Growing vegetables from seed
Vegetables from seed is the cheapest way to fill a plot, raised bed or balcony. One packet gives far more plants than a garden-centre tray, and the choice is enormously wider.
Cool-season or warm-season?
This is the division that matters, because it decides when and where you sow.
Type | Character | Examples |
|---|---|---|
Cool-season | Germinates in cooler soil, shrugs off light frost, sow direct outdoors | Pea, carrot, lettuce, radish |
Warm-season | Needs heat, start indoors and plant out after the frost | Tomato, pepper, cucumber, pumpkin |
Grow some of each and you get an early harvest as well as a long summer one.
Sowing
Warm-season crops — tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), pepper (Capsicum annuum) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus) — are started indoors from February at 18–22 °C. Germination usually takes 7 to 21 days.
Hardy root vegetables such as carrot and radish, and peas, are best sown direct where they are to grow: they resent root disturbance.
Sow thinly. Overcrowding produces weak, leggy seedlings. Cover seed to about its own depth and press fine seed lightly onto the surface.
Easy to begin with
- Radish — the fastest of all, ready to pull in a few weeks
- Lettuce — sow a short row every few weeks and pick leaves as you need them
- Pea — easy from a direct sowing, and sweet straight from the pod
- Tomato — start indoors for the most rewarding crop of summer
- Carrot — direct-sow and keep thinning for straight, sweet roots
Where
Most vegetables want at least six hours of sun and free-draining soil.
In pots and containers on a balcony or patio, compact varieties crop all season. In a kitchen-garden bed, give fruiting crops a warm, sheltered spot and root vegetables deep, stone-free soil.
Care
Factor | What to do |
|---|---|
Light | six hours of sun or more for most crops |
Water | deep and regular, especially as fruits and roots swell |
Feed | feed fruiting crops once they flower |
Protect | netting or fleece against slugs, birds and cabbage whites |
Uneven watering is what causes split tomatoes and bolted lettuce. Deep and regular beats a daily splash.
Keeping the harvest going
Sow a short row every few weeks — succession sowing — so fast crops like lettuce and radish keep coming rather than arriving all at once. Harvest little and often to keep plants productive. As summer crops finish, follow them with hardy salads and overwintering vegetables.
Common mistakes
- Sowing tender crops too early. Tomato and cucumber need warmth, so start them indoors.
- Overwatering seedlings. Soggy compost rots them.
- Not thinning. Crowded carrots and lettuce never size up.
- Skipping hardening off. Indoor-raised plants need to acclimatise gradually.
See When to sow what for the month-by-month calendar, and all vegetable seeds for the range.
The full version of this guide is on seedschoice.com.
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Updated on: 05/10/2026
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