[bashful_badger]

Just wondering whether anyone thinks any particular seed brand are any better than others?

I believe which did testing on seeds and some brands came out with high levels of dead seed so wondered what everyone thought / experienced?

[peapod]

Ive found Wilkos (Wilkinsons) have always been my best buy.  I bought some T&M seeds last year, and wasnt happy at all, half were expensive chilli seeds that only 2 out of 10 germinated, and tumbler toms that were big huge 4 foot plants!

Mind you, I did struggle hugely with compost quality this spring

[pushrod]

If you get poor germination rates you should write to the company and you will usually get complimentary replacements or more.

[peapod]

To be honest Push, I blamed my compost (and still do up to a point), so didnt write in. Im a bit mad at myself now, but Ive learned a lesson and am starting to harvest my own chilli seeds. and have kept a good bag od compost back from this year

[DD.]

You'll find that a lot of seed supplier obtain their seed from the same source.

Sadly not from the UK.

[gillie]

I took part in a Garden Organic seed germinating experiment a few years back.

All the seeds I tested from a variety of companies had excellent germination.  However if you are looking for a 'best' brand there are other considerations.

Little seed is produced in the UK now because the climate is not sufficiently reliable and there is liable to be a lot of crop failures.  So yes, seed from different companies may come from the same foreign source but the company's policies on testing and packaging are important.

Franchi packets give you a very large quantity of seeds, while T & M are decidedly mean.  This may not matter for something like tomatoes where you only want a few seeds.

You may also want to consider the amount of advice available on the seed packet.  Franchi gives very little, mostly in the form of diagrams, and they seem to be very optimistic about sowing and cropping dates. 

Do you want a nice photo on the front of the packet, or are you happy with a purely printed envelope?  Do you want the seeds packed in a foil inner packet, so that the seeds will keep well, or are you going to sow immediately and therefore do not mind? Some packets include a label.   Do you want or use these?

The T & M catalogue contains hyped novelties which often do not live up to their promise.  You may enjoy trying these or you may prefer a list with more familiar varieties and a calmer tone.

Personally I mistrust T & M as I am always wary of hype.  I enjoy experimenting with Franchi seeds and if it goes wrong the first year I still have plenty of seed to try again.  However in the main I stick to 'middle range' companies.  The only company that I know sent me wrong seed is The Organic Gardening Catalogue.

Cheers,

Gillie

[Ivah]

I have got on well for years with the no frills Wallis seeds - I rarely get failures, they are reasonably priced and usually they have the basic varieties that I want. We also get some different varieties to experiment with usually from Franchi, there are really too many seeds in their packets and as I have always found their germination rates very high it seems unnecessary. I do not understand how T&M maintain their position in the marketplace as they fail all my criteria; price, germination and "doing what it says on the tin". Interesting to see somebody blaming their compost, what was it? I responded to another thread where I said I mainly germinate in peat based MCP because it works, what do you think?

[veggirl]

I've had excellent germination with seeds from gardenbymail.co.uk - very cheap (lots of packs under 50p), quick service and good customer relations. Sorry, can't remember how to put a link on.

[bashful_badger]

This is very helpful, I'd have gone straight for T&M being new as it's the one I've heard of most but given what everyone has written I don't think I will now!

[Salmo]

The minimum germination standard for selling seed is not very high, only about 70% for many seeds. That means that if 3 out of 10 fail to germinate it is still legal and you cannot complain. If you are unlucky you could sow from a corner of the packet that contains all the duff seeds.

When seeds are harvested they will be tested for germination. A batch of seeds with only 50% germination may be blended with another batch with 90% to give the 70% minimum required.

Seeds that the companies have left from last year can be retested and if the minimum standards are still OK they can be sold. Packeted in 2009, what does it mean?

Just because seeds germinate in the laboritory it does not mean that they will perform in your plot. What you want are seeds that germinate quickly and grow away fast so that they cope with bugs, diseases and poor seedbeds. We have all sown seeds that take for ever and come up as weak plants. Are they old seed that has been blended in?

[lisa80]

my gemination rate has also been very high with gardenbymail also the seeds i bought from netto were great, well known varieties i.e  kelveston peas and scarlet empera and enorma beans etc all for 19p a packet

[gillie]

I had not heard of either gardenbymail or Wallis, so I have looked at their websites.

The Gardenbymail collection is rather eccentric, with lots of well known varieties missing.  The Wallis list is better, but they do not have a proper shopping cart system, which rules them out for me.

I am not too bothered about the cost of seeds.  If you value your time seeds are such a small proportion of the overall expense of vegetable gardening .

Gillie

[JayG]

I look first for the variety I want, then the price/quantity, so I've bought everything from Aldi radish seed at 25p a packet to T&M runner beans at over £3.

I can honestly say I have rarely been disappointed, although I won't buy seeds from garden centres where they bake their seed displays in all-glass sections of their stores.

Other than that, some seeds are definitely short-lived; sowing parsnip seed after year 1 is definitely a gamble whichever brand you buy.

[maxie]

Ive had very good germination and crops from marshalls seeds this year.
But ive also had very good radish and spring onions from lidl as well.
Ive been a bit disappointed by some of wilkos stuff the last couple of years thats why i went back to marshalls,the peas were nearly 100% germination against wilkos own and the named brand they sell (johnsons is it ? )which were very patchy and 70% would be stretching it a bit.
Never had any problems with t+m seeds which seem to keep for years,unlike the wilko seeds,would i be wrong in thinking they might be older seed thats why they are cheaper.

[Aidy]

I use sveral different suppliers depending on what I am growing.
T&M always good and true to the packet.
Unwins, as above
Fothergills have been a little eratic germination at times.
D&T, these are our main supplier through the site, get good discount, pretty good germination rates but this year a good many people on site have complained the seeds are not what is on the packet although all mine were.
Wilkos, got some little gem which must be getting on 5 years now (2000 seeds) and still germinate well and at 49p it was a bargain.