Seedlings in Middle Tennessee

I'm starting my first square foot garden! I just put in 2-4X4 beds and one 2X18 bed. Can anyone tell me where the best places are for good deals on seedlings and great variety?

Thanks!

Not sure what you are looking for when you ask for seedlings------
Seedlings= are newly germinated seeds and are normally sold in bulk. 72 per plug tray, 144 plug tray, 288 plug tray, and 512 plug trays. Most of the time you have to have a Sales Tax I.D. number to purchase in bulk or an Employer Identification Number (EIN). And also require a 10 to 12 week notice of when you want the seedlings.
But if you are just looking for regular size plants for home gardeners then Walmart or your local Co-Op is a regular choice. Seed and Feed stores and also Flea Markets. But they will not have plants til a little later.
You can also find some pepper and tomato plants in seed catalogs like----
http://www.totallytomato.com
or
http://www.parkseeds.com
but they will not ship plants until later when temps make it safer to ship plants.

Have you thought about germinating your own seeds?

Happy Hunting
and Congrats on your new SFG

I am a little unsure of myself to start germinating. Plus, I have a lot to do getting ready. I've made my beds out of cinder blocks and used landscape fabric. I still have to make my trellis using steel t-posts and rubber coated fencing. And getting my rain water catchment system in place. Wheh...

Anyway, I did mean plants. I was hoping someone could tell where the deals are locally or where they have a better variety than Home Depot.

Hi Twangster. I am from British Columbia, Canada so....I don't know
anything at all about your gardening zone or what is available in your
area. I just want to say Hi! and to tell you that starting some of your own plants from seeds is not that hard. Depending on how busy I am or how successful I have been with starting some of my seeds, some years I get LOTS of bedding plants, other years I start my own. Last year I started all my own heirloom tomatoes and had moved them out to the cold frame. When I went to work one morning I forgot to prop the top open to keep it from getting too hot inside during the day. When I got home that afternoon all my little tomato seedling were crispy critters. It was very sad. By that time there wasn't time to start any more myself and had to buy them all.

Carolyn had some good suggestions of places to look. I try not to use Home Depot here where I live because they don't seem to take very good care of their plants. There are a couple of large greenhouses in our area that raise seedlings from seed. Even though they tend to be more expensive, those are the ones I like to use if I get starts, because they usually carry varieties that handle our short growing season. A number of stores here bring things in from further south. Many of those plants are much more tender and don't always do so great here.

Hopefully, there are a few more people on here from your area who may be more helpful than I am. Best of luck to you.

Gwynn

Around here in southeast MO we buy our plants at Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, Orscheln (farm and ranch store), a Mennonite family who get their plants from another Mennonite grower in Tennessee, grocery stores, and a few other individually-owned greenhouses and garden centers.

Because I like to know what goes in the starting medium I've started growing more and more of my own transplants. I also direct-seed a few things, and plan to try more direct-seeding of tomatoes this year. From my own experience and that of others it seems that when we direct-sow tomatoes in the garden, they are slower starting than transplants, but eventually they catch up and produce around the same time or only a week or two later. Of course, we have plenty of warm growing days here. I'm not sure how that would work for northern gardeners, but it might be worth trying at least one plant just to see.

You might also check out Craigslist to see if anyone in your area is offering plants for sale.

When I began SFG in 2009 I bought from places like Walmart, Lowe's, Home Depot and got good, healthy plants.
For a beginner I was happy. I didn't know that much about crops and just seeing them grow and feed my family was enuf.

It wasn't until the next year when I thought I'd like a better range of varieties that I bought the heat mat and the shop lights to start my own from seeds.

Just buy the started seedlings in stores like those above and you'll be pleasantly surprised. They all have directions printed on the label.