Topic: Seeds

[Tulipa]

Hello Brown 97 and welcome to Allotments 4 All, it is a wonderful place and I hope you have many happy hours here.  I really just wanted to say us Hectares don't laugh at people, we are all still learning on here.  There are so many ways of growing any veg/flower etc and we all try out different ways to find what is best for us.  You sound to be getting yourself ready and organised and hopefully will be on a plot soon.  You have done exceedingly well to have only spent £23.31 - well done!  It becomes more and more addictive you know.... :-[

Hope you get your plot soon.

T.

[manicscousers]

hiya, Brown, welcome to the site, watch out, you'll be a seedaholic in no time  ;D

[sarah]

i have used alan roman seeds before and am going to use them again this year as my budget is tight. they dont have a huge selelction of varieties but i quite like that as all the fancy brochures with thousands of varieties send me into a spin of indicision.  alan roman send their seeds in plain foil wraps which cuts down on the price and most are around fifty pence. 

[saddad]

Welcome to the site Brown, any less formal handle?  :-\

[Brown97]

Yes, Thanks Tulipa, Manic and Saddad for your very warm welcome and words of advice. I totally agree that this seed thing can be a bit addictive...I think it was DebP who said she gets her seeds out and drools!!! I laughed because I've already started doing that..LOL. What is the best rehab? I might need to get myself enrolled before things get out of hand!  :)

To more posts and learning!!

Nathan

[saddad]

There is no cure Nathan... and drooling is only a minor affliction...  ;D

[pigeonseed]

don't drool on the seeds - they might sprout early!

[star]

Hi and welcome Nathan, ;D ;D ;D

Hope your plot comes up very soon, you have done very well to only spend £28. I can only go by wot the others say.........their addictions are really bad ::). I spend very little on seeds.....poor as a church mouse me.......awwwww ::)

I dont have a plot either so not a lot of room for too many veggies in my garden. I grow what we like to eat, though I would love to try things new as well. I dont have space for a lot of experimenting. I grew Salsify this year..........yummieeeee. We'll have some more of that thank you very much ;D

You made me giggle when you said hectares would laugh at you. ;). Many, many newbies have far more knowledge than I do, but thats why I like it here. No one is any better than anyone else and we are all still learning..............have fun  ;D ;D

[Lauren S]

Hi Nathan and welcome from me also.

To date, as far as I'm aware, there is NO cure for becoming a seed-a-holic except... throw in the trowel  ;D

Good luck with getting a lottie very soon.

Lauren

P.S... Don't just wait for the call, get down there or speak (in person) to who ever is in charge of allocating lotties, and ask them again if any plot have become vacant. The more you ask them, I'm convinced, the quicker you'll get a plot.....Shows you are keen  ;)

[lorna]

Welcome aboard, join in and enjoy. You won't find a better gardening site.

[Brown97]

Haha! You guys make me laugh. Going to really enjoy learning and sharing!! Thanks again for the pointers about the plot Lauren. Will do!!

Star, I had never heard of Salsify. Do many people grow it? Looks like a cross between horseradish and parsnip. What's it taste like? (and please don't say Chicken :) :))

Along the lines of seeds - - Where would I find my local Potato Day location? Is this at the allotments? I'm in the NorthEast.

Although I did spend £23, I didn't buy any spuds yet. I'm hoping of going for 1st and 2nd earlies, depending on stocks.
'Accent' or 'Swift' as my 1st
'Maxine' or 'Nicola' as my 2nd

What do you think?
Nathan

[saddad]

Salsify is also known as vegetable oyster... just vivd imagination. Not as sweet as parsnips. Even if you don't eat them they have [pretty flowers and will self seed over the entire site...

[star]

The Salsify are lovely, as Saddad said, not as sweet as parsnips but they have a lovely creamy texture. My OH is very fussy and he loves them ;D

[cornykev]

Hi Natham and welcome to the madhouse  :P  there are some pretty crazy peeps on here  :P  but stick with me and you should be OK. The seedaholics on here are like a cult they dance naked on certain nights of the year and go through this ritual called seed swap, theres no hope for some of them, that's when we send round the straight jackets, anyone up for a seed swap this year.            :P :P :P      ;D ;D ;D

[cornykev]

Sorry Ace430 back to your question you can't go far wrong with alan romans, but check your local nurserys for spuds.  ;D ;D ;D

[Brown97]

I don't know about dancing round naked. I think my wife may have something to say about that... ;D ;D
However, along those lines, what does everyone make of GW mag's mention of Lunar Gardening or Moon Gardening? Does it work?

Now I suppose I'll have more seeds than necessary of any one variety, and it is good practice to have many different pots on the go...so how does this Seed Swap work anyways??

Here's my list purchased this year as mentioned earlier:
Borecole (Curly Kale) Dwarf Green Curled
Broccoli Purple Sprouting   
Cabbage Ormskirk 1 - Ormskirk Late
Cabbage January King 3    
Carrot Parmex    
Leaf Beet Bright Lights   
Swede Invitation
Tomato Hundreds & Thousands
Broccoli Bordeaux F1
Brussels Sprouts Trafalgar F1
Carrot Flyaway F1
Cauliflower Walcheren Winter 3-Armado April
Cauliflower Mayflower F1
Turnip Tokyo Cross F1

From what I understand, they are mostly the "tried and tested" varieties. Nothing fancy, just works. Is that true??

Nathan

[Deb P]

I don't know about dancing round naked. I think my wife may have something to say about that... ;D ;D
However, along those lines, what does everyone make of GW mag's mention of Lunar Gardening or Moon Gardening? Does it work?

Now I suppose I'll have more seeds than necessary of any one variety, and it is good practice to have many different pots on the go...so how does this Seed Swap work anyways??

Here's my list purchased this year as mentioned earlier:
Borecole (Curly Kale) Dwarf Green Curled
Broccoli Purple Sprouting   
Cabbage Ormskirk 1 - Ormskirk Late
Cabbage January King 3    
Carrot Parmex    
Leaf Beet Bright Lights   
Swede Invitation
Tomato Hundreds & Thousands
Broccoli Bordeaux F1
Brussels Sprouts Trafalgar F1
Carrot Flyaway F1
Cauliflower Walcheren Winter 3-Armado April
Cauliflower Mayflower F1
Turnip Tokyo Cross F1

From what I understand, they are mostly the "tried and tested" varieties. Nothing fancy, just works. Is that true??

Nathan

1. Naked dancing? Whatever rocks your boat! ;) But i do put my hands up up being one of the seedaholics, I have been up tonight salivating over my latest bit of veggy porn, a.k.a the Canadian Baker Creek catalogue!

2. Lunar gardening...some swear by it, I have tried it in the past, and to be really honest haven't noticed any vast differences, but only tried quick crops like lettuces for comparison. OH bought me a book for Christmas on Biodynamic planting, and now I have a new half plot and a bit more room I can afford to try it out a bit this season.

3. I've grown some of the veg you have listed, Chard 'Bright Lights' is a favourite of mine, really decorative and I like it better than Spinach to cook with, doesn't bolt as readily.

Parmex and Flyaway carrots, Parmex are great little round carrots, I grew them in open ground last year and they did not get any carrot root fly, Flyaway did!

Be careful where you grow Tomato H & T, it is very prolific, and I found the fruits cracked quite easily, I just couldn't keep up with it as far as picking went!

Broccoli Bordeaux and PSB, both good 'doers', make sure you net them though or the birds will strip the lot. I grew 'Marathon' broccoli for the first time last year, and had a fantastic crop

Cauliflower Mayflower I didn't have any luck with, my fave is 'Shasta', one of the few F1 varieties I grow (mostly brassicas). Jeannine put me on to that variety and kindly swapped me some seeds, but I'm running out now, hence the Baker Creek catalogue; it's one of the few places I can find that sells it, amongst other goodies... ;D

[Barnowl]

Because we're tight for space, I grow some of my potatoes in bags.

For a different sort of second early I'm a big fan of Anya (a Maris Piper - Pink Fir cross). You can buy them in Sainsburys if you want to check them out  :)

Re your seed list I'd say you were short on beans (runner and French/climbing) and conventional tomatoes - is that deliberate?

As you mentioned you tend to get more seeds per packet  than you need (200 brussel sprouts anyone?) and I've started using MoreVeg http://www.moreveg.net/ who sell   in smaller quantities. (I haven't yet sown any of their seed so can't vouch for germination rates but no-one has mentioned a problem).

If you do want larger quantities Moles seeds and Tozers are usually good value
http://www.molesseeds.co.uk/index.html
http://www.tozerseedsdirect.com/

I have used more than 30 suppliers in the last 12 months alone ((fully paid up member of seed buyers anonymous). However, like many others here,  the company I've used most is RealSeeds.

Re swaps, start a post in the Swaps Forum saying what type and/or variety of seeds you're looking for and what you can provide in return.

[gwynleg]

Oh no, now I've read this string I have to buy salsify seeds too!!

[electric landlady]

Have just been checking out RealSeeds and they look marvellous! Especially the seed-saving tips. Can't think why I haven't looked at them before. Big thanks to the people who suggested them, although on the other hand you may have created a monster. I mean, how to choose?? I want to grow ALL of them. Uh oh, I can feel a big seed order coming on.

 :o :o :o