The Price of Not Growing Your Own Garden Starts

Compared to here, that sounds like a great price!! At my favorite mom/pop nursery, who grow organically and start their own seeds, this year it's $4 for a 2" pot or a 4 pk of starter cells.

I haven't paid attention to the qt containers but I would guess they are about $8
Now I'm curious and will check it out!

If I want to try a new tomato I will buy a single 2" pot or 4 pk (depending on how many newbies I want to chance trying) And I have splurged the past 3 years and bought multiple 4 pks of chiles , not being motivated to start my own (they can be so difficult for me to start). So that gets a bit pricey for the 40 plants I like to grow, but still cheaper than buying a couple of bushels at the farmers market. And I know exactly how they are grown.
This year, however I started all my own toms and chiles trying the soak seed in peroxide/water solution method. It worked great for me.

Other nurseries, who use non organic methods charged slightly less- maybe $3 or 3.50- for a 2" or 4 pk

This greenhouse doesn’t brag about being organically grown, so they probably aren’t. I must be way out of touch for pricing.

I had to buy a second full-sized refrigerator for my seed collection recently. I usually order seed in bulk instead of individual packets.My most recent purchase was 5lbs of cowpea seed for $18. Seed prices vary widely by supplier and heirlooms are usually way cheaper. This year I got a 2 big packs of Yellow Brandywine, an old heirloom seed, probably 1000 seeds or so for about $4. Same with patty pan squash, a couple hundred seed for like $3. But I also got some new disease resistant F1 squash and tomato seed from same supplier and it was $5 for like 25 seeds.  I start seeds in 50 cell trays in 80:20 ratio of fancy potting mix to manure, then transplant to 4 inch pots in 50:50 ratio of cheaper potting mix : manure. The plants look way healthier than the conventional garbage the big box stores sell for $3-4 per plant. I’m going to take them to flea market today and see if I can get $5 per plant. I spend a few hundred bucks on seeds every year, but I like to be in complete control of the growing process, I’ve worked at commercial nurseries and usually they are growing tens of thousands of seedlings in crowded conditions and each plant doesn’t get the care it needs so pests and diseases are always a problem and there’s lots of spraying even at OG nurseries. I build a small plastic hoop house each fall to make starting seeds a breeze in early spring. I’ve been starting fruit trees from seed for years as well, but occasionally I will buy a cultivar from a nursery to cut up into scions for grafting onto my seed started trees,unfortunately I’m awful at grafting anything, trees or veggies. If I manage to declutter and organize the seed collection I’ll post a photo. The new fridge should Eli increase shelf life. I recently sprouted some mater seeds that were 8 years old!

binnylou, the prices you cited are similar to those here, if buying from a supermarket as opposed to a garden center. These are what are on sale this week:

www.meijer.com/weeklyad.html

The hanging plants are always much more expensive.

It's been years since I've gone to a greenhouse other than to just sigh and get a mood boost, so I don't know what their prices would be.

Since gardening became more popular last year, it wouldn't surprise me if stores are (still) capitalizing on that and charging more for plants or combinations that wouldn't normally be grown by first time gardeners.

Having a garden with starts from somewhere else is still better than having no garden at all.

Sis and I stopped at a huge greenhouse, one of my favorites, or used to be. I noticed prices higher than in rhe past. 6 pack of bedding plants $3.49. Singles 3-5 bucks. Perennials had the most noticeable increases. A growing Caladium $14.99 and they weren't even very big. Glad I saved tubers from last year We bought nothing. I was looking for hardy Hibiscus, but was told they won't be for sale til end of June.

If I didn't grow from seeds, I would start, seeing the prices they charge in this day and time! I would save enough in one season to pay for the setup!

Seriously, though, almost nothing that I grow is available anywhere locally. Big Beef and Sunsugar are two tomatoes that may be found, and Superchili and Jalafuego are two chilis that might be found, but it's doubtful. And some of the herbs. But that's it, out of all those things I grow.