Welcome to the Beginners Garden podcast. I'm Jill McShehehehe with Journey Withjil.net,, but I'm really getting the garden itch. And at the time I'm recording this, it's been raining

for about eight straight days and I am ready to get outside. But not only just getting

outside in the garden, every time I drive by the garden center or we go in for something else,

I'm always kind of peeking around to see if the garden transplants are out yet.

Most gardeners will purchase transplants for their garden at some point. I know the very first year

when my husband and I started with two raised beds, that's all we planted. Whether you're a brand

new gardener and you buy all of your crops as transplants, or if you're like me and you just choose a few, there are some key things to keep in mind before you head to your local garden center.

Today, I'm going to give you seven tips to help you choose the best transplants for your garden.

Before we get started in this conversation, I thought I might want to go

ahead and define what a transplant is. I know for some of you guys who are brand new at this,

that term may seem a little bit unfamiliar to you. So when you're starting your garden,

you have the choice to plant from seed or to plant baby plants.

And those baby plants are called transplants.

And the reason for that is because when you're actually putting your plants in the garden,

you are transplanting them into your garden or into your container or raised bed. And technically, whether

you're starting your plants from seeds indoors or whether you're buying transplants in the garden

center, it's still called transplants. But today we're going to be talking about the transplants that

you purchase from your garden center or your local nursery. Tip number one, buy at the right time of year.

And what that means is don't buy them too early

and don't buy them too late.

I know last year I went to my local garden center

in February and I found tomatoes.

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