This is great advice if you're just starting out. There's a bit of an art to starting from seed.
You need to understand the dynamics like light, temperature, moisture, and seasonal timing. Where I live, you can start tomatoes indoors around February to have great starts that'll go into a greenhouse in March, or into the soil outside in June. That's quite an undertaking to time and get right. This year I got the timing, lighting, temperature, and all the rest right - the plants look amazing - but I have eighteen extra plants taking up a lot of space that I guess I'll just leave on the sidewalk for a lucky gardener in my neighbourhood. I could have used that space in the nursery for so many other useful things, but I had no idea what would survive or if some would be too small or whatever.
Each plant demands its own special conditions, and it takes a lot of space if you start indoors. Unexpected harsh conditions can suddenly ruin outdoor plants. Forgetting to water one day could more or less stunt an entire bed of seedlings. They can be so delicate, and it can really suck the fun out of gardening.
I find seeds so cheap to buy, that I just buy a bunch of different packets (for a season), put em in a bowl, then just throw them everywhere in my garden. Then just rely on luck to see what I get.
When working with new garden beds, it let's me quickly find what seems to like that area of the garden. (I think the Japanese have some similar technique)
I'm a really lazy gardener though, my yields could be better but I don't want to put any work in aha
I mean, this is a great idea too - I think the key is just realistic expectations! But I do this too... I like to do it over straw, and the straw kind of protects the seedlings by retaining a bit of moisture and keeping the seeds from birds and wind.
It's awesome for growing lettuces and herbs, I find - I just thin them out as they peak out of the straw and let the biggest ones stay, while the smaller ones get eaten as I thin them or make it into a salad or something for dinner.
But you're absolutely right, not worrying too much and just letting your garden do its thing is great. You might not get maximum yields of tomatoes or watermelons or whatever, but it can work well and take a lot of the fussing out of the equation.
It really depends. Some plants grow stupidly easy from seeds. A good example is tomatoes. You don't even need to buy seeds. Just go to a store that sells high quality produce, buy the best tomatoes you find (and taste them to make sure they're good), cut them open and and take their seeds. Boom, now you have several plants that grow amazing tomatoes.
This will work with some tomatoes, but many grown for agriculture are F1 hybrids which won't produce the same plant from its seeds. Even so, you're right about some plants being pretty easy. In cooler or temperate climates like mine, tomatoes aren't all that easy - they love heat and a decent amount of light. If you have the heat and light though, tomatoes can be like a weed.
This is great advice if you're just starting out. There's a bit of an art to starting from seed.
You need to understand the dynamics like light, temperature, moisture, and seasonal timing. Where I live, you can start tomatoes indoors around February to have great starts that'll go into a greenhouse in March, or into the soil outside in June. That's quite an undertaking to time and get right. This year I got the timing, lighting, temperature, and all the rest right - the plants look amazing - but I have eighteen extra plants taking up a lot of space that I guess I'll just leave on the sidewalk for a lucky gardener in my neighbourhood. I could have used that space in the nursery for so many other useful things, but I had no idea what would survive or if some would be too small or whatever.
Each plant demands its own special conditions, and it takes a lot of space if you start indoors. Unexpected harsh conditions can suddenly ruin outdoor plants. Forgetting to water one day could more or less stunt an entire bed of seedlings. They can be so delicate, and it can really suck the fun out of gardening.
There's no harm in starting out in easy-mode.