Topic: seeds from abroard?

[trinity]

Is it ok to buy seeds from abroad  ??? will they get stopped by customs ??? do you have to pay tax etc

I have found a lovely site called Baker's creek and would really like to buy some seeds from them ;D
 I have looked for the relevant information but i can only seem to find the rules for importing fresh or dried vegtables :-\

[Jeannine]

I buy from Bakers Creek all the time. Technically you can't bring in tomatoes, beans, corn, peppers but squash, and most other things are fine. I have only had 1 parcel stopped and that was one that the sender declared every seed on the box.

I would not worry as I shall be ordering again, it is a risk but it is small and Jere at Bakers Creek simply puts garden seeds on the envelope.

He is great to buy from by the way..rated as very high in the US

PS May I be nosy and ask what you are thinking of buying?

[trinity]

quite a few things but mainly squash have only had the space grow in pots until now. but as I have just got my plot I would like to grow more variety's as i now have the space ;D I an addicted to eating them so I may as well become addicted to growing them as well  ;D ;D ;D

[Jeannine]

Which ones, I may have a few spare seeds

[trinity]

quite a few ::)
Seminole pumkin
Montana jack
Paydon family herloom
Thai Kang Kob
Triamble
Melonette Jaspee de Vendee
Marina di chioggia
Table queen
jarrahdale
Rouge Vif ' Etampes
sweet meat
Tronco Redonda verde

 ::) ::) ::) and i havent looked at the summer ones yet ;D

thought that is just my wish list would never fit that many on my plot  ::)
there just the ones that I like the look of

some seeds would be great but I dont realy have any thing interesting to swap any squash seeds would be apresiated (havent found one I did not like yet :o) I could pay postage etc.

[Jeannine]

I don't have Montana Jack,seminole( was sure I did ) Thai King Kob or Tronco Redonda, but I have all the others, At the weekend I will see how many seeds I have as I have just looked in my file tonight, and I will get back to you, just a couple of each should be enough to start you off.

 XX Jeannine

[trinity]

 ;D thank you very much

[Eristic]

I bought from Baker Creek last year and was very pleased with both the service and the seed quality. I will probably buy from them again this year if I can put a decent order together.

[antipodes]

I got seeds from the UK sent to France no problem. It all arrived in great shape. No living material though like spuds or bulbs which is a pity...

[Amazin]

Trinity, I can heartily recommend Baker Creek - which Jeannine recommended to me (cheers, J!)

Two other US companies I've done business with are Pinetree Garden Seeds (for veg & herbs) and Summer Hill Seeds (for flowers), both of which give great value for money and unbeatable service.

You mentioned a wish list? Apart from the squashes, what kind of things are you thinking of getting? Probably quite a few, if you looked through the whole catalogue - it's addictive! I may have some Baker Creek spares you can try.

[Amazin]

I got seeds from the UK sent to France no problem. It all arrived in great shape. No living material though like spuds or bulbs which is a pity...

I wonder if the rule about living material applies only to posted items or does it cover items brought back in person as well.

I'm off to France (Poitiers) next month and I'd like to think if I spotted any 'cultivation-related' bargains I could bring them back without too much trouble.

[trinity]

I am really looking for any thing that I cannot get in the UK or that looks interesting like purple cauliflower or red carrots direrent coloured sweetcorn etc.. I main reason (other than loving growing ) Is that I want to know what goes in my kids food :) and to expand the variety of veg and fruit that they eat as well as providing stuff that I find to expensive  or taste less in the shops so basically at the moment I want to try as many none f1 (so I can save the seeds) varierys and types of veg as possible to find out what they will and wont eat ;D

[growmore]

Don't want to be a wet blanket BUT.
Has anyone stopped to think if there could be a legitimate reason for restrictions imposed on importing  some seeds into the UK ?.. There is a lot of bio tech jiggery pokery going on out there ..

[Eristic]

There is a lot of bio tech jiggery pokery going on out there ..

All the more reason to buy from the likes of Baker Creek instead of T & M.

[littlebabybird]

growmore i'm reasonably sure baker creek for example sell heritage seeds not jigged and poked ones

lbb

[Carson]

Hi

 I have bought from Baker Creek -main problem is that most need to be grown under cover  as it is too cold and damp in IOM.

DEFRA regs are that you should import no more than 5 pkts of seed from a non EU country. I have imported more than this on occasions from Canada and US. They were impounded once by the authorities but they relented and allowed me to keep them.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've been told by the people at the parcels office that customs only look at one package in 30. So even if it is declared there's only a 1 in 30 chance they'll even see it. Occasionally you get unlucky.

[Jeannine]

You are right about them only checking a few.

 I had a parcel seized this year, it was from the US.

 Defra contacted me by phone  and offered me two choices.

1, Theywould send back the offending items.(Ihad to pay the postage which was £24.00, I declined)

2. They would destroy them.

 They mailed to me all that was allowed, so I got all the brassicas, squash, but no beans, no tomatoes , no peppers, aubs or corn.

 I had several phone conversations with them at the time, a very nice man, I beleive he was an Andrew, he explained which seeds were allowed and which not. He also told me that it was seeds coming through Parcelpost that were being caught and regular mail was  not affected for now... howevre he did say that was due later in the year.

 Seeds are completely OK from Europe if in the market and are let in with Defras blessing.

I have found out since that Holland is not as diligent as Britain, so I have had seeds sent to my son who has sent them on.

Baker Creek is very   careful with all it's seeds. I cannot say better for them than I already have, Jere is very picky and careful and does not have anything to do woth GM seeds. I have bought from him for years and trust him implicitly.

 You can get these seeds from the US without Defra taking them from yoiu by the way. If you are prepared to get a sanitary certificate for them before they leave the US most are allowed in. It is only a few that are not.,eg true potato seeds and of course tubers are banned completely.The  trouble is, the paperwork is very expensive and many companies simplt won't do it.

 there is a Defra list omline, sorry don't know the link, but ti tells you all about what can and cannot be brought in.

It doesn't appear to be a bother for flower seeds by the way.

XX Jeannine

[trinity]

have just put my order in I hope it arrives. There is still more I want so I will probably make another order before spring  ;D as there is so much that I want from the seeds list I did not think it would be a good idea as I am sure a 20lb packet labled garden seeds would be checked at customs ::) ::) ::)

[Baccy Man]

Defras list of what is & is not allowed can be downloaded from:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/planth/publicat/importer/impguide.pdf