By far, the biggest lesson I’ve learned this year whilst starting to grow as much edible food as possible, is that growing from seed is best. It’s cheaper, more reliable and more satisfying than growing from plugs. I know I keep on banging on about this but I’ve been so very disappointed by the quality of the seedlings I’ve bought. They’ve all come by post and many of them haven’t been sent by courier so a lot of the time, what actually arrives here is an anaemic, wimpy looking seedling with slightly shredded leaves. The difference between these pale and hunched over seedlings and the ones that I grew myself from seed is really obvious. I recently planted three courgette seedlings. They’re “Patio star” courgettes, a variety I’ve had success from before when growing from seed, but they look absolutely puny. I don’t have a huge amount of hope for these but as it’s late May already I think it’s too late to start from seed if I want a decent crop. It just goes to show, laziness doesn’t pay! I’ll do the best I can with these seedlings this year but next year it’s seeds all the way.
London to Land Girl 