[missmoneypenny]

I’ve been stalking my favourite garden centres specifically looking for tomato seeds- not particularly left field varieties, just don’t want to grow moneymaker. Have been told 3 times in a row to come in next week, shelves still half bare. I’m wondering if there are supply issues. Anyone else experiencing similar?

[Growster...]

Our GC here had all their seeds on the stands in January, and according to the lovely lady there, the Unwins Rep was pretty thorough at getting the Shirley toms in, which were forgotten last year!

I'm wondering if there are fewer seeds in many of the F1 packets, and maybe some of the flowers, although we don't grow many from seed, just veg etc...

I did learn that if the trial germinations of the seeds from the previous year don't reach around 95% success, they ditch the lot, but if I was a betting man, I'd say that seeds like cucumber are bred to die before they reach your greenhouse, and also courgettes have a suicide vest attached to them as well! They do here, so I buy plants and think of England!

[mumofstig]

Perhaps, because of the economic situation, a lot of people are starting to GYO and there may not be enough to go round. Perhaps bite the bullet and order what you want direct from a seed company, Premier Seeds or Simply Seeds have reasonable prices.

[missmoneypenny]

Thanks guys. I may well need to bite the bullet, although none of the providers have all the seeds i want, so postage fees will accumulate. But that’s better than being caught short!

[Janvdw]

Hi, I found similar problems for example purple kale, I had various a swers from different suppliers some say it is due to covid as many people started growing their own spending so much time on their own and many people are moving to the countryside also causing an increase in demand and many people are looking to grow more varieties and more exotic vegetables than the usual ones we see generally, because of this demand seed suppliers can't keep up, other reasons were depending on how on the ball the business is where you buy from or how good the local rep is. Other reaso  I see a lot on  the net know which is political conspiracy theories or are they? 

[New shoot]

Other reaso  I see a lot on  the net know which is political conspiracy theories or are they? 

   Seriously     It never fails to amaze me what people will dream up conspiracy theories on 

The online seed suppliers have been doing their usual £1 a packet and other deals over the winter, so things can’t be that bad.  I did pop into my local garden centre this week and they had all their seeds out.

It might be a local rep being a bit useless, or a centre low down on their list as they are not one of the big boys. I did notice all my local centres were slow to clear Christmas and get going this year. Someone I know at one told me they had a bad year in 2022 with the heatwaves and then a winter of pouring rain alternating with freezes. They didn’t recruit many extra staff for Christmas and were still fairly thin on the ground, but hoping for a better time of it this season.

[pdblake]

Another vote for Premier Seeds Direct here. I've used Seed Parade for the second year running but this year a lot of the seeds were short dated. Never heard back from them either.

[Goosegirl]

I've noticed a great reduction in flower plug plants re- varieties and sizes. I've had to order over 100 begonias because they only do many of them in one size.