Gardners Guide: Pros and Cons of Growing Plants from Seed

Its getting time start your gardens. If you are an experienced gardener then you have probably grown plants from seeds. But if you are new to gardening then you may not have any experience growing from seeds. However you do have one other options and that is to buy plants that are already started. Even experienced gardeners though may prefer to buy plants that are already started or live as they are commonly called. Growing from seeds or growing live plants that have already started both have pros and cons. If you are wanting to start a garden then knowing the pros and cons of growing from seeds is worthwhile. To find out what the advantages and disadvantages of growing from seeds then keep reading.

The one clear advantage to growing from seeds is that they are cheaper. You can often find seeds for as cheap as .20 for a packet. Fancier seeds may cost more. When buying seeds you often get many seeds at once compared to a singe plant. You could get lots of plants from one cheap packet of seed. If you are getting lots of seeds you can buy them online from online nurseries or on sites like ebay. You will have to pay for shipping but often the shipping is either one flat rate for all the seeds you buy or it is only a small amount more for each seed package.

Buying seeds will give you more plant choices. If you buy live plants locally you will be limited in what you can find unless you go to a nursery and even a nursery will not have as many choices of plants as the selection of seeds you can get online.

Many plants you can not even buy as live plants. Some plants you can not buy live plants because they are to rare. Some plants you can not get live because they are grow so quickly and easily. Most cucurbits such as pumpkins and watermelons are not sold as live plants. Radish's also grow to quickly to find them for sale as live plants.

There are some downsides to growing plants from seed though. Growing from seeds will take you longer. Growing from seed can be harder. In some kinds of plants germination rates from seed may be very low and take almost a year. However most plants do not have such extremes in terms of germination rates. Even normal plants though have at best a 95% chance of sprouting. Most plants at least have a 80% germination rate. You can improve the chances of growth with seeds if you allow the seeds to germinating by seed starting before planting.

Obviously you have to weigh the downside of growing from seed and growing live. Seed is cheaper but it will take longer and is often tougher. You do have to pay for convince of live plants though. For some plants seeds will be your only choice. Even if you do not grow from seeds you can save seeds from your current plants and try to grow seeds later once you have gained more gardening experience. You can also always start out with simple easy to grow plants from seeds such as radish, bean, or pumpkin and the next year if you are successful grow harder plants from seed.

Growing from seed may be harder but for many gardeners it is more rewarding. You will have more choice when growing from seed and with lower prices may be able to experiment with more kinds of plants.