Topic: How much do you spend on seeds per year?

[Ruth Rocket]

Hi everyone,
Just wondering how much folks spend on seeds roughly, I am just putting an order in at our allotment shop, we get seeds roughly half price, but I am getting carried away and I currently I am at £80!!!!  Not sure if this is excessive as most things I won't use a full packet, but I am hoping maybe to swap some with my neighbours. Some seeds are for the allotment and some for my garden so maybe it isn't so bad :(

[grannyjanny]

I don't know which seed company you site uses but have a look at premier seeds to compare prices & quantities. Sorry I don't do links but it's an ebay site.

There are a few of us on here who wouldn't dare put it it in black & white how much we actually spend on seed ;) ;D but we do like to spread them around ;).

[GrannieAnnie]

As vices go, seed buying is fairly innocuous. That's my view and I'm sticking to it.

[Ruth Rocket]

Mmmmmmm I wasn't comfortable typing the figure in, especially as I know I have a few other places I will buy from too, and impulses buy on top! 
They buy from mr Fothergills, but I will go over and find Premier, I am a hardened eBayer! 
To be honest it is not that bad if you divide by 52 and also think of the money you save in the supermarket......  I am telling myself!

[Monkey Brains]

Probably a similar amount to you in my first year. Only about £20 in year two, and have recently just put another order in at my allotment shed for next years seed for another £35, though I keep marking more & more & more pages in all the seed catalogues that've been dropping through my letterbox over the past few months, so probably a fair bit more bythe time spring comes around.

If I chose to, I could just spend £1 or so on fresh parsnip seeds as I've got enough of everything else put by to last me several years, but choosing & buying new varieties of seeds is a little bit addictive in the quieter winter months!

[grawrc]

I think when you start out there is more expense than once you are up and running.

I decided to budget for the allotment properly this year and I am setting aside £20 a month for all the plot expenses. I also pay £20 a year for my plot which comes out of my annual budget of £240 at the end of March..  Since the beginning of July I have spent £48.45 out of an £80 budget so still have £31.55 left before November's £20 gets added in.

I still have to get seed potatoes and spring planting onion sets (although I have seed so I might use that instead) and I need spring onion and spinach seed but apart from that I have everything I think I'm going to need for the 2012 season.

I'll probably end up making some impulse purchases during the year or may need to top up some more seeds but I think I might manage on £20 a month!!!



I already have a large dungheap, 5 daleks full of compost and bfb. I don't have sulphate of potash left or any lime so they may need to be replenished.

[Morris]

If you have space to keep seeds in your fridge (second fridge purchase now also required??!!) they last a surprisingly long time, 5+ years in some cases. All except parsnips. So your money is an investment!!

You do need to spend more at first to build up stocks, and also you have to keep trying new varieties to find out your personal favourites.

I don't add it up, and I don't buy all at once like you, saves the pain!

[goodlife]

 :o  :o  :o.....

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There are a few of us on here who wouldn't dare put it it in black & white how much we actually spend on seed ... :-X Not a lot..
My excuse is that I hardly spend anything on plants..garden centre trips I do only couple of times a year and I only buy gardening (or any) magazines once or twice or year.
So I have to spend my pocket money for something... ;)
My carefull guess is that I spend anything between £1-£100 a year for seeds.. ;D..and that is as much I let out.. 8)

[chriscross1966]

I spend more than I should, especially the last ocuple of years.... this year I've been a bit better though, mostly because with my "start-everything-in-modules" habit I've got a lot of most seeds from the last couple of years still left... things I need pretty much yearly are the things hwere you don't get many in a packet... some tomatoes, sweetcorn, broad beans, wrinkled peas, F1 shallots etc... then I try and get them from the 50p sale at Wyevale... only thing I have to buy fresh is parsnip and this year I hope to experiment with year old seed vs new as I have the space and the propagators....

chrisc

[grannyjanny]

Goodlife, your secret is safe with me ;) ;D ;D ;D.

[saddad]

As vices go, seed buying is fairly innocuous. That's my view and I'm sticking to it.

I'm not saying...  :-X  :-[

[powerspade]

Last Year I spent £38.00 on seeds and £15.00 on seed spuds
£10.00 on Onion sets and shallots

[Duke Ellington]

I tend to buy bargain seeds now (50p wyevale sale) and I also buy a lot of Lidl seeds. Last year I bought a lot of Franchi seeds for 50p which always contain a lot of seeds so I have a lot I can use next year. The only cheap seeds that I wouldn't recommend are the B&Q bargain seeds in the orange and white packet. I seem to get poor germination and lots of white beetroot in with the bolthardy seeds.

Honestly I really don't know how much I spend on seeds but this is my fourth year of having an allotment and I am spending a lot less on them.

Duke

[Digeroo]

I spend too much.  I am a hopeless seedoholic.   Then I think of how little I have been spending on vegetables and fruits.  The trouble with spending £80 all at once that will not leave much money for the next bargain.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I don't keep accounts, but it's not that much, given the amount of seed swapping I do. That's been my main source for a couple of years, along with £25 worth of free seed I had last year. The biggest things are seed spuds and onion sets.

That being said, it does fluctuate quite a bit, and I expect to spend more than usual this year.

[goodlife]

Hm..I forgot about the spuds.. ::) well..that don't add much to the total..I don't grow that many. Onions I grow from seeds and shallots and garlic I save from my own. And now that my apple tree shopping is calmed  down I don't have that cost anymore neither.. ;D
This year I've gone bonkers with seed shopping..BUT..next year will be calmer one.. :-X..Honestly..I'm NOT buying yet another storage box for seeds anymore... ::)
Other day I rummage in my boxes and I did found ONE seed that I'm short of.. ::)..so I've got one more packet to buy..unless some courgettes will turn up from swaps.. ;) ;D Perharps I should save my own next year..

[Deb P]

(Fingers crossed behind back....) Well, I also don't keep a tally but I'm sure it can't add up to much over the year......... :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X

In my defence,  ;) I do save all of my own tomato seeds for the next year, buy most of my new seeds in the 50p Wyvale sale, and also participate in some of the seeds swaps via this site which is a great way of trying some new varieties. I did not spend much on potatoes last year but that was only because I didn't go to the Ryton potato day as I would normally have, and ended up buying all my seed potatoes from Wilco's (whatever was left!)...perversely I had my best crops ever from them, so I will do the same this year!

I think I have had to spend more on buying autumn planted alliums this year as I lost all my own selected Marco garlic that I would normally save in the spring drought, and Jermor shallots always do well for me so I think that it a justified expense... ;D

Then there are the few regular 'must buys' each year, which for me are: Cavili courgettes, Swift sweetcorn, Sunbright runner beans,(although I am saving a few of my own this year as I haven't found it easy to source new seed) Safari french beans (always eat the lost so they never get saved!) plus replacements for any I use up completely from previous years. I'm not counting all the new stuff I might have to try from the 'Veggy Porn' catalogues, I'm saving them for later...... ;D

 

[pigeonseed]

I don't spend much - I have spent money in the last 3 years on fruit trees and equipment, because I had to start again after moving plots.

Most of the cost is shallots, onion sets and seed spuds. That alone would come to about £25 a year. I have to order them online and pay delivery as local shops have stopped stocking them. I'm hoping to save some seed spuds this year though.

I don't spend much on seeds - some things are hard for to save seed from and so I'll carry on buying in for a while. But the easy ones, I'm saving more and more of, as I find varieties I like and stick to them. Which is what Morris said - it's a good point.

[Linnea]

I'm still in the finding stuff I like (and how much of it to grow!) phase so spend probably quite a lot on seeds. i think so  far I've spent about £80 on seeds for next year and still have to get seed spuds and shallots.
But I don't consider this excessive as it's my hobby and exercise and relaxation as well as food :)

[goodlife]

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But I don't consider this excessive as it's my hobby and exercise and relaxation as well as food
Spot on!..my thoughts put on one line. ;) ;D.