Do you really need to plant seeds?

W e live in a world in which it’s easy to simply go out and buy what we need, ready to use. Consider food, for instance. If you wanted to, you’d never have to cook a meal or even make a sandwich again. From coffee and eggs, to hoagies and smoothies, restaurant take-out, pizza, and ready-to-eat foods from Wegmans or Whole Foods, it couldn’t be easier.

This kind of convenience has even made it to the backyard vegetable garden. There’s no need to plant seeds; you can wait until the growing season has arrived and then go to your local garden center to buy plants ready to put into the ground.

Not too many years ago, the only vegetable plants nurseries stocked were the ones that require a long period of hot weather (like tomatoes), or the ones that need to go into the ground early (like broccoli). Now you can find everything, including cucumbers (originally thought too fragile to be transplanted) and lettuce (no more fiddling with tiny seeds). Some companies will even ship you live plants. So much less work! With this kind of convenience, is there any reason to grow from seed anymore? Absolutely.

One of my friends makes a lot of her own clothes. She doesn’t do this to save money; she does it because she loves nice clothes. Alice used to be a clothing designer, so she knows how to create a pattern. She also has an eye for really nice fabric. The result is that whatever she makes is the perfect color for her, is unique, and fits perfectly. The results are stunning.

In the same way, when you grow from seed you have the opportunity to grow exactly what you want. I don’t mean the choice of growing either green beans or wax beans – or both – or whether you want to grow plum or beefsteak tomatoes. I mean that you get to grow vegetables used in your favorite cuisines. You get to pick the peppers with the perfect amount of heat for your palate. You get to grow seedless tomatoes if you wear dentures or suffer from colitis. In other words, you get to tailor your foods to match your tastes and your needs.

A lot depends on what your goals are. If you want the most choices possible, grow your own from seed. It also depends on what kind of a planner you are. For instance, if you want to grow tomato, pepper and/or eggplant varieties you’ll need to know in January or February what kinds you want and order them. That’s because you’ll need to start those seeds indoors at the end of March. And seedlings take care. They’ll need enough light and nourishment to give them the best head start. They’ll also need a period of “hardening off” before transplanting, where they go outside for a few hours a day to get adjusted to the new conditions. It’s like arranging for a new babysitter to come to the house a few times while you’re at home, to get your little ones accustomed to the new person before you go out for a whole evening.

If this sounds like too much or if you’re just too busy, by all means buy plants ready to go in the ground. However, you may not be saving that much. I personally find planting seeds to be less time consuming than transplanting. And the plants have the benefit of growing where they were planted; they don’t have to recover from transplant shock. Of course, you can do both: buy plants of the varieties you need to and grow the rest from seed.

One other reason to start your own seeds? The sheer joy of watching them emerge from the soil and put out their first set of true leaves. Magic!

Pam Baxter is an avid organic vegetable gardener who lives in Kimberton. Direct e-mail to pamelacbaxter@gmail.com, or send mail to P.O. Box 80, Kimberton, PA 19442. Share your gardening stories on Facebook at “Chester County Roots.” Pam’s book for children and families: Big Life Lessons from Nature’s Little Secrets is available on Amazon, along with her new companion journal, You, the Explorer, at Amazon.com/ author/pamelabaxter.