Hi and welcome! I suggest you start with all the great FAQs here as they cover all the basics. I direct linked them for you below or you can just click on the blue FAQ button on the front page.

Then some follow up reading through many of the discussions here will also help and here is a link to some of the recent discussions about 'new to seed starting'.

Then post any remaining questions you might have.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing from Seed FAQs

Is it to late to start seeds in Zone 9? I've been looking at the cost to buy started veggies and it's kind of expensive.

Is it to late to start seeds in Zone 9?

That all depends on the type of plant and when your recommended plant out date is. Since I doubt you have to worry about a late frost the biggest concern for Florida gardeners seems to be beating the heat. That's why they plant so much earlier than many of us can.

You can confirm this over on the Florida Gardening forum but I think that yes it is too late for growing tomatoes. Most of the Florida growers I know have already planted out for the spring season meaning they started their seed in December. But you have a second season in the fall you can use.

Lettuce? Maybe but transplants will put you 6-8 weeks ahead then use seed for your fall season. And onions from seed? Way too late. Even here onions are seeded in December and the plants are already planted in the garden. Radishes would work for you now but they are direct seeded not transplants. You can probably do cukes and beans too now. But again beans are direct seeded not grown as transplants.

Peppers? It is awfully late as it takes them 10-12 weeks to be ready to transplant.

Your garden season is much earlier than most of the rest of the country so using transplants is your best option this late.

Check the Florida forum to learn what you best plant out dates are.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Gardening

Thanks Dave for the response. I think I'm gonna get a few started veggies, not to many though. I'm interested to see if gardening is for me. At least if I start my gardening journey with started plants I know they'll be alive when they go in the ground. Now whether or not I can keep them alive remains to be seen. If I do well with my starts then I'll make sure to have a better plan for fall and order my seeds early.

Thanks again for your help :)