Transplanting Seedlings vs. Direct-Sowing in Garden
When is it best to sow seeds indoors for transplanting outdoors later, and when is it best to sow them directly into the ground? Some crops grow better when started one way or the other. Sometimes, the weather, or even your equipment, will make all the difference. Here’s my list of pros and cons for both planting methods, based on my nearly three decades of experience growing vegetables in central Virginia.
Transplanting
Pros: When you germinate seeds indoors, you get an earlier start on the season, and that means an earlier harvest. New seedlings are easier to care for indoors during cold, wet springs. You can delay transplanting until outdoor conditions are more favorable; simply move the plants into bigger pots if needed.
By growing transplants indoors, with good planning, you can fit more successions of crops into a bed during the outdoor growing season. You’ll save on seed costs, because you won’t be thinning seedlings. At transplant time, you can select only the sturdiest plants and compost the rest, giving you the best chance of good yields. Transplanting works well with plastic mulch for weed control and with no-till cover crops: Transplant into the mown cover crop, and the dead mulch it creates will keep weeds at bay for 6 to 8 weeks—and even longer in cool, dry climates. Finally, if you own a greenhouse, you’ll be growing transplants in ideal conditions.
Starting seeds indoors earlier in the season means more work for you, because the starts won’t get water unless you provide it. Be sure to check
