Hello everyone my name is Summer

[Summer]

Good eve everyone my name is Summer and I have just joined the site.
My first question of many is where is the best place to buy seeds please/
Last year I bought from Tuckers but only because the allotment boss made me feel it was the only way and he goes and collects the stuff himself!!
Cheers ne dears 

[Summer]

[BarriedaleNick]

Hi Summer - welcome to the site..Hope you have fun here..

Jay b has put together a long list of online shops here

Enough to make a seedaholic go weak at the knees..

[Summer]

Ahhh bless u I'll go and have a look at them.
Cheers
Summer

[Summer]

Still mind boggling which companies do all u's use?
Cheers
Summer

[BarriedaleNick]

I tend to use
http://www.seedsofitaly.com - always loads of seeds in a pack
http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk - huge variety
http://www.organiccatalogue.com
http://www.realseeds.co.uk for heirloom types

and one ebay shop which I cant recall atm!

Plus I do use Thompson and Morgan and use my local garden centre who are a good bunch..

Cheers!

[steveg1966]

Hi Summer
When buying seeds I consider a few factors including price and availability etc and use a few online companies including Thomas Etty and Pennard Plants who I have found the best so far also I have used eBay to purchase seeds which is a good source for unusual stuff. Also I have bought tons from wilkos because they are cheap and they are usually 3 for 2.
Steve

[gavinjconway]

I have used www.seedparade.co.uk for years now and very good quality and service.

[squeezyjohn]

I've never had any seeds with better germination rates than www.realseeds.co.uk

[tricia]

Welcome to A4All Summer  . I second Wilko's  for cheap seeds and Lidl is good too - if you have a branch near you. You will find that some varieties of tomato, courgette and cucumber in particular can be horrendously expensive and only available from the big seed companies. £4.99 for 5 seeds is not unusual for some varieties!

Have fun with growing your own veggies!

Tricia

[goodlife]

Still mind boggling which companies do all u's use?
Cheers
Summer

All of them!!! Well, not all in once or even in same year, but I have bad habit buying 'bits from here and there' through out the year.

Oh....mind my manners...welcome  from me too

[antipodes]

Welcome! I often buy from vegetableseeds.net as they give discount for allotment holders :-)  The choice is a little basic but their quantities are not too bad for the price.

[Paulh]

You want to think about quality as much as quantity. While most seed is perfectly good for two or three years after opening, if stored in a cool, dry dark place, it doesn't really matter for me if the packet of cabbage seed contains 100, 200 or 300 seeds - I'm sowing a few seeds in 12 - 20 modules and planting out 10 or so good plants, so with more or less care, any packet will do me for two or three years. It's more problematic when the F1 variety comes in a packet of 30 seeds and I realise this when it runs out six modules in ...

Equally, tomato seed may seem expensive at £4 for 12 seeds or something, but they are big enough to sow individually and probably all come up so that's 35p a plant.

You'll probably find after a while that there are varieties you like or which do particularly well for you. Turnip "Aramis" and yellow courgette "Atena" grow brilliantly for me, while other varieties fail. Broad bean "Express" is reliable and a decent cropper, runner bean "Scarlet Emperor" isn't stringy. I'm not interested in bargains on other varieties. [Note: other posters will have completely opposite preferences, completely validly - which proves my point.]

Certainly, seed prices have gone up and the quantity in packets has gone down over the last few years, effectively the price has at least doubled, so you need to watch what you are buying, but spending a little more on better seed or a better variety is worth it.

Also. always go for at least one thing each season that is different and takes your fancy. Florence fennel is now a must have for me.

Enjoy browsing the catalogues and websites, enjoy making your choices, enjoy sowing the seeds, enjoy the slugs and snails, enjoy the harvest!

[galina]

Hi Summer (nice name) and Welcome! to the madhouse.

You had some good recommendations.  Before I add to them, it probably helps to know what sort of gardener you are.

For example - all of Real Seed's seeds are open pollinated and come with seedsaving instructions.  Which means that this company is very suited if you who want to grow and get into saving your own seeds.

Seeds of Italy have big packets as a rule.  Sufficient for sharing or for growing for several years or for a big allotment/garden.

You might want plain everyday or more specialised varieties for your garden.  You might want the standard tried and tested open pollinated varieties or the latest 'high performance' F1 hybrid varieties.  Then again you might want heirloom or heritage seeds for the flavour of yesteryear or you might want to grow unusual seeds, not commonly seen.

Which means that you might like very different varieties and ultimately very different seed companies to the next allotment - it really is difficult to advise without knowing more.

Where ever you buy your seeds, even the cheapest, they have to come up to germination standards if they are EU seeds, so a packet from the 'cheap-shop'  should be as good as a packet from the most advertising hyped expensive seed catalogue.

Have fun deciding on next year's seeds.   

[Digeroo]

Welcome to A4A

I have used Tuckers there packets are very plain but perhaps you get more seeds.  I like cavili courgette and theirs are £2.30 for 10 while Thomson and Morgan charge £3.99 for 5  ie more than 3 time the price they also have Carrot Nantes 5 which seem to like my soil.

I use Kings Seeds because I get a reduction through Swindon Allotment Society.
I use Seeds of Italy because I like their carrots courgettes and particularly Tromba d'Albenga squash
I use Fothergills because they are fast, some thing ate my sweet peas and the replacement arrive the day after ordering.
I buy in the sales at local garden centres 

At the moment I am drooling over squashes on Bobbys seeds because I like something different. But they also have my favourite carrots - juwarot.

I buy F1 hybrid sprout seeds because in my light soil nothing else works.

I am a seedoholic and there seems to be no known cure.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Depends what you want. Vegetableseeds.net is the cheapest place for standard varieties, plus a few less usual ones. Real Seeds, Brown Envelope Seeds and Thomas Etty are all good sources of heritge varieties. There's quite a bit of swapping goes on on the site as well. If you get into the habit of saving seeds, you won't have to buy so much, and you'll have some to sswap as well.

[davejg]

I use Premier Seeds Direct on eBay, or Kings through the allotment scheme.