[Celtic Eagle]

Just a thought but some of crops this year have been c*** not just cos of weather either . I think it might be down to the seed I tend to buy non F1 and I must admit budget price seed.   Could this be the result? - under performing plants some of which hav'nt cropped at all. Last year i had wonderful perpretual spinach this year I've just pulled the lot up poor growth tough leaves  Beetroot poor crop.

I will admit I've also lost a bit of stuff due to the rain but in the main that doesn't seem to be the cause.

Any ideas comments

[Oscar Too]

You can't really make a value judgement about F1 seed in the way you want.  It's just seed that's been bred to have certain characteristics - i.e. early flowering, heavy cropping.  

If you're not getting the results you want, it's more probable that fertility, watering, weather conditions and so on are to blame.  They all interact, so isolating one will be difficult.

If you want to do better, go and talk to the old boys on the allotments and ask what varieties suit your area, weather, site, etc.  On our allotment some of the old boys have been keeping records for 40 years - there's not much that they don't know about.

[WG.]

Blame the weather rather than your seed.  I very rarely buy F1 seed - only shallot I think (because all?/most shallot seed sold is F1).

You have to particularly want the feature that the hybrid offers.

[Trillium]

Same here. If anything, non hybrid seeds produce better for me and most certainly have better fruits. Like all the others, I agree that its 50/50 weather and your growing methods. Gardening is a big live and learn experience that takes a lifetime and you still won't know half there is to know  
As for bargain seed, it's a toss up. Most certainly you get less in the package. You might even get seed from less than ideal plants but overall it shouldn't affect how you grow yours. More likely bargain seeds are cleaned up floor sweepings from major seed suppliers.

[paintedlady]

F1 seeds are virtually genetically identical hence the uniform cropping periods and sizes.  Diversity from non F1 seed usually allow individual plants to survive varying conditions but can all be a bit hit and miss.

With F1 seed it means you could end up with an entire crop maturing at the same time if the conditions are perfect, or failing in one fell swoop if conditions are not right.  Hence, always a good idea to grow F1 seeds in batches of every 2 to 3 weeks to stagger it out for both harvesting and hitting a good growing period.