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iTrader: (1)

Hope this isn't a strange one, but looking to grow some fruit and veg this year - partly credit crunch inspired, but more to do with now having a greenhouse.

Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced source of seeds?

Thanks

Matteeboy

What are you planning to grow?

We had our first crack at it last year (this place used to be a working nursery) - with mixed results.

Most herbs - easy
Potatoes - pretty tricky to get right
Courgettes - easy
Aubergines - tricky
Toms - easy to grow, hard to get right
Rhubarb - easy
Runner beans - pretty easy

Apples and blackberries that grow all over the place - easy.

Got most of our stuff from the local garden centre. I strongly recommend a "cloche" - cheap "tent" type thing that works a treat.

TopBanana

Great Vegetable Seeds from The Real Seed Catalogue

Most of the seeds you can buy from garden centres etc are hybrids designed to work wel in modern farming, with fertilisers and insecticides. There are varieties called 'heirloom' which have been honed over the years to produce good results in normal conditions, i.e. our gardens. You can also save the seeds from heirloom plants and use them next year wheras hybrids revert to one of their parent types and can be pretty useless.

Matteeboy

AFAIK Heirloom seeds are just old varieties that have been brought back again.

TopBanana

Yes, tried and tested over many generations - hence the name! The stuff you buy from garden centres is just diverted from huge runs of commercial seed. Doesn't always work so well in a garden, although some stuff will grow anywhere.

Matteeboy

I used to sell several tonnes of potato seed a week to a well known garden centre...! Quite good margins on that one.

TopBanana

Not surprised when you see how much they sell them for!

Matteeboy

Indeed - usually a tonne of seed pots is around £250/tonne (decent markup for trader). They usually sell for £1000-1500/tonne in the shop but in little kg amounts.

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iTrader: (1)

Thanks, that link looks good - interesting about the heirloom varieties.

Looking mostly for salady type stuff, so lots to choose from.

Matteeboy

Definitely get a cloche then - I forgot to mention rocket - very easy to grow successfully (well we managed it anyway!)!

nixxon

My favourites from last year were;
Yellow courgettes- totally yummier than shop stuff
Sugar snap peas- sweet as!
Broad beans- grow till pod starts to go black, then eat raw. Sex on a stick
Sweetcorn. Plant to mouth via boiling water in 5 mins- has to be tried to be believed. avoid the baby ones.
Leeks , just picking the last ones.
Don't plant too many runner beans. you soon get fed up with de-stringing them.
It's no cheaper than shop stuff, at least in the first year, but a different experience in terms of taste.