[brownp]

I usually start most things in pots using compost. I'm thinking it would be easier with a lot of things to use a seed bed and transplant at my leisure ie, no worries about potting on/frost danger has gone. I have just filled 7 raised beds with good quality topsoil so was going to use one of these. Any reason not to do this?

[Yorkie]

I'd have thought that you'd get more root disturbance moving a plant from the open ground than from a pot.

But otherwise it's a long-tested principle for certain plants - others I'd just sow direct in their final resting place.

[Kristen]

Any reason not to do this?

If you are transplanting, rather than goring in final position anyway, then my thoughts are:

Growing in Seed trays / pricking out you can sow at any time - weather is not important, nor the condition of the soil.  In the early months you can sow indoors after work when it is dark.  If I had to sow outdoors when the soil was right AND when it was convenient work-wise I would miss most sowing opportunities.

Sowing in an outdoor seedbed will have a race between Seeds and Weeds. In seed trays with sterile compost there will be no weeds.

Sowing under cover, and watering by hand etc., will bring on the crop as quickly as possible. In a greenhouse the extra heat will speed up the crop, although not everything wants extra heat (e.g. Brassicas). For things that like a bit more heat to help them germinate you can bung them in the airing cupboard until they germinate. In an outdoor seedbed if the weather turns cold, and wet, the seed will just rot.

You also get the chance to react sooner to a germination failure - more chance of germination failure from animals/birds eating the seeds outdoors - although mice will eat your Pea seedlings indoors the same as they will outside! but slugs eating baby seedlings is less likely under cover.

But indoors is more faff, and cost for Pots and Compost