Should you plant seeds or starter plants in your vegetable garden?

The answer is both! Now is the time to start thinking about next years garden and ordering your seeds. Starter plants can be purchased later at your local garden store in the spring. My favorite place to order seeds is Burpee Seeds Company. They have a limited quantity of seeds and starter plants , so now is the time to order to ensure you get the vegetable selection you want. Plus, they are offering a 20% discount on orders of $60 from now until June (discount code 2BSCB21)

The first consideration is to purchase seeds or seedlings for vegetables that you love! Growing the perfect zucchini is great, but if you do not like to eat zucchini what is the prize for you after all of your hard work? Make a list of your favorite veggies and then read on.

Vegetable plants to grow from seeds

Some vegetable plants are quick growing and have fragile root systems. These vegetable plants grow best from seeds. Here is a short list of some common plants that grow best when direct seeded in the ground or containers outside in the spring. Some need to be planted in early spring and others will need to be planted later in spring after the danger of frost. I am including my favorite varieties from Burpee with affiliate links.

EARLY SPRING SEEDS

Lettuce Heatwave blend lettuce

Radishes Perfecto radish

Peas My favorites: Burpeeana Early Pea (English peas not edible pods) Sugar snap peas Little snap Pea Crunch

Carrots (still searching for a winner in this category)

Beets Early Wonder Organic

Spinach Double Choice Hybrid

LATE SPRING SEEDS

Green Beans Bean, Bush, Blue Lake 274

Cucumbers Bragger Hybrid Cucumber

Zucchini Burpee’s Best Hybrid

Vegetable plants to grow from starter plants

While growing plants from seeds is the most cost-effective way to garden, many plants that we love to grow in the vegetable garden in the mid-Atlantic area need to be started indoors in late March because of the length of the growing season.  If you are like me, and don’t want to mess with starting seeds indoors 6 weeks before planting time (usually mother’s day in this area) then you will want to purchase the starter plants. Purchasing the plants locally in the spring will provide only limited varieties of plants.

If you are doing container gardening you should check out the Burpee seeds Company selection of bush variety plants to preorder now and they will deliver the plants in late April for the mid-Atlantic growing zone 7. Their mix and match option allows you to try several different varieties of plants without having to purchase multiples of the same thing. There are limited quantities of these starter plants, so now is the time to order to ensure you get the vegetable selection you want. Below are a few common vegetable plants to purchase as starter plants.

SPRING STARTER PLANTS

Herbs

Eggplant

Peppers

Tomatoes

Melons

FALL STARTER PLANTS

Broccoli

Brussel sprouts

Cabbage

Cauliflower