Sowing several varieties of seed for each vegetable in the garden makes growing more interesting and has several advantages:

 

• spreading out the harvest by choosing 2-3 varieties with different germination rates and maturity dates
• trying different flavours
• seeing which variety grows best in your garden. Different varieties will favour different soil types etc..
• hedging bets, as each variety grows differently in particular weather conditions, & succumbs to different diseases
• providing different colours, such as purple, pink, white, and yellow carrots

One advantage of growing a single variety is that everything is ready at about the same time if the crop is being preserved.

A problem with growing multiple varieties of vegetable seeds is the cost of buying the extra seeds. To get over this problem buy:

• small packets of seed (from Moreveg)
• mixed variety packs - such as a lettuce mix

It is important to remember not to keep seed from open pollinated varieties of vegetables, when growing several varieties, unless they are maturing, & so flowering, at different times.