Okay, Autodidact. I will set the low bar:

. . . about 30 different varieties from seed in the spring of 2011. Growing for others and my own garden.

digitS'

Autodidact,

I have the roughly same set up you do, an east facing bay window with no grow lights. I don't use a heating pad. The window is 4ft high by 6ft wide, but with the curve the space for plants is a bit less. I start roughly 72 plants each spring, mostly tomatoes and peppers.

I figure I can use up a two or three dollar pack of seeds in two or three years. Plants are what, four or five dollars a piece?

Figuring in what your time and effort is worth and what varieties you can get is a whole different matter.

Starting seeds is kind of an act of faith with me. Some years, it's going to be worth it to start from seed. Some years are a bust and I end up buying plants from Craigslist or big box anyway. You just don't know in any given year what will happen.

I enjoy starting from seed, though. In March, when it's cold outside, it's comforting to anticipate the coming spring while watching those little seeds sprout and grow!

Now, fast forward to late April, when every available surface in the house is covered in plants. They can't be moved outside yet because it's still too cold and I don't have the Walls of Water set up yet. I'm probably saving 15 plants for folks at the swap that's not scheduled till May. The cats are knocking the plants over, the family is grumbling because we can't eat at the plant-covered kitchen table, LOL!

Maybe it'd be worth it to spend $75, buy the plants instead of growing them and just plunk them in the ground at Mother's Day! Now you've got me rethinking things, Auto!

Love your set up, digit. I so wish I had a greenhouse!

Barb

P.S. Where are Alicia and Jclpine and bpgreen? Haven't heard from you guys in a while.

Here, the growing season is so short and the temp conditions so marginal that if I want a decent harvest of tomatoes and peppers, I have to set out large, well-rooted plants in early June. I set out a couple hundred tomatoes and pepper plants. Now I can buy those kind of plants at $4-$20 a piece, or I can grow them myself.

I grow for myself and for a bunch of other people, so it pays for me to start from seed. It would cost hundreds of dollars to buy the same plants from the nurseries. Also, I buy seed starting mix by the bale so it's cheaper by volume.

I don't have any trouble starting peppers inside.

I planted over 30 pepper plants this year, and at $3 - 4 a piece at it would have cost me $100 or more. As Barb mentioned, not everything grown from seed is a success. This year, I ended up having to purchase all of my tomato plants. Fortunately, it was towards the end of the planting season, so I got them for 1/2 price.

There are lots of things that I either direct sow or wintersow, such as lettuce, carrots, onions, peas, cucumbers, melons, and squash. Can't imagine buying plants for any of those things.

Also, since I save seeds, and trade with others for things I don't already have, my seed costs are minimal. My biggest expense is the potting mix. I'd love to buy it by the bale like Cnetter does, but just haven't found a supplier close to me.

Aside from the cost issue, there are other considerations. Last year, there was a huge problem with blight in the tomato plants sold by retailers. It was mainly on the East coast, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen here too.

The selection at the big box stores has certainly improved in recent years, and there is a local organic farm here that sells a nice variety of heirlooms, but the selection available if you are willing to grow from seed still far exceeds any local offerings.

That's my take on it anyway : )

Bonnie

I guess I overlooked the "peppers" part of Autodidact's post.

Yes, I find a very, VERY limited local selection of pepper varieties available as plants. That's a darn shame for a several reasons. First off, peppers are a bit more difficult to start because of their warm temperature needs. At least, that's true for me and my set-up.

Also, where does it say that we can ALL grow California Wonder bells?? When I used to have a small garden and bought pepper plants, I couldn't enjoy a mature bell pepper - even by the close of the season!

Now, your mileage may vary. See that note about temperature requirements. My season often starts off so cool that the peppers in the garden don't seem to grow a fraction of an inch until July!

Habanero hot pepper plants! There is no way I'm going to toss away hard cash buying those plants. I mean, I wasted some $ on seed and space in the greenhouse & garden on them one year. Seems like I can afford a little experimentation now and then (it keeps life interesting ;o). But, experimenting on what some yahoo thinks I might be willing to part with some hard-earned scratch for, well . . . .

. . . must not have gotten up on the right side of the bed this morning . . .

Steve

Hmmm ... curious about what you have against Habaneros?

: )

Bonnie, they came absolutely nowhere close to maturity!

The pods didn't even fill out after a full growing season.

:o(

Steve

I haven't bothered with Bell peppers in decades. Maybe they would do well now for me since I know more than I did back then, but there are other sweet peppers that do great.

This past year I tried Corno di Toro and they were really productive! I was surprised since all my peppers had to start over again after a horrible 20 minute hail storm in June that stripped them to tiny bare stems.

Steve, I was afraid you were going to say that. I'm planning to grow Peach Habanero, and Chocolate Habanero next year, and based on your experience, I may start those way ahead of the rest of the peppers.

Cnetter, I quit growing bell peppers too, but not because they wouldn't grow for me. I actually got some rather huge ones in previous years. I've just found they serve no purpose, LOL! There are plenty of other, more flavorful sweet peppers that can be used in place of a bell, when you aren't looking for any heat. Plus, bell peppers are the only kind of pepper that make me burp ... okay, that might have been TMI.

Autodidact, getting back to your original question, you might want to check out the Winter Sowing forum, starting with the FAQ.

Magnolia, please don't think that I am against wintersowing. Anyone that's been around this forum for any length of time will tell you that I'm one of the biggest proponents of wintersowing on the RMG forum, but I would not recommend that method of germination for peppers. Yes, the peppers will eventually germinate, but with our short season, and sometimes long, cold springs, the chances of actually harvesting ripe peppers before the end of the season are not good.

With tomatoes, I've had mixed results. Some years the wintersown ones do just as well as store bought, or indoor sown plants, other years, not so much. It's certainly worth a shot though, if indoor space is not available.

The question on the bother of starting in front of a window indoors versus buying plants is a valid one. I might not be happy with an east-facing window.

Seedlings have a few days in my good, south-facing window here. Then, they migrate out to a greenhouse. The last time I was keeping my plant starts indoors thru their first month or 2 of life, I was living in another house.

It also had a good, south-facing window but it was a long, narrow thing in the utility room. Other than not having enuf room for my desires -- It was nearly perfect!

I could heat that room separately from the rest of the house which meant, I kept it several degrees cooler. The window's shape was fine for a single line of flats. I think I could get 3 in there. The southern exposure was total and if it was too warm, I could either open the door into the house or open the outside door.

Suitable windows are critical, I am sure. Before I built a little greenhouse at that home, I set up a plant stand in the stairwell so as to have more space. That was also a fairly good location but a little problematic because of the carpeted landing and the risk of me falling off the step ladder and down a flight of stairs while trying to tend the plants.

Once again, I could close doors and isolate the stairwell from the rest of the house. That gave me a chance to keep it cooler.

Most of the time, even south-facing windows don't have enuf light because of our typical, cloudy skies during that time of the year. Also, while we may have 16 hours of daylight on July 1st, on March 1st, we only have 11 hours. Subtract 2 hours in the morning and another 2 hours in the evening when a not-level horizon blocks the angled sunlight and you have only 7 hours on a perfectly sunny day. Seldom happens, anyway.

To keep indoor plants from s.t.r.e.t.c.h.i.n.g to reach light takes cooler temperatures so that they don't get too rambunctious. So, we are talking about slower growth. It is a little difficult to find the balance.

Steve