Planting from seeds

[Charli1]

If you plant from seeds, do you start them out in a container or plant the seed in the ground? I'm going to do it both ways to see which ones grow better in my garden.

 

[Farmallh]

Great idea! We do both as well (for our family garden). My wife likes to start seeds in egg cartons. We have had great luck with this. Let us know how they do!

 

[Wildlife]

Also do the same and little help from UV light.

 

[Snow Farmer]

Wife starts all the greenhouse veggies in trays on portable wooden shelves in our living room late Feb & early March.
Outdoor garden seeds are planted first week of June, best chance of avoiding a late frost

 

[Charli1]

We have a general rule that we plant nothing before Mothers day. We've been pretty lucky with beating the frost. Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[jjp8182]

Done both. Starting indoors can mean getting an earlier start (and earlier harvest),but it's not without challenges. ...and may be the only way to go with plants that are well out of their native region.

Planting seeds directly in ground/containers is easier (no need to transplant),but it means waiting for the weather to cooperate and means the plants may not be as resistant to hungry pests looking for new/young plants in the early spring.

 

[Charli1]

Wait, you can plant things that are out of your native area? How would they grow? I mean your soil is your soil, right? Unless you're buying soil, that would make sense.

 

[jjp8182]

Wait, you can plant things that are out of your native area? How would they grow? I mean your soil is your soil, right? Unless you're buying soil, that would make sense.

It's really not as strange as it may initially seem considering where tomatoes were natively grown originally (the tropics if I recall correctly),prior to the vast and long lasting domestication and selective breeding that gives us the modern tomatoes that can be successfully grown in much of the world.

I generally have had good luck with cayenne peppers (which are native to the tropics) as an annual in northern Alabama clay/loam (where I'm right on the northern edge of the sub-tropics).

While I can and (have) plant from seeds directly into the ground, it tends to greatly reduce the time I can harvest. Where if I plant indoors earlier in the year and then transplant once it's warm enough I can/have harvested more peppers per plant with more blossom/fruiting cycles.

Still working to iron out my processes, but having harvested multiple gallons from 6 pepper plants that started as seedlings (which were transplanted into containers) I know the weather will permit me to get very large harvests per plant over multiple fruiting cycles during the summer/early fall. I just need to be able to take advantage of artificially extending the growing season. Preferably by starting seeds indoors instead of losing time by directly planting them in the ground after the soil has gotten warm enough to directly seed them into the ground.

So not as huge of a difference in climates as growing fruit citrus trees in the Austrian mountains (Holzer Fruit Tree System (Sepp Holzer forum at permies) ),but still enough that the extra growing time (or lack there of) can make a noticeable difference.

Of course growing something from a hotter climate in a colder climate is one thing, where growing something from a colder climate in a hotter one is (potentially) a bit more of a challenge. One I haven't really attempted (yet),but as much as I'm started to miss having certain varieties of fruits (varieties of apples being one) I may try it at some point.

 

[Desi]

That is very interesting and I didn't know you could do that either. Like you said, growing warmer weather items in a colder zone just doesn't seem like it would work.
We do start a lot in containers, in the house. We transplant them when the weather breaks (no more frosts at night).

 

[Charli1]

I now want to try to grow exotic plants! I didn't realize you could do that either. Wish me luck!! I think we will start some other veggies early in the house too. I like the idea of more vegetables!