In this video I’m going to show you how to get free plants for your organic vegetable garden. It’s 100% legal!
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Hey Guys, I’m Brian from Next Level Gardening
Welcome to our online community! A place to be educated, inspired and hopefully entertained at the same time! A place where you can learn to grow your own food and become a better organic gardener. At the same time, a place to grow the beauty around you and stretch that imagination (that sometimes lies dormant, deep inside) through gardening.
I’m so glad you’re here!
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37 Comments
After growing tomatoes from seed for years, this year I bought 3 transplants at around $3-5 each, because I only need 3 plants this year. It makes no sense to grow from seed and then have way too many. But I was growing basil from seed ( I need lots of basil) and it all looked so sickly,I bought a single transplant and it cost $7! It sort of depends on if you want something a bit unusual that you cant find at the garden center and how many plants you want.
WAN! My favorite nursery. While I mainly start from seed I feel no shame in substituting w plants from WAN or another local nursery for the reasons you stated. I just got 3 bell pepper plants in 1 pot for $5. My starts failed and I did not want to wait 8 weeks for new plants.
Thanks for all that you teach and encourage us to do.
I personally don't pay attention to what YouTube gardeners say on opinions. After gardening for over 35 years, I have my own opinions. I start seeds and pick up things at our local greenhouse. More seeds than starts. Whatever I need, depending on the weather as well. I watch others for new ideas and techniques 😊.
I’m better off not doing seeds. I have better luck buying the bigger starters because they can withstand the heat and become more established faster. It’s the same for annuals, perennials and vegetables.
Prices are getting ridiculous. Unfortunately when I visit my local Summer Winds Nursery I walk out buying beautiful new plants. I grow many of my plants from seeds now because I have an acre to plant and retail is beyond my budget! I did buy an over priced vining plant. I found the one with the longest vines then cut them up and got 11 new plants even though they are small. But plants grow in no time!!!!
You need to shave, that Hitler stache is kinda distracting….
When I saw the price of the transplants at the box store, I can't afford to pay those prices. I'll take a hit before I pay for a starter.
Somtimes I see varieties that I've wanted to grow at the big box store. It's a way to save th investment of starting 6 plants by seed, then learning that particular plant isn't suitable for your climate. I see nothing wrong with having big box transplants in your garden, but I prefer to start my own seeds.
John McHatton
I generally start everything from seed directly in the garden, with the exception of tomatoes and peppers. This year I thought I’d try starting them from seed in the greenhouse. Well, I ended up at the nursery buying transplants. When the seeds were ready to go into the ground, the garden wasn’t ready. The seeds languished in my greenhouse and didn’t do well when finally transplanted into the garden. I’ve never noticed any shame in this area about buying transplants. Guess with our short growing season and unpredictable weather people are a bit more forgiving.
Only grow the few things I eat the most, and I don’t enjoy starting seeds! I do look for multiple seedlings per container if I can’t find six packs
Great Advice!!
I'm glad you pointed out that you can buy a head of organic lettuce ready to eat from the store for less than one plant costs you. I refuse to buy Bonnie plants. Their prices are ridiculous!
I just noticed- you are over a mil subscribers!!! Congrats!
Another great video. Thank you! … Another "trick" (if you will), is with tomato plants. A shoot (a.k.a. "sucker") if left to mature just a little while on the plant, can be rooted. So you can produce many tomato plants out of a single store-bought plant by havesting the shoots ("suckers"), rooting them, and cultivating them. Lotsa ways to maximize one's $.
Thank you Brian for the great suggestions. I have seen some you tubers totally diss transplants. I usually grow just from seeds yet my marigolds aren't germinating. I'm going Monday to get some from a garden center.
I always look for the ones they forgot to thin out😊
I got 4 pickling cucumbers for the price of one this year!
I've found that it doesn't matter separating the roots. I just find the sweet spot and rip them apart. Just make sure that you include some micro nutrients and some of the excess pot soil. They always do fine and thrive.👍🏻 unless squirrels get them😂
Some of us don't have the space to grow from seed.
Fortunately, there are enough nursery's where I live that they run specials. Growing everything by seeds for my family is harder because I don't have space to grow them. The past two years I have been lucky we have had a neighbor that grows many plants and gives them away. I lost a job and have had hip surgery therefore, again that got in the way of my growing seeds. We were gifted 6 tomato plants and 6 pepper plants. The rest I bought at $1.99 a 6 pack.
If you live in a coastal area, the best most disease-free transplants will be from the inland nurseries. I had to learn the hard way last year – SoCal 10b and every single tomato plant I bought from the nurseries near me had leaf spot before I even knew what it was!
Is there a trick to growing healthy basil? I've bought a couple of transplants & can't even keep them alive let alone starting from seeds.
I didnt get any seeds planted this apring. I'd heard we were having an early, warm spring so i thought I'd just direct sow everything. Ha! Cold cold cold. Tomatoes from the garden center finally got in the ground last week. Other seeds just germinating.
Hoping for a long growing season on the other end.
❤🌱❤
i got that vibe from some garden communities. however, i never cared about their opinion. i dont have all the room for starting seeds. i start a few. some plants, like ground cherries, i cant get around here. fortunately i have several nurseries to get plants. i can get plants for a decent price. but sometimes, i only need one plant or those nurseries dont have what i want. i go to big box stores. do what works for you.
This video was posted last year.
You’ve never shared where you get all your seeds.
Home Depot was selling 4" tomatoes for $.98. I do both seeds and transplants. I had 3 Habanero pepper plants in one pot. Separated and all are doing great.
1:30 Honestly, I've always put the pressure to grow from seed on myself–nobody on YT has made me feel that way. I also get half credit if I grow from cuttings. (Bonus points if I produced the seeds myself. lol) 😉😊
Yep, I always count how many seedlings there are in a tray. Scored 10 strawberry seedlings for the price of 6 a few weeks ago. It was like a lottery win!
Teased them out, put them in separate net cups (I do hydro). Checked on them the other day, all putting on new growth (in greenhouse) even though we are end of season.
I rescue the sad and ugly clearance plants. A little love and patience and everything is thriving
I did the math with strawberry starts and it was cheaper to buy the “hanging basket” with multiple plants in it that I could split vs buying separately
I am so glad you said something about this. I do start some seeds because there are certain things that the market or the stores won’t have and I don’t feel bad. I just don’t have the time but I love gardening people need to do is best for them. I do thank you for this video.
I grow a lot of my veggies and flowers from seeds I harvested from the previous season. I'm frugal.😂 I gave my best friend seeds, she was so busy with work she didn't get any started and was so stressed and panicky, I told😮 her: "go buy some seedlings, don't stress over it. There's always next year."
Im definitely not too good for a transplant but I cant justify $6 a plant from Bonnie. I dont think anyone cares that much what im doing in my own garden. Im not sharing with them, anyway. 💁♀️
I like to "rescue" discount transplants. Last year one of my $1 rescues was a yellow squash and I think it was grateful because it absolutely popped off.
I refuse to start lettuce from seed. I can get a dozen lettuce plants in a punnet for less than $5AUD and because we pick the leaves rather than heads we get so much from each plant.
I had terrible issues with my soil starting mix this year! Never using coir again. My propensity to start waaaay too many seeds and save every seedling paid off at least and I was still able to plant a garden from seed with the ones that survived. But then a certain someone broke one of my two tomatillos and one type of tomato and a couple herbs just didn’t make it🤦♀️ guess I’m headed to get some transplants!
The best way to get seeds/plants is to join or start a gardening group in your area. Members list what they have or want & then trade with other members. Seeds & plants that come from your own area are always going to do better because they are acclimated to your climate, unlike those from a big-box store that come from – who knows where.
Isn’t that why you loosen the root ball? To provide the roots room to spread out?
Even if you do buy the plants,your keeping them alive. You are getting produce from them and saving money in the grocery store. I plant seeds for most of my garden and buy the plants that I have trouble growing from seeds. I have no guilt. I have a food supply.
this year i did 29 tomato's and 39 cumbers from seeds. all are doing well 4 foot or better. but! i worried alot about them as they grew up. my safety net was i could get new one's at the box store if i failed and still keep up with the season. so i get what your saying. nice to know i have a backup plan. thank you. LonnieRay