Some Plants Should Be Direct Sown in the Garden

For plants that need a long time to grow in the garden, seed starting indoors comes with a number of benefits: you can get a jumpstart on the growing season, you ensure the plant receives the best quality of care from the very beginning, and you can get a lot of plants for the cost of a few seed packages. 

That being said, starting seeds indoors is something I consider an advanced gardener's skill, one that also involves going to a lot of trouble over a 6- to 8-week period to keep those baby plants happy.

The good news is that not every plant you'll grow in the kitchen garden needs to be—or even should be—started by seed indoor. Let's look at some plants that do best when direct sown in the garden.

Direct Sow Vegetables from This List

For every seed mentioned below, I'm sure there are gardeners who have had great success starting them indoors, but overall, it's best to direct sow seeds for the following plants:

• Arugula
• Beans
• Beets
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Lettuces
• Melons
• Potatoes
• Radishes
• Spinach
• Turnips

When in doubt, there are two questions I like to ask to determine whether I should direct sow or transplant after starting indoors.

Does this plant need a long time in a specific season to reach maturity?

Certain plants are what I call large and lengthy, meaning they require both a lot of space in the garden and a lot of time to grow and produce (more than 65 days). Some examples of large and lengthy plants include broccoli, tomatoes, and eggplants. The problem here is that many of us live in climates that don't give us a long-enough window to grow these plants under their ideal conditions. Prioritizing these plants to start indoors, therefore, gives them a head start in the garden by maximizing their growing time once they’re moved outdoors. 

Unlike large and lengthy plants, small and short plants can be grown from seed to harvest within 45 to 50 days. Plants like radishes and lettuces grow in such a short window of time that they’re not worth starting indoors even if they had roots that could handle transplant well.

No matter your climate, you’ll be able to find enough time outdoors for these plants to produce without going through all the fuss of indoor seed starting. 

Does this plant have easily disturbed roots?

Plants that have fragile, shallow, and/or easily disturbed roots should not be started indoors and then transplanted. Even if you're as careful as possible when planting your tender little seedlings outdoors, there's bound to still be some kind of damage done to their roots—and some plants struggle to recover more than others.

Pay attention to the backs of seed packages, which will often tell you if a plant is not recommended for indoor seed starting. Typically, those plants have tender root systems that are easily disturbed by transplanting. 

Plants that don’t like to be moved include small leafy greens, root crops, beans, and some peas. 

Let's look more closely now at some categories of plants I recommend sowing directly in the garden where they will grow.

Seeds for Root Crops Should Not Be Started Indoors

Root crops are delicate little things that are hyper-aware of their surroundings. As such, most root crops just don't transplant well. If you damage the root, after all, not only are you ensuring the plant won't be able to thrive after the move, you're also messing up the part of the plant you most want to eat.

For that reason, it's best to start root crops like carrots, beets, radishes, and even potatoes in the soil where they'll grow. I know gardeners who swear by starting carrots and radishes indoors, but I’ve had better luck planting my root crops directly into the garden as soon as possible. I mean, look how fragile these baby carrots look.

Small Leafy Greens Are Ideal Candidates for Direct Sowing

Lettuce, arugula, and spinach are short and small, meaning they don't take very long to grow to maturity, nor do they take up very much room in your garden. For that reason, you'd typically just sow seeds for these small leafy greens directly in the ground outdoors when the temperature is right. I just don't think something that only takes 30 or so days to grow to harvest is worth the effort of seed starting indoors.

Beans Should Be Direct Sown

Direct sow seeds like beans and some peas for best results. Beans grow so quickly that it's not worth moving them and risking damage to their fragile and shallow root system.

Learn more about growing your own beans from seed here.

Cucumbers and Melons Should Not Be Started Indoors

Cucumbers, melons, and some types of squash don't transplant well. Even though you can often find cucumber and melon starts for sale at the store, I discourage you from starting them by seed indoors and then transplanting them because root disturbance will slow their growth. 

Any Plant That You Only Want to Grow 1 or 2 of Should Not Be Started Indoors

Because of the setup required to turn each tiny, affordable seed into a valuable plant the same size as one you’d buy from the store, you should anticipate coming out with at least 15 plants to show for your indoor seed starting efforts. Or perhaps ten different varieties of that plant to move to the garden. If you’re only after two large-and-lengthy plants for your garden, you’ll find the expense and the complications of the setup may not be worth it.

This is a great example of when it's better to just purchase a great, organically grown plant start from a local nursery.

Time to Direct Sow Some Seeds

You might not have as much control over the temperature, moisture level, and air circulation when you sow seeds directly in the great outdoors instead of starting them inside, but there's something really magical about pushing seeds into the soil and letting Mother Nature take it from there (with some supplemental watering as needed in the first couple of weeks, of course).

If you're not interested in starting seeds indoors at all but want to grow your own plants from seed to harvest, there are enough delicious plants on this list to keep your garden full every growing season.

Thanks for being here and helping me make gardening feel more ordinary again!