How does your garden grow?

WOW...I'm first!

I find starting seeds really enjoyable. But, I do sometimes buy larger plants.

This message was edited Sep 17, 2007 5:13 AM

I sorta do all of whats on the list............. so i chose other!!

It depends on the plant. I usually buy perennials when I see nice specimens in stores because I know I'll have them in my garden for a while. Annuals I'll grow from seed because they are temporary and I dont want to spend money on a one season flower.

The only exception is Coleus which I'll spend my last dollar for and I overwinter those indoors. I have also started harvesting and trading seeds which gives me a bigger variety and cuts down on cost. With the seeds available I am less likely to buy a large plant.

I also do all that's on the list so I chose other too. My favorite would be going for the instant gratification and buying a big plant, but if I always did that we would be seriously in debt, lol!

I start a lot of annuals in the greenhouse. I like to plant lots of them to put on a good color show.
Perennials are a different deal. I plant whatever I can get a hold of. Round Up's have been providing lots of new things at no cost. Saturday I got numerous Bearded Iris & other goodies, including a couple of Clematis vines.

Shrubs, I buy late in the season when they are on closeout. I got a bunch this fall for $2 & $3 each!

Bernie

Beautiful Bernie!

We grow our gardens by all of the above methods, so I also chose 'other'.

O also tend to use every method mentioned so I picked other. It depends on what is available and what catches my eye at any particular moment. I have mostly perennials at this point and will try to do seeds when I have the room and the know how to get them started with out dying off.

I read through all of them without checking the results first. I do all of the above depending on the plant. It would be interesting to see a landscape started entirely by seeds.

Now that would be aaaahhhhh ambitious? To say the least. At least in MHO

I voted other. as I do most of the above. Don't go for the instant gratification though. That is a little more expensive. If I nurture the little seedlings through maturity, I have a little of my work, in the garden.

Other ~ because I couldn't click all of them ~lol I did try...

I like to buy a large blooming annual or perennial ~ that is instant gratification and provides seeds for the coming season so that covers starting and nurturing seeds.
Have had good luck this year buying them off the marked down shelf too.

Friends give me cuttings so I get starts of new and different plants.

I also impulse buy if I see a magnificent plant in the GH/GC that I just "can't live without"!

Yep, all of the above. pod

Absolutely ~all of the above~.

Makes us sound ambivalent ~ always wanting to check an all of the above... lol

I like raising the "babies". I do buy a few plants each spring. But mostly I like to watch them grow from tiny seeds to robust mature plants. It's a joy to go out each morning and check on them. I'm always delighted when the first seeds begin to sprout.

The trouble with buying the largest possible plant is that its potential is gone. Buying a plant at the peak of bloom, as the nurseries are always offering, is to watch it begin to fade as soon as it goes into the ground, perhaps to repeat the display next year, perhaps not.

I want to buy a young plant with all its potential intact, to open up as I watch.

I voted for "other" because I like to do all these things! Grow from seeds, take cuttings to root new plants, baby little sprouts ... and yes, if I see a large plant that I just can't resist, I will more than likely buy it!

Looks like there should have been an "all of the above" choice. That's also why I voted other. I bought a large hanging basket (cheap) of New Guinea Impatiens and took cuttings for various places in the yard far cheaper than if I had bought plants. Also start seeds each year, but not too many as I don't have enough space for the seedlings and they get leggy. It can be early May or later before I can leave them outside.

All of the above here too... LOL

We try to get the largest trees we can afford since our little lemon tree was stolen right out of the ground! It was actually pretty funny, you could follow the dirt trail out to the street and then there was a pile of dirt where they shook it off before they put it in their car! Some wonderful DG'ers sent me some seeds so I'm also trying that for the first time.
Wish me luck!

Two of the above... seeds and seedlings; though I'm not a stranger to any of them.

I not only adopt cutting but also nurture seedlings I have and that neighbors give me. And of course, order young plants online and hit the local HD or Lowe's regularly when weather permits.

looks like Dave really needs to add the selection all of the above.

I do all of the above except the first one. I guess what I do the most is the third one.

Well, cececoogan:

We could always vote more than once, don't ya think?

LOL!!

Hmmm. can you do that? lol

"Other" encompasses all of the above. It takes time to see our garden grow. For instant gratification, I go for the colorful annuals, and the already mature flowering/fruits of the tropics. ~ weighing in the mixed curses/blessing of caring for them in the winter months. Perennials, it takes time planning, and patience to learn of their cultures and shade/sun condition that suites them best. And those that are most pleasing to the senses.

I do some of all. I mostly start seeds in my kitchen in Feb. and just watch them grow.

I do all of the above except big plants. So it was hard to choose just one...
Christie

I get the most joy from growing something from a seed....next from cuttings (hopefully from someone I love.....then it is always Emm's geranium....or Maria's grape)......then there is "saving" the unwanted..
and bringing it back to life!
Last the "formal" large plants I buy ....usually for a special time like the birth of a grand child......or when someone I love passes on (a rememberance plant).
See my grass tree bought home to me "dead" from the tip!...it has been happily alive for many years now!

cuttings and seeds...I have a mini nursery. The neighbors look at me strangely when I roll out these huge plants I have ready to go!...Starting plants to overwinter in green house now.
This year was the least amount of money ever spent at a nursery

Chrissy,
Bananna's peels for source of nitrogen for your plants? Go girl!

I do all on the list plus well I'll buy any size if It's what I want. You want to give or swap I'm there. Grow by seeds-The only way to go for a lot of varieties.

All of the above for sure.
I even jump start my garden by beginning in mt basement in January.
Ill give em a little GA-3 to get em going if they need it.

I prefer to buy my plants (although I do start some rare/unusual stuff from seed when I can't find plants), but I always look for the smallest pot possible. 4" pots are my friends (even for shrubs!). It's cheaper that way, plus I hate digging holes to plant those big 15 gal things. Although if there's a plant that I want, I'll buy it in whatever size it comes in, a lot of the stuff I like is a little more unusual so there's not too much choice on what size it comes in.

I like to grow plants from seeds but I also will buy plants and flowers and plant them in my garden.

I do all the above, especially, when buying daylillies at nurseries i visit. I do however, enjoy growing plants from seed and watching them grow into huge beautiful blooming plants though.

Another thing i love to do and it wasnt an option is trade with other gardeners, that way 2 people get to enjoy their day just a lil bit more when the package comes!

Me too...all of the above. I tend to buy the biggest shrubs and trees I can afford. I buy perennials in small pots, although I'm going to try starting some from seed this winter, and I happily accept the occasional cutting from a friend. I used to buy annuals but I hated spending $ on a plant that would last one year, so now I mostly start them from seed.

pam

A number of years ago I started hundreds of perennials from seed. I put them in 3½" pots & sold for $2.00 at Farmers Market. Sold lots of them! It's been long enough, I think I will try that again this spring.
Bernie