Vegetable Seed Starting

It may seem like a lot of work to start your vegetables indoors from seed. It can also seem complicated or even impossible if you’ve never attempted it before but I promise that it is none of those things. In fact starting your vegetables from seed can be a really fun experience and there are plenty of good reasons to start your vegetables indoors. When you start your vegetables indoors you typically gain at least a month if not more worth of growing time while your climate heats up and your soil thaws. This can also make a big difference if you live in a climate where the summers get really hot because then you can start plants that enjoy cooler weather a bit earlier and have a good crop of those along with your vegetables that enjoy the heat. This also applies to places with short summers because your plants will be more mature and they’ll get into the ground a bit sooner which means you can harvest a bit earlier before and cold weather returns and damages your crop.

One of the best reasons to start your vegetables from seed is because of the greater options you have. You won’t be stuck dealing with just what your local nursery has to offer or what you can find in a garden supply store. You’ll be able to ship seeds from anywhere that you want which lets you try out new varieties of your favorite vegetables. This can be a lot of fun especially if your used to just using the generic plants from local gardening stores. Try out some new seeds and if you don’t end up liking them you don’t have to worry because the cost of seeds is so low - you might even be able to trade them with a friend for some seeds you’ll like better.

It’s also a lot less expensive to start your plants from seed than it is to buy them all if you’re doing a larger garden. Plus if you learn to harvest and collect seeds you won’t have to spend money next year buying seeds and you’ll be able to create your own unique varieties of your plants as well as save seeds from any heirlooms that you want to continue growing. In the long run you can save quite a fair amount of money by having started you plants from seed, not just because you didn’t have to buy more expensive baby plants but also because when you begin to gather and store your own seeds you won’t have to replace plants each year (which can become very expensive over the long run) but your seeds can also become a valuable tool for you. Eventually you could begin to sell your seeds, trade them with other gardeners for their seeds or other gardening supplies, and if you get good enough you could even begin to start growing some young plants of your own and selling them to keep up with the cost of maintaing your garden.

It is slightly less time consuming to simply buy younger plants instead of seeds but your garden is something you should enjoy and have fun with so take a little extra time to start your plants from seed and enjoy the benefits of saving money and having more time to grow your plants.