To sow or not to sow

Having lots of growing options can be bewildering. If you can’t decide between seeds, plugs or plants, Bob can help

- Bob Flowerdew

WHEN I started gardening, you could usually only find seeds, sets, and sometimes cabbage plants and bedding in trays. Times change, and we have almost every vegetable, bedding plant, and choice perennial sold as plantlets growing in modules of varying size and number. Many are available at local garden centers, and there’s even more variety online than delivered to your door. Indeed, there seem too many options…

Naturally, traditional packets of seed usually work out the least expensive per plant. But not so if you only wanted a couple. Then buying those plants may also save you time, heat, and space. On the other hand a few vegetables, mostly

“Packets usually work out cheapest per plant” root crops such as carrots, really have to be sown directly where they are to grow.