Seeds or plants?

Okay...now that I have this great plan for my first garden at my new house, I have a VERY serious question. Is it cheating to use plants instead of seeds (instant gratification...I want it all and I want it now; or, too much of everything is just enough). If I'm going to do this, I certainly want to do it right. And with regard to winter sowing...are you sowing in gardens or pots or what?

Hi There, Seeds are great but can be difficult. I can get manythings to germinate but then if you forget to water once whoops your in trouble. I sow seeds because I get many varietes that you couldn't buy. Also with seed you can get thousands and unless your a nursery or have great friends to trade with most people don't need that many. If you wanted a wildflower section or poppies or sweet peas seed is the way to go or many vegtables. Another way is to buy older root bound perennials and divide. You can buy one hosta and maybe quarter it so you get 3 extra. I get plastic donut carriers from the grocery store and it is like minigreen houses. When the seed sprouts I pop the too to Help with damping off. Its all good maybe a little of both. Heidi and Dragonfly

Hi Sheri - it's all good. If you have the opportunity to buy plants, do so. It will provide your area with some growth that can be seen at a distance, and provide you with the "instant gratification" you spoke of.
Starting seeds is fun, but sometimes we need to see more substantive growth to get a better idea of scale. However, there are some plants that put out a lot of growth their first year.
4" pots are usually priced quite reasonably, for perennials. I prefer 2 - 3 gallon pots for my nursery stock (shrubs & trees), and sometimes the 5 gal are priced well for the size & area they will be planted in.
The one thing i would drill into your head is to be patient - the juvenile garden is juvenile looking, and it's best to appreciate it for the stages it must go through to achieve a healthy root system for larger, prolific growth. I hope you do not become discouraged as many do. It's a natural reaction due to all the space between plants! That is why I recommend choosing 2 - 3 places to complete, as well as putting in shrubs & trees first. Completing the process is so encouraging, and the more you do in "chunks" the easier it is to manage.
By the way, if I can't locate a shrub/tree that I want, I prepare the site by weeding & minimal amending; dig the hole & place the soil into a very large container; plunge container into the hole dug. When I finally get the plant, I remove container of soil from the hole & the plant goes into this spot. Work is done prior to the plant coming home, so that no time is wasted. I can pretty much plant year-round like this, and have had success doing so. If I change my mind, I simply find something else to go into the spot as it is prepared & ready.
As far as winter-sowing goes, it is typically done in pots. But any hardy annuals/perennials can be direct sown in your area. Some do best this way.

Cool...thanks both. I usually do okay with seeds because I start them under my grow light and get lots of good foliage going. I had Earthboxes in Arizona which did great with the seedlings...just had weather issues down there. Unbelievable wind in the spring to early summer (burned up 72 plants one year), then 2 weeks of good weather, then monsoon (including hail, which pelted the dogsnot out of what survived the wind), then two more weeks of good weather, then frost, which killed whatever was left that hadn't been harvested. *sigh* I am SOOOO excited about planting stuff up here!

Sheri - I was curious about wildlife coming onto your property.
Have you noticed any of the usual suspects since you've been there? (deer/rabbit/squirrel - aka thieving monkeys...)
We have ways to thwart them, none of which involve pain, in order to protect seedlings/small plants.

We do have a doe and a couple of fawns who have eaten all the leaves off my 3 fruit trees, but because of my "automatic deer alarms" (the boyz) they do not frequent the area of this first garden, which is tucked nicely away right in front of the house and protected by the garage. I haven't seen any other critters, but that may be simply because we don't have anything planted yet and we are surrounded by lots and lots of natural vegetation on lots that have not yet been developed. I have heard coyotes, but haven't seen raccoons, squirrels, or rabbits at all (although I do recall one incident of flying monkeys!) {= O

you have f.m.'s? whooboy - I knew they were liberated when the wicked witch of the west melted, but i figured they'd stay in Oz/Kansas....

Silly girls - I bet the fms are getting a ride tonight!!

Sheri- Seeds are great if you are trying to save $$. Going to the plant swap will really get you started too.

Katye...you mean this ISN'T Kansas? Yikes!

And the native plants sales are ways to get plants inexpensively, too!!