[JayG]

Grafted plants are bound to be labour-intensive and expensive, but I don't see why most of the others should be (they manage to sell many types of bedding plants at knockdown prices, for instance.)

It's the sometimes blatant disregard for "seasonality" I find most unforgivable - selling tender veg plants out of season is virtually guaranteeing failure for those who presumably have little gardening knowledge in the first place. 

(Being able to buy replacement cucumber plants is of course a great service!) 

[Yana]

It's a brilliant marketing ploy JayG to sell the plants too early, then rely on a second purchase later in the season.
On an other note, is it my imagination or are all the main seed/plant suppliers discounting their prices earlier this year? I seem to get a lot of emails with discounted offers at the moment.

[simonwatson]

Some of us were lucky enough to be brought up gardening or knowing a keen gardener. For some, the garden centre is where they've started their gardening education (or is even the limit of it). Until you learn better, it's hard to believe that they would deliberately sell stuff that they know can't possible survive without special care at this time of year. I'd blame the garden centre for selling it before the purchaser for buying it. The latter could know better but might not. The former certainly does know better but is keeping shtum to make more money.

[Willow_Warren]

I have to be totally honest until last year I always bought tomato plants (well the cheap £1-2 ones not the expensive £5 ones!!) rather than even contemplate growing anything other than sunflowers from seed, I thought starting off tomatoes from seed was difficult and took more skill and specialist equipment than I had!

If it wasn't for T&M offering a pack of sungold tomato seeds (I had no idea what sungold tomatoes were) for just 50p with free P&P I would never thought to grow from seed - but for that price I thougth there wasn't much to loose!  Several months and bowl fulls of tomatos later I don't think I'll ever turn back!  Now when I go into B&Q and the like I pass the tomatoes and smuggly think "mine at home look much better" 

I'm not perfect though - I will buy some plugs etc... can't win them all

Hannah 

[ptarmigan]

I buy some plug plants and don't feel bad about it.  I don't have a green house and husband has threatened divorce if I take over another window ledge - there's only one in the house that really gets sun anyway. So anything a bit tender is going to be difficult for me to grow from seed.

So last year I bought sweet corn (not £1.50 each though!) plug plants for local garden centre and grew them on for the allotment and they were great. This year I've sown seed, they all came up and they are doing well - they have the sunny window ledge with the basil and the chillis!  I've got plug plants of PSB arriving soon - but that has given me room and time to grow cabbage and other stuff in modules to plant out at allotment. 

Some of it is confidence - everyone has to start somewhere.....

 But I wouldn't buy plug plants of beetroots or runners or carrots - really can't see the sense in that.  Some of them look at harvesting size when you see them in B&Q. 

[Beetroot queen]

I can't grow tomatoes from seed for love nor money. 

I couldn't grow sweetcorn till this year but after following chitting  advice we did really well.
I don't understand buying plug beetroot or carrots, or runners or broad beans or French beans but I suppose we all have our weekness.

I have been lazy in the past and brought small lettuce lol but now I have tried from seeds I will never go back, especially now hubby has made my cold frames only took him three years.

Cabbage well so far both my seed attempts have failed  what am I doing wrong lol I think the thing that has changed this year is the prices of plugs and small modules. Last year our garden centre sold runner bean plants etc in modules for 1.50 for 12 this year it's 3.00 for 9

[JayG]

I buy some plug plants and don't feel bad about it.  I don't have a green house and husband has threatened divorce if I take over another window ledge - there's only one in the house that really gets sun anyway. So anything a bit tender is going to be difficult for me to grow from seed.

Every inch of every windowsill of my house is now occupied with pots, troughs and trays containing paper pots - I really don't know what I would do if I had an allotment (or a wife!  ) rather than a garden. 

I think the thing that has changed this year is the prices of plugs and small modules. Last year our garden centre sold runner bean plants etc in modules for 1.50 for 12 this year it's 3.00 for 9

Doubt very much whether this has been a vintage year for the Garden Centres so far - some of them are no doubt trying to make hay while the sun shines now. 

[GreyScales]

Saw those ripe pepper plants in B&Q the other day, didn't take note of the price but I did see people buying them. Most expensive peppers ever There was a buying frenzy of fruit bearing and boarder plants on the bank holiday, even the discount tomato plants that looked half dead were going for £2.

In contrast most of my seeds came from 20p discounted multi seed packets from B&M last year, when they were selling off the old stock. Which are now happily growing in pots and looking healthier than most of the B&Q stock.

I must admit I bought 'one' pepper plant from B&Q a month or so back in the hope of having a small early harvest while waiting for my planted ones to grow up. It's getting better care than the B&Q ones because it's already in a bigger pot than what their fruiting ones are in, which begs the question of whether theirs are stunted and yielding less/lower quality peppers...

[Willow_Warren]

It's getting better care than the B&Q ones because it's already in a bigger pot than what their fruiting ones are in, which begs the question of whether theirs are stunted and yielding less/lower quality peppers...

It has crossed my mind how they get such large fruit from plants that are still so small???

Hannah