[Hey Jude]

As a newbie I'd be grateful for your opinions please - I've been looking through a seed catalogue and have noticed certain varieties are flagged up 'Great for Beginners'. Are they recommended on their disease resistance or yields etc and is it at the expense of flavour which is one of my main reasons for growing my own?!?! I don't think I'll necessarily get my seeds from the catalogue as I know I can buy much cheaper elsewhere (assuming I can get the varieties I eventually decide on). Any advice would be welcome!  Thank you!

[Yorkie]

I haven't specifically noticed this, but I would assume that they are recommended for beginners because of any or all of the following:

- easy germination
- don't require technical expertise or lots of equipment to grow them
- don't require lots of transplanting or precise soil preparation

Disease resistance or yields might, just, be relevant - but I would expect this to be specifically mentioned in the blurb.

I wouldn't necessarily assume that they will be of poorer taste or other qualities.

[compostqueen]

not sure what the question was at the end of that  :?  

I was reading in the KG mag the other day about the RHS trialling of aubs, amongst other things.  Apparently, when awarding Certificates of Merit, they test for everything but FLAVOUR

So what's the point of all that then given we grow to eat, well most of us do don't we  :?

I know supermarkets might want the straighest, best keepers etc but why should that apply to say Fothergills or Thompson and Morgan etc who are supplying amateur growers

This year I grew from seed some courgettes which were described as F1, They were the most crooked, wonky, non-uniform I've ever seen  

[Yorkie]

This year I grew from seed some courgettes which were described as F1, They were the most crooked, wonky, non-uniform I've ever seen  

Ah, but as they were the most uniformly crooked, wonky, non-uniform courgettes,  they fit the F1 label i.e. predictable!

[compostqueen]

They're courgette Zephyr and they look nothing like the picture. Could it be that nature has the last laugh.

[peapod]

Agreed with Yorkie
I use 'easy for beginners' seeds for my little boy..as an example..nastursiums(sp?)..(yes I know its not veg but you see where Im coming from)
easy to germinate,easy to handle,will grow with the minimum of fuss and prep.

Paula

[woodburner]

I think the answer to your question is "probably".  

[compostqueen]

I've just divvied up some seeds for children from my tin and I've got some carrots, lettuce mix and radishes for spring sowing

I bought some NZ spinach Tirza last year and those seeds are massive so they'd be easy. All the courgette, cucumber and pumpkin seeds are big fat seeds.

Calendula and marigold, sweet peas are easy flowers to sow. So plenty to start them off