Should I Start My Seeds Indoors or Out?

When you’re just starting out in gardening, you may have a lot of questions. One question I had to figure out early on was whether to start my seeds indoors or out. There are pros and cons to both options and the answer may vary depending on which kinds of plants you want to grow in your garden. Let’s take a look.

Why to Start Seeds Indoors

1. It can extend your growing season. If you live in a place with a shorter growing season, starting seeds indoors can give longer season plants the head start they need to get to maturity before the end of your growing season.
2. It can provide more consistent sprouting conditions. Some seeds need very specific conditions to sprout well. Certain soil temperatures, moisture, or light levels may be key to giving them their best start. Starting those seeds indoors allows you to control your growing conditions more easily. It can significantly improve your germination rate and give you stronger, healthier seedlings to transplant.
3. It can protect your sprouts from garden pests and weather. Starting your seeds indoors keeps them out of reach of seed stealing rodents and birds and can protect seedlings from insects or unseasonable frost or storms. You can even time your transplanting to avoid the peak times for certain garden pests like squash bugs, keeping your plants out of harms way.

Plants I always start indoors: onions (from seed), tomatoes, peppers, cabbage

Why to Start Seeds Outdoors

1. It takes less space to grow large numbers of plants. If you have a big garden planned, it can take a lot of warm, well-lighted space indoors to start a bunch of seeds. For plants that can tolerate starting outdoors, you can save seed-starting space by planting those seeds directly outside when possible.
2. It can be faster than transplanting. You eliminate steps by planting directly outside and not having to transplant seedlings. This can be key for thickly seeded plants like leaf lettuce or other salad greens. Also, transplanting can set your plants back as they recover from having their roots disturbed. Plants you start outside don’t have to go through that “transplant shock” and can put all their energy into growing, so they can get to harvest faster.
3. Some plants don’t transplant well. Plants with extensive root systems, some climbing plants, grains, and some herbs don’t transplant well. Carrots will split and form strange shapes if you damage the delicate roots by transplanting seedlings. Peas pop up out of the ground and start climbing so fast that you don’t want them anywhere but in their final garden location. Other plants just don’t recover from transplant shock well and the benefits of starting early don’t outweigh the setback of transplanting.

Plants I always start outdoors: peas, lettuce and salad greens, corn, root vegetables

Things To Think About

Deciding which plants to start indoors might take you a few growing seasons to figure out. Depending on what you want to grow and how much indoor seed starting space you have, you may make changes from year to year. I always suggest starting small, so you might be able to start almost everything indoors when you’re first getting the hang of gardening. But as your garden grows, you may decide to start more seeds outside to make it easier and faster to grow certain crops.

There are ways to mimic the benefits of indoor seed starting outdoors. You can use “cloches” or mini-greenhouses placed directly over seeds started outside. I’ve had good luck using plastic salad bins to cover my melon seeds planted outside. The greenhouse-like environment lets me start my seeds outside earlier and gives me better sprouting and faster growth. I just take the covers off when the plants start to grow rapidly once the weather warms up.

Whether you’re starting your seeds indoors or out, the most important thing is to take action and start some seeds. Just do it!

If you’re ready to start some seeds indoors, check out my post on How to Make Your Own Seed-Starting Mix.

Want to keep your plants healthy indoors or out? Check out Mission: Healthy Plants, a 3-day crash course in basic plant care to keep your plants thriving all the way to harvest.