January and February are the months where you see a lot of blog and social media posts urging you to “Let’s get ready for seed starting!” I’ve written posts just like that—HERE and HERE and HERE. However this post is not that post.

Instead, let’s consider some reasons why you might bypass the seed sowing and let someone else start those seeds for you.

Reasons Why You Might Not Start Seeds

Travel. Seed starting isn’t in the cards this year for this reason. I’m traveling intermittently throughout the months of February and March and won’t be home to plant seeds during their scheduled planting times. It wouldn’t be fair to my growing seedlings if I abandon them for long stretches.

Time. It can be hard to find time to research what seeds and crops you want to grow. You should give that topic your full consideration, because the planning and scheduling is an important aspect of the growing process. I’ve run out of time and have just thrown seeds into pots under lights in a willy-nilly fashion in previous years. Sure, I do get some seedlings, but it doesn’t result in a cohesive plan for the gardening year.

Interest. I get the idea that some gardeners grow crops from seeds indoors because they feel they must, not because they’re interested in it. If you’re interested in exploring heirloom tomato varieties from Iran, go right ahead! Fully investigate that interest. But if you approach seed-starting as a mandatory task, don’t put yourself through the work. Life is short. If growing your crops from seeds this year isn’t happy-making, go do something that does.

Get them from elsewhere. There’s an old Frito-Lay commercial with a catch-phrase that I reference all the time. It goes, “Crunch all you want, we’ll make more.” Not starting seeds this year? Don’t worry—someone out there will be growing seedlings and will be happy to swap or sell them to you.

Reasons Why You Should Start Seeds Anyway

There are plentiful reasons why you would want to start your own seeds, but here are three main ones I can buy into this year.

It’s a great educational project. If you have kids, by all means pick a simple seed-starting project and get them involved. Pick up a packet of beans or lettuce—something easy—and let them see the miracle of a germinating seed.

Just one keeps it fun. You might consider growing just one seed variety. It’ll lessen the pressure, and it keeps the scheduling and involvement to a minimum. Maybe that one crop is something you’ve never grown before.

It keeps you in the seed-growing game. Whenever I’ve said, “Meh, I think I’ll skip this round of XYZ and do it again next time,” I tend to find it difficult to get back on board. It’s easier to fully jump back into a hobby or even a work project if you don’t completely give it up. And and you wouldn’t want to give up seed growing forever, right?

So, if you are vacillating between should I or shouldn’t I when it comes to starting your own seeds indoors, know that you shouldn’t feel obligated. But also know it’s just so very gratifying to seed a seedling or two emerge from the barren expanse of a pot of soil.