of plywood that was left in our basement by the previous owners and a set of sawhorses. It’s working well because the sawhorses keep the seed trays at a nice height and the plywood was free, so it’s not a big deal if it gets dirty. I’d recommend using something you already have. I don’t think you need to buy something new for this purpose.
What Is in Your Seed-Starting Kit?
In addition to everything I discussed in this post, you’ll need to determine the best way to get power to your equipment. That’s going to be unique to your situation. We bought a 50-foot 12-gauge extension cord and a 3-prong adaptor to make sure we had enough length to reach the closest outlet. Keep in mind that the heat mats and grow lights can draw a decent amount of power, so go overboard when using an extension cord just to be safe.
What do you use to start seeds? Is there any overlap with the items we use? We’d love to hear from you and see if we can improve our kit for next year’s garden. Happy gardening.
Throughout this year, I am going to publish a weekly blog post with updates from our garden. It will include progress pictures and anything we learned over the past week and will serve as a general update since a lot can change in a week’s time when gardening. I wanted to wait until we started our first seeds, and guess what? We did!
Peppers Have Been Started
I don’t believe that each year’s garden has started until your hands first touch soil in the spring. Buying seeds and purchasing supplies is wonderful, but it’s all still part of the planning process. Getting your hands dirty for the first time moves everything from a concept to a reality. And that’s the step we took Saturday evening.
Seed Starting
Earlier in the day on Saturday, we made a trip to the nearest Lowes to pick up a downspout extension and grabbed a couple of bags of seed starting mix, another seed starting tray and flat of cells, and gardening gloves. Brief side story: Neither of us could remember if we needed extra seed starting cells. I would have bet a dollar that we had enough to get us started for the year and only bought the new cells as extra. Boy, am I glad we got them. When we came home, I checked our gardening tote, and the starting tray that I thought had cells in it was empty. It’s funny how taking a two-year absence from gardening and moving can make you forget stuff.
That evening, we unpacked our heat mats and glow light, set up the table we’re using, and ran an extension cord from the nearest outlet. First up on our seed-starting schedule is peppers. (Technically, our mustard greens should already be in the ground, but because they will be directly sown, we have to wait until the ground is tilled). We found our 3 varieties of peppers (California Wonder bells, Scotch Bonnets, and Hungarian Waxes, which I discussed in this post), grabbed our seed-starting mix, and filled a spray bottle with water.
Starting pepper seeds
We decided to grow 3 cells each of Scott Bonnets and Hungarian Wax peppers and 6 cells of the California Wonders. With 2 seeds in each cell, we’re confident we’ll get strong seedlings to transplant later in the spring. Determining how many cells of each variety to start is always a fun process. You want enough to guarantee good germination but not so many that you feel overwhelmed if all of them succeed. Hot peppers are particularly difficult for us because we don’t eat a lot of them and will mostly use the Scotch Bonnets for jerk marinade. We went with 3 cells with the goal of transplanting 2 of them, and if all 3 succeed, we’ll give the third plant away. For the California Wonder bell peppers, we’ll probably transplant as many as we can.
What’s Next?
Next week, we will be starting our eggplant seeds. I’ve been using the seed starting spreadsheet that I created to organize everything and started another page to track the dates and expected germination times for each seed. That will allow us to know if a seed is taking longer than expected to germinate.
We’re also going to be buying our rototiller sometime over the next week. We’re big fans of no-till gardening, but our yard is currently all grass, so we have to break ground. We were originally going to buy an electric tiller since they are cheaper than gas models and we won’t need to use it much after the first year. However, after realizing how expensive 100-foot heavy-gauge extension cords are, we have pivoted to a gas model. We’re still narrowing down the exact one, but I’ll write a blog post about it and how we reached that decision when we get it. I’ll also write a follow-up post reviewing the tiller once we use it. Spring weather is finally starting to arrive after a harsh winter, and we couldn’t be more excited.
Growing up, I spent many spring Saturdays taking trips with my mom, dad, or grandparents to the greenhouses and garden centers in our area. We would walk around the tables that were full of flats holding vegetable starts and flower transplants. That was how my family typically began each year’s garden. It was wonderful to take in the greenhouse smells of damp soil, fertilizer, and new plants. You’d run your fingers over the leaves and quickly learn to identify the differences between peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers.
Seedlings in a greenhouse (Photo by Zoe Richardson on Unsplash)
Fast-forward to today and seeds seem to be all the rage. There are dozens of seed companies I hadn’t heard of until about a decade ago selling heirloom varieties of seeds that I didn’t know existed until recently. I’m not sure if that’s simply the result of the internet raising awareness for seed loss and advertising for these companies or because people in my circle didn’t talk about heirlooms. Either way, it does seem as though there has been a shift in attitude and approach toward starting a garden.
That raises the question: Which is better between seeds and starts? Based on my previous posts about seeds and catalogs, you can guess which camp I’m in, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t merits for buying transplants from your local greenhouse. Let’s dive into the advantages and disadvantages of both and help you make a decision on which is best for you.
Cost
There is a wide range of costs when choosing how to start your garden. The cheapest we found seeds in our catalogs was $1.95, which was a broccoli packet from Pinetree Gardens.
Fun fact: That price is actually lower than our local Wal-Mart sells Burpee seeds for. Another reminder to buy directly from the seed company if you can. There typically isn’t much difference in price, you’ll find a larger variety, and you’re guaranteed that the seeds were recently packed.
On average, the lowest price in our catalogs was $1.99 per packet. That was the case for most vegetables. The highest price was $15.00 for a packet of pumpkin seeds from NE Seed. Calculate the per-seed price and you’ll get a range of less than $.01 for some beet and carrot varieties up to $1.00 per seed for heirloom cantaloupe and tomato varieties.
Let’s compare that to the price of starts. I’m not 100 percent sure what starts cost at greenhouses in our area since it’s still too early, but a quick search online showed tomato plants in the $3-4 range from Home Depot. That price is comparable to a packet of seeds. However, when you consider that a start produces one mature plant in the best-case scenario, seeds are far more economical. I know that more than one seed is generally used when starting them, but it’s still cheaper to purchase seeds.
Seeds 1, Starts 0
Variety
When you are shopping for starts, you’ll likely find the most popular varieties for your region at a greenhouse. These tend to be successful, are adapted to your area, and are relatively easy to grow. Some examples you’ll find in Pennsylvania are Amish paste and Brandywine tomatoes, Straight 8 cucumbers, and California Wonder bell peppers. Most greenhouses will have these varieties available as starts. You may find some more “exotic” varieties, such as habanero peppers or a non-red variety of tomato, but greenhouses will stock the varieties that sell. 3-4 varieties per vegetable are typically the upper end of what you’ll find.
When you buy seeds, there are many varieties to consider. Even displays in stores like Lowes will have up to 10 varieties per vegetable. For tomatoes, you’ll find several varieties of cherry, beefsteak, and paste tomatoes. For cucumbers, you’ll typically find a few different pickling and slicing varieties. Just today, the display in Lowes had ornamental corn seeds, something I’ve never seen in a store before. You have a lot of options to find the seed that best fits your needs. Then, when you expand to purchasing seeds online or from catalogs, you’ll have dozens of varieties to pick from for each vegetable, including organic and heirloom.
Seed Starting
That many choices can be both positive and negative. If you want the chance to buy heirloom varieties that you’re unlikely to find starts for, it’s a positive. But if you’re just starting out and can become overwhelmed by how many options there are, it’s a negative. Ultimately, I think having more options is a good thing, so I’m going to give this one to seeds as well, but there’s an argument for starts.
Seeds 2, Starts 0
Necessary Equipment
When you buy starts, you don’t really need anything else assuming you have a garden or container. You’ll also need soil, fertilizer, and tools for transplanting and watering. Those are all items that you’ll also need for seeds, though, so I don’t count them for the purposes of this post. So, like I said, once you buy the starts, you have everything you need.
Seeds, meanwhile, need a bit of equipment. You’ll have to have seed-starting cells and a starting mix of soil or compressed and dehydrated soil pods that expand when water is added. This is where the seeds will go. In some cases, you’ll need multiple cell sizes for different plants and to transplant them as needed when growing. Those cells need a tray and potentially a dome to sit in. The cells are placed on top of the tray, which provides a place for water to drain, and under the dome, which holds in moisture, creating a greenhouse effect.
You then need a heat mat and grow light to help with germination. The heat mat is used at the beginning to heat the soil so the seeds can germinate, while the grow light helps the young plants grow through photosynthesis. Neither item has to be expensive: You can get a 10″ x 20″ heat mat for $12 and a grow light for $14, both on Amazon. Finally, you’ll need a surface to set everything on, an extension cord and power supply, and the room for all the seed-starting supplies for several months. None of the items are expensive, but more is needed to start seeds than transplanting starts. In this case, starts require far less equipment.
Seeds 2, Starts 1
How Easy Is It?
Which one is more complicated? This category is an easy win for starts. With them, you purchase them, bring them home, and when the soil and weather are right, plant them in your garden. Once they’re in the ground, it’s the same as starting from seed. You do need to be careful when picking your starts, but most of the hard work has already been done when you buy the start.
Seeds, meanwhile, can be complicated. You have to track a lot of information, including how long each seed takes to germinate, how resistant to frost each is, and whether a seed can be directly sown or needs to be started indoors. This information helps you know when the seeds should be started. With that information, you then need to go through the process of actually starting the seeds. You have to prep your starting cells, choose the proper starting mix, and sow the seeds at the proper depth. After the seeds have germinated, the seedlings will need to be thinned so that plants aren’t competing for nutrients in the same space. A lot of the seedlings will also need to be transplanted into a larger cell before eventually being moved into your garden. It is quite a bit of work and typically requires daily monitoring. As you can tell, starts are much easier.
Seeds 2, Starts 2
Time Commitment
This is connected to how easy each is, but I wanted to touch on how much of a time commitment they are. We’ll go over starts first. The most time-consuming part of transplanting starts is going to the greenhouse and buying them. Traveling to the greenhouse and walking around all the tables is a time commitment, but it is nothing compared to seed-starting.
Starting seeds can take months when you factor in the time it takes to look through catalogs and wait for the seeds to arrive. Peppers are a perfect example of how long seed-starting can take. Because they take a long time to grow, need hot weather to mature, and won’t survive a frost, they should be started up to 10 weeks before the last frost. Around here, that date is May 15, so they can be started now. That is a major time investment and requires a lot of planning.
Starts will win this category, but to be honest, a time aspect of transplants that I’m not a fan of is how long you have to wait to buy them. A pepper start shouldn’t be purchased until after the last frost, and waiting that long makes me nervous. What if the greenhouse doesn’t have the variety you want?
Seeds 2, Starts 3
Control
This category is a bit weird, but I like knowing everything I can about the plants I’m growing. With starts, you don’t have control over how they were started as seeds. That means not having knowledge of the starting mix that was used or if the plant was transplanted before, and if it was, did it experience any root shock? If you’re interested in seed-saving, has the plant been isolated to avoid cross-pollination? That level of control may not be important to some, but I value it.
I like the peace of mind that comes with knowing that our starting mix has proper drainage, that the seedlings are always in the proper cells, and that the strongest plants are kept when thinning them out. I also like being able to transplant the young plants into the garden after a hardening-off process and when they’re smaller than you find at a greenhouse. When plants are younger, there is a reduced risk of root shock when transplanting. Therefore, I’m giving this category to seeds.
Seeds 3, Starts 3
Do What Is Best for You
I have to admit, I was surprised by how this post progressed. I fully anticipated at the start that this would be an easy win for seeds and that I’d be looking for ways to make it more even. Instead, it ended in a draw based on the number of categories each won. I still give seeds the edge because I place more value on the categories they won, though. I think cost, variety, and the peace of mind that comes with seeing the process through from sowing to harvesting are more important than how easy it is to buy starts.
Choosing between seeds and starts is a personal preference. If you’re just starting out and unsure if you want to invest in seed-starting equipment, transplants are a great option. However, if you want to grow heirloom varieties and are confident you’ll want to garden on an annual basis, seeds are the best bet. You can also buy a combination of seeds and starts. My dad has done that for years. Do you have a preference between seeds and starts? I’d love to hear from you.
One Rabbit Riot 