Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: rowlandwells on October 15, 2020, 17:41
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how are you getting on with your seed orders plenty of catalogue's through the door :D any new varieties court your eye do you think seed prices have gone up this year?
mind you we will be turning the clocks back shortly plenty of time to put your feet up by the fire with a cup of tea or something a bit stronger with that seed catalogue in your hand :D
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The march of the F1 hybrids seems to be gathering pace this year, leading to higher prices for less seeds. One of the F1 hybrids I do grow is the parsnip Gladiator, which is giving me a very good crop this year. But I had an interesting conversation today with a tenant who had grown Hollow Crown to a similar size as mine. I am also an advocate of F1 Brussel Sprouts having seen the far superior performance of them at the trial fields at RHS Wisley. But otherwise I would rather grow open-pollinated varieties which I can buy much larger quantities more cheaply and collect seed which comes true to type. When I acted as an administrator for a seed scheme admittedly some years ago, I was somewhat surprised by the members' commitment to the well-known varieties.
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The march of the F1 hybrids seems to be gathering pace this year, leading to higher prices for less seeds. One of the F1 hybrids I do grow is the parsnip Gladiator, which is giving me a very good crop this year. But I had an interesting conversation today with a tenant who had grown Hollow Crown to a similar size as mine. I am also an advocate of F1 Brussel Sprouts having seen the far superior performance of them at the trial fields at RHS Wisley. But otherwise I would rather grow open-pollinated varieties which I can buy much larger quantities more cheaply and collect seed which comes true to type. When I acted as an administrator for a seed scheme admittedly some years ago, I was somewhat surprised by the members' commitment to the well-known varieties.
Holding my hand up as an "it aint broke don't fix it" seed chooser! I get a few experiments each year but the only F1 varieties I buy regularly are "Flyaway" carrot and "Belstar" calabrese. I find parsnips are easy to save seed from & the home-saved seed seems to keep longer than bought parsnip seed. I started with some bought Tender and True many years ago. I like to tell myself I'll end up with my own landrace variety that likes growing here!
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My seed order went in last Sunday to the garden club seed scheme from Kings. I don’t normally order from them as I’m usually our & about to various garden centres & enjoy buying in their seed sales. I delight it totting up how much my many packets would have cost :lol: :lol: if they’d been full price. But lack of access to trips this year has curtailed that activity, plus I’ve 5 boxes full size of seeds so only needed £18 s worth from the seed scheme :wacko: . I’ve already realised earlier today I didn’t order any tagettes! Might be able to add it on Sunday if I pop to the club store ( helps being chairwoman as well lol)
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yes the garden club seed scheme from Kings is a better option and really cost effective i still buy a few seeds from other companies and i have to say all our seed are usually F1's
we to have quite a few seed left over but i always think its going to be a bit hit and miss if they don't germinate and new seed is always to me a better option for me
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yes the garden club seed scheme from Kings is a better option and really cost effective i still buy a few seeds from other companies and i have to say all our seed are usually F1's
we to have quite a few seed left over but i always think its going to be a bit hit and miss if they don't germinate and new seed is always to me a better option for me
Oh I’ve got seed from years ago & mostly it’s good, I even managed to keep an opened packet of parsnip seed one year albeit I need the fridge & they were fine ( it was a large packet...moles I think it was, had thought it maybe had vermiculite mixed in for the size it was lol)
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I don’t tend to grow many F1 seeds these days, apart from Swift sweetcorn and Stonehead cabbage, which are both very good doers for me. I only have myself to feed so can afford to experiment a bit and have really enjoyed trying different heritage/heirloom varieties in recent years, and saving my own seed where there’s a chance of it coming true. Or even not coming true... Sometimes it’s interesting just to see what you get! This year I grew my own tomatoes from some Butcher’s Blood seeds I saved a couple of years ago. The plants ranged from a large, very sweet cherry-type to a ridged, beefsteak-type tom similar to a smaller Marmande. All very tasty... Variety is the spIce of life! I also rave about Champion of England peas - am on year five now of saving my own seed, and it’s always nice to have some to give away. But... You can’t beat those long dark evenings in a toasty house with a tipple, going through the seed catalogues and spending more than you meant to! :D