Radish transplants...I've seen some "well, that's unnecessary" transplants for sale in my day, but that's a new one. The sad thing is people are probably buying them without even being coerced or marketed toward buying them.

As far as stuff being sold...I quit being surprised at what people will buy from a nursery long ago. It's not even predatory on their part...people just want it.

There's a WHOLE LOT of people who want to be gardeners, do very little research into how to do it, and pretty much believe you stick something in the ground and it will do it's thing as long as you give it some water and a dose of fertilizer every once in a while.

...there's also a whole lot of people who think they want to be a gardener, buy a bunch of starts, and they rot on the back deck in flats before even making into the ground.

When I give away a lot of my seedlings to eager new/novice gardening friends I rarely hear back from them about their harvests and I've learned not to ask about them.

I have never and will never buy lettuce, radish, carrot, corn, cilantro ... transplants. With the price I can buy the real thing for less and enjoy it right away. It is ok to buy, for example, basil transplant because it get bigger and you harvest from it all summer.

Maybe some newbies who have spent a lot of time making raised beds from such-and-such recommended plans and added 6 different recommended growing media and mixed and mixed and strung out strings exactly 12" apart and tole painted little signs for what will be in each square..., just don't have any time left to wait for a seed to sprout.

(Please don't take this as a knock on anyone's choice of gardening methods. Just commentary on people who obscess over other people's opinions of themselves - rather than results.)

I dunno - city folk? Or even suburban (though I'd call our area more rural) people who spend $200 on a 4x2 raised planter and happily proclaim that it's big enough to grow all the veggies for their (4 person) family?

I think I posted about carrots and radishes at W-S last year, they must have dropped them from the Agrarian line after poor sales (and derisive laughter?) since I don't see them any more.

Here is a link that might be useful: 4x2 raised planter

I guess people who don't know better? Actually, carrots can be tricky to start from seed at first, so I can see some small use for that, though you'd need to transplant them quickly and carefully. Radish, though? Hmmm.

terry_neoh,

I'm not sure how that's NOT a knock on some people's choice of gardening method... to each their own.

As for the radishes, plant them in the ground, wait a week, then pull them up. I suppose it could give a person new to gardening a sense of accomplishment even if they didn't really accomplish/do anything. But someone would have to be crazy to buy them for $1.59 a pack.

howelbama: "I'm not sure how that's NOT a knock on some people's choice of gardening method... to each their own."

I was thinking the same thing.

Rodney

This post was edited by theforgottenone1013 on Thu, May 1, 14 at 10:20

Yeah, definitely a knock on people's choice. For some sfg is the only option. Some of us live in the big city and work them big city jobs, Yeeeehaw. The carrots and radishes are obviously for sunday gardeners who just want to grow some veggies for fun and probably for their kids. And yes, my sfg that consists of 2X8 and 3X5 boxes does provide enough veggies for my family and some co workers.

Haven't seen those around here but I've seen bolting bok choy transplants being sold.

I dont see the point myself, mostly because of the price. Theres lots of different people out there who do lots of different things. It may seem silly to you or I but if they are happy live and live I suppose. Gardening for most people is a hobby, a past time. I would say its a minority who do it for a living. For the rest of us, taking it too seriously is grevious error. Instead if laughing and making fun or condemning them as "idiots" and "city folk" perhaps it would be better to take that energy and help somebody out. Explain to them how to start the seeds instead of buying a radish or carrot transplant. Remember we all started somewhere.

That's why I think that book-learning is good -- it definitely has a place when learning about gardening, but it does affect some practical aspects of getting out there and doing it. But hopefully, with time and experience, the gardens can grow and the knowledge that we started with by reading and watching online videos, can be embellished by our real experiences.

For my case, I know that I seem to transplant better and more easily than I did when I started. At that time, I was so careful with the rootball, and even how I put it in the soil, and backfill, and pat the soil, etc. Many times, plants would seem to droop anyway soon after. Nowadays, I even roughly mess up the rootball and it seems like most transplants go just fine without any visible changes to the plant after some hours.

It's marketed towards people with no gardening experience that don't know anything about radishes and carrots, just will see them and go "Oh! Let's grow some carrots this year too!"

Actually, I haven't had much luck growing carrots and radishes - all tops, no roots, carrots mysteriously disappear or end up short and twisted, etc. But I don't think transplants are going to help that.

For that much money, I'd just buy carrots and radishes at the store (actually I do buy carrots since we eat a lot of them - but we don't like radishes). But the point of my (real-life) example is that there are people who are willing to spend more money on vegetable gardening as a hobby than they would just buying the food at the store, or getting into it seriously (really, I just can't imagine growing enough for a family in that planter - I'll have to ask in the fall what they grew this summer). Though heaven knows how much I've spent for comparatively small yield (and income) some years - esp. 2011 and 2013.

And "city folk" don't have a lot of space, and may not be able to start seeds, like someone said carrots can be tricky but again they'd obviously only be buying a few to grow in containers as a hobby or "experiment". Though I think the space and money would be better spent growing herbs...basil is one that again I've had no luck with, though cilantro and oregano take no care at all.

How about buttoning up broccoli and cauliflower? I had a coworker share with me they were excited to see broccoli forming on their plant. I asked how big the plant was and how big the broccoli was. She told me it was about 6 inches tall and the broccoli was about the size of a quarter. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was done.

I transplant lettuce, but I am talking about plug trays of 72 and 98, not 4 packs!

I do sell cucumbers and zucchini transplants. People keep asking for them. They are really easy and quick money. $2.00 for single plant started 1-3 weeks ago. After 3-4 weeks I either plant them myself or toss them. I plant more every two weeks to have a constant supply during planting season.

Jay

Good point on the plants like cucumber starts. One year I planted sweet basil from seed. What I saw in about 2-3 weeks' growth was the same size I had been buying at the stores for about $3-4. Yikes!

The store pots did have different sized plants because of their own natural growing differences, so I probably would have chosen some taller-looking pots, but let's just say the smallest ones were similar to what I had seen growing in about 3 weeks.

I know gardenper, but where else can you buy 3 weeks for $3? I ask you ;-)

Related to "not knocks", I listen to the Davis Garden Show podcast (quite good). In the last episode Don was commenting on people who build isolated raised beds for SFG "on top of some of the best agricultural soil in the country!"

To each his own, but, sometimes trust the dirt.

Here is a link that might be useful: Davis Garden Show

johns.costal.patio.,

I'm sure many people do place their raised beds and/or SFG's on top of great soil... however, terry_neoh's post was purely condescending and unnecessary. Just because you put in a disclaimer that you are not trying to knock someone's way of doing something doesn't mean you aren't in fact "knocking" it...

As to the OP questions, I see all sorts of odd transplants for sale in the nurseries around my area... peas and lettuce are ones that always make me go hmmmm... but as another poster above pointed out, some people are just "Sunday" gardeners and are not necessarily concerned with having a bumper crop. Also, I can't blame the nursery owners for trying to make a buck any way they can. It's got to be a very difficult way to earn a living!

At least someone would get a good harvest out of a single cuke or squash plant. I've never transplanted those, but may start some to put in later since we had SVB last year (for the first time), wilt, etc.

Broccoli is another thing I haven't had luck with. Lettuce the seed washed away multiple times last June (May was too dry to even think about planting) so I'm back to transplants - plus it keeps DH from "weeding" them out. Rain has stopped now so maybe I can finally get the lettuce, kale, and what spinach has survived in the flats out, and seed the mustard, bok choy, and chard tomorrow, for baby greens if it doesn't stay cool through May.

For the record, I was a city person for a good many years. When I lived in the DC area I didn't even grow in containers (hey, I was single, too busy going out when I wasn't working!) but then when I got married and we bought a condo, we did grow tomatoes (and geraniums) in containers, bought a house and grew tomatoes, cukes, and melons in the back yard, then moved to the family farm and went "big time" (though it's still a market garden, not a farm, I grow more than enough for our family, what doesn't sell at market gets preserved, given to extended family or neighbors, or the food pantry).

But some people are also naive about how much room it takes to grow stuff and yields (even SFG) - I'm trying to help the food pantry out, they started a garden last year and want to supply the weekly free suppers plus give patrons produce to take home, but they only have 7 small beds, about 12 sf each. We're planting a dozen bare root blueberry bushes and some raspberry and blackberry canes this weekend. I was going to give them some pepper and tomato starts, maybe some lettuce, but frankly I don't know if they have room since 4 of the beds have already been planted in brassicas (and ?) and they have more seedlings coming of I don't know what. I'll have to see if we can tuck the lettuce in somewhere this weekend, and at the end of the month I'll see if/where there's room for nightshades. But the garden is mostly decorative, 6 cabbages, 6 cherry tomatoes, 6 Brussel sprouts, etc. aren't going to go a long way. No, it's not laid out in SFG blocks - most of the garden area is pathways, the beds are horseshoe-shaped (I'm guessing 1ft wide and 12ft circumference, with a stepping stone in the middle of each) laid out in a circular area, sort of like a clock with the garden gate at 6.

I understand howelbama, and it is certainly important to be open in forums as such as these.

But listen to Don in the April 24th show.

I was truly attempting to knock vanity, and used a familiar prop. I admit that my flower gardens are a vain pursuit.

Proverbs 12:11 - Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread,
ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.

Please accept my apology.

terry_nech, That is a nice return post. I would probably feel the same way as you expressed with a sister and her husband. Everything has to be squared off so so and such. They do quality work though. I am more interested in volume production....I grew up on the farm with those large fields.

I have a lot of unbordered amended beds from 7 to 20 feet wide. It suits me to a tee.

Look at them not like at transplants, but MOST fresh veggies you can get ) Not to fill your refrigerator with, but just eat right away as a reminder of a childhood for example, or to make a funny gift from it). I guess flowering hyacinths and tulips in the pots are for the same purpose. Though, my neighbor buys and plants them (watching me to plant them actually) in numbers)

On cooking shows the cook chops and mixes and thrusts it in the oven and goes to commercial. Then pulls out a finished meal 180 seconds later and shares with the mouth watering guests.

Perhaps for education purposes you could get the kids to plant beets and radishes and then pull out the finished product for all to eat.

Found some highly questionable seedlings for sale at a local place here today and decided to take some photos. All these things were being sold for 79 cents a cell pack (some were 4 packs and some were 6 packs) and they were all still inside the greenhouse baking in the heat. What amazed me is not that the place was selling these but that people were buying them.

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At a different place I saw foot-tall pole beans in a 4 pack with each cell having 3-4 bean plants, foot-tall horseradish starts in a 3-inch pot, 8-inch tall garlic plants that were crammed 4 per 3-inch pot, and they were selling about a hundred arugula seedlings per 4 pack (needless to say they looked terrible).

Rodney

wow I had been thinking about this topic too. I too have seen bolting lettuce for sale at WM and HD, and bolting cilantro plants too, thinking who would buy such a thing.
And I would never buy a squash transplant.. they are so easy to grow from seed I see absolutely no benefit in buying transplants.

But the carrot/radish is absolutely crazy. LOL.

I'm on my way to the store to hopefully find a zucchini start that looks good. Pack of seeds is close to $2 and I have room for one plant. So this will be cheaper and simple.

Peas and lupines are the oddest I've seen around here.

I buy zucchini plants for the same reason as the above poster - I need one plant. I buy my one zucchini seedling at the farmers market for $2. Carry it home, put it in it's space, and I'm good to go.

However, the carrot issue annoys me. I think they are just doing it to take advantage of the uninformed. My friend bought one and asked me how many carrots I thought she'd get from her carrot plant. Ummmm... 1?

Let's not forget the worst sin of all - nurseries that sell tomato seedlings weeks before they can be planted outside with a warning to the consumer. They will also sell flowering foot high plants in a pack of six later in the season for a higher price than the smaller healthier plant in a 4" pot. Consumers buy both not realizing they are each doomed. The nursery folks have to know they are selling a worthless product.

The worst offenders in Baltimore are Valley View Farms and Home Depot.

Well, I may be one of the people I wonder about soon. Kale at our locally owned garden center has bolted and looks to be well past harvest. However, I'm noticing one variety with flowers that are amazing, much larger than the other varieties. I like it better than some of the summer flowering annuals....so I may buy "distressed" kale for the flower bed.

And I'm realizing I buy flowering annuals that could easily be grown from seeds just to gain a few weeks of time without using all my grow light space for non-veggies. Why shouldn't others do the same with veggies. Except it is too bad when some expect the carrot plant and radish plant to continue to produce more and more to harvest throughout the season like their tomato and pepper plants, and feel like they didn't give their plants proper care when that doesn't happen.

Earlier I started some lettuce in a flat.
I had so much that I didn't know where to transplant them. Now that tomatoes are small , I planted some just next to them. Radish is very easy by direct sowing. But with too much rain too much shade I gave up on them.

Here is a picture of some of my lettuce in tomato bed.

Even at a good nursery they sell brands that are ridiculous now. $2.99 for one container, one cell. One brand I see is Chef Jeff. Another is Homegrown Gourmet which is not as expensive. Bonnie Plants is at least not quite as exploitive.

They sell things that are absolutely absurd. Plants being sold in the last week of May that have no chance of doing well, like Bok Choi, one plant for $2.99. One plant of a Green Bean plant for $2.99. Beans... one bush plant that are lousy at transplanting for $2.99. One Pea plant for $2.99. One Brassica plant for $2.99, too late in season for many. One Corn plant for $2.99. 3 or 4 carrots growing in one little pot together or $2.99.This is just exploitation of ignorance, and you won't really get much of anything for your efforts, so it is discouraging.

I do waste money by many of your standards. I buy single Pepper plants to get the varieties I want, I want many different weirder varieties. I buy 3 or 4 packs of Lettuce, I hope to get them earlier before the heat of summer, and I don't want a whole row full of the same type, I don't eat that much. I've had success buying 4 packs of Sugar Snap Peas, 2 plants per cell. Easier than dealing with the inconsistencies of early spring planting of seeds.

One other thing that annoys me is the separate selling of Green Bell Peppers and Red Bell Peppers... now the ignorant are reinforced in their belief that Green and Red Bells are completely different types of Peppers, Bonnie Plants wouldn't sell them like that otherwise. It would be funny if the Green and Red Peppers being sold are actually the same cultivar.

This post was edited by noki on Mon, May 26, 14 at 1:41