I also started seeds this year. My tomatoes, peppers and eggplant were disappointing. They're still small. I'll have to remember to start earlier next year. I have resisted the urge to buy starter plants and give these guys a chance. Since I seeded paste tomatoes, I caved earlier and bought a cherry tomato and 2 heirloom varieties. We'll see what happens. Good luck!

I would have to wonder if maybe they didn't get enough light or if they needed some extra fertilizer before planting.

I started tomatoes last year and they didn't do well. THis year I started them again and they, as well as my peppers have flourished.

It's not too late to buy starter plants, at least in my area anyway. The "safe" plant date was last weekend anyway.

I use a mix - depending on how busy I am and what is available.

For a few years I grew almost entirely from seed, but then one of the nice stallholders at my local farmer's market started selling seedlings. They are good quality seedlings and come wrapped in old newspaper which I just use as mulch, so create no rubbish (one of the main reasons I stopped buying punnets). Also they are cheaper than the shops.

I've concluded that I can't grow capsicum and chili from seed, and that if I want to plant half a dozen pak choi every month, it is easier to pay someone else to start them. But I've found tomatoes ridiculously easy from seed, and my beans and cucumbers are weird and special varieties that can't be bought as seedlings anyway.

It will take time for seedling transplants to get adjusted, and grab the soil.
This is especially true if the soil and air have not warmed up.
8 weeks is not a whole lot of time from starting seeds to transplanting,
especially if you did not have ideal indoors conditions.

Just be patient. In zone 8 you should have a long growing season ahead of you.

I do both. Kohlrabi, peas, beans, lettuce, swiss chard, spinach, cucumbers, and carrots I plant as seeds directly into the ground. I've also tried cabbage from seed this year. Last year a friend of mine gave me three cabbage seedlings and they bolted so I figured direct seeding is a better option.

I have no grow lights and no space (have basement rented out) to start veggies indoors so I buy tomato, pepper, broccoli and cauliflower as seedlings.

Most of my herbs I grow from seeds as well. If I want to try a new herb, I buy it as a seedling and see how it goes that growing season. If everything works out, and I find good uses for the herb, I try it from seed the next year.

I also buy seedlings from my local farmers market if one of the seedlings I planted as a seed doesn't make it.

The box stores have pushed out all the small nurseries around here, so it's all seed for me these days. Since LA has a 12 month growing season, it turns into lots of work and a lost crop if I mess up or burn out, but my technique sure has improved.

I've also come to a newfound appreciation of hydrogen peroxide vs damping off -- it's joined K-based insecticidal soap and compost tea as substances I try never to run out of. Not that I can't still accidentally oxidize a germinating embryo to death every now and then, but the peroxide sure does sterilize the soil and stimulate the seed into growth initially.

OOOO tell me more about the peroxide! When do you use it?