Catalogue mania?

[peter]

Ok now, be honest with me.

How many seed catalogues will you get this winter?
How long will you spend perusing them before placing any orders?
How many will you order from?
How impatient will you be waiting for the parcel(s) to arrive?
How excited will you be opening the parcel(s)?
How many times will you 'sort' the packets?



After all that how much of what you grow will be impulse packets from Wilko's or a diy shed?

[John P]

Hello Peter,answers from top to bottom. 4 Not long,maybe 40 mins. Probably 2. I wont be. Not a lot. About 3 or 4. About 2/3 %, I normally yse established seedsmen.

[Beryl]

Think I get most of them and yes I do take time to look at them on a cold wet winters evening just to see what's new and if there is anything I would like to try for a change.
Usually order through Lottie soc. Kings or Marshalls but have been know to try others as a one off.
I do keep them for a year before recycling so I can compare throughout the year.
Seed packets are kept by year that I buy them so I can easily see what is left in old seed to use up. I find my old floppy disc boxes usuful for that.
I'm not impatient for my order to arrive but do always check it through when it does.
I do also collect quite a lot of 'freebies' from the mags. and papers to.
All part of the thrill of anticipation of what is to come at the start of the new season. After more than 20- years I still get a buzz.

Beryl.

[Nature's Babe]

Peter, reading this made me smile, not many occupations give such pleasure and anticipation, so I guess we should celebrate it instead of feeling sheepish.
Like Beryl i still get a buzz, though I have been gardening a lifetime, its fun
to try some new things with old favourites, and the anticipation of planning next years crops is fun too. I tend to look on their websites not catalogues though. When my saffron crocus and asparagus crowns arrived I was so keen they were planted same day! Seeds though get sorted in order of planting times aiming for some good pickings for all seasons, but though I try to spread the load there always seems to be that bottleneck to squeeze through in spring when so much needs to be sown all at once.

[Parsons Jack]

For many years now, I have had all the usual ones sent to me and spent many a happy hour perusing them through the winter months.
This year though, I shall buy most of what I want from Moles or Seeds of Italy. Both through the allotment association. There will probably still be the odd impulse buy though if I see something when I'm out and about
I really must have a good sort out of my existing 4 shoeboxes of seeds though

[Westi]

I have just spent the morning looking through the catalogues that have
come so far. I always start with the ones with the coloured pictures
then pick what appeals then I compare prices throughout the lot.

It is a very serious time - hubby and dogs have to be gone for several hours, pen paper and coffee available - no distractions! Next phase is then going online for a peep at those, including overseas sites if something jumps out at me. This process takes me several weeks then I order most via the lottie club but also get several other deliveries realishing each parcel more than my Xmas presents (unless they are gardening related of course!)

Westi

[richard p]

i get several catalogues arriving on the doormat.... tend not to open any of the mainsteam ones.... only open the ones that look like they might have something different in... thomas etty for one. i save quite a bit of seed so dont buy a lot. what i do buy is usually on a trip to wilkinson for anything run of the mill. anything slightly unusual will be ordered online... often from someone listing on ebay.

[snooky]

I,too,get several catalogues but over the last few years only ordering from one-Wallis Seeds who in my opinion are the best value for money seed company. There isn't much that I want this year,it seems that after sorting through my seedbox and binning any old packets of seed I have a lot of the freebies left over given away with such magazines as K.G.
If i buy in plants then I will use Marshalls or D.T.Brown whichever is,again,the best value for money.
I will be impatient for them to arrive then I know that another exciting,with it's trials and tribulations,growing year will soon be here.

[Monika]

I always look forward to the arrival of catalogues (usually about five or six) and really go through them to choose. DT Browns and Kings are my favourites, I think, and for flower plug plants probably Dobies. Every year I stick mostly to my usual varieties which I know suit our conditions but a few will be new ones, too. And, for that, you really need to compare different catalogues.

It's amazing, though, how early they arrive nowadays. About 35 years ago they came around or just after Christmas, then it was mid-October and now some drop through the letterbox at the end of September.

[Parsons Jack]

I must say I do like Moles catalogue. A4 size and 240 glossy pages. Very easy to spend a fortune if you're not careful

[Primrose]

I do receive a number of catalogues and after several years of enthusiastically being carried away with ordering I'm now trying to restrain myself because I have a fairly limited vegetable growing area in our garden so a lot of seeds either get wasted or become time expired.
Having said that I do like to browse through them during winter months and try a new variety of something or other most years but it seems rather wasteful just to spend money on postage and packing just for one particular variety of seed from one manufacturer.
Last year I received several samples of deep red lettuce seeds from Tozer Seeds which really impressed me, and as I still have many left, as well as umpteen half used seed packets from other suppliers, I need to concentrate on using up what I've got before they become too dated.

(Which reminds me, sorting out my seed packets is another task to be added to my "to do" list for passing the dark winter evenings.