Kitchen Garden Forum

The catalogues are coming thick & fast & I am getting confused. Normally I buy from our little seed club but it has disbanded so looking at them all.
If it is cheap it is widely available, a bit more expensive & you get new or unusual varieties, but then there is seed number to consider even in the cheaper ones, not to mention the photography and layout of the catalogue being very tempting.

Confused.com
Westi

Evening Westi, I order most of my vegetable seeds from Wallis seeds, no pictures but good value for money.
I also like Chiltern seeds, no pictures again, but very good for a huge selection unusual flower seeds.

Goodness never heard of Wallis - thanks OH!

Westi

Mine is The Organic Gardening Catalogue.

Cheers, Tony.

Edwin Tucker excellent supplier.

Hi All

Being a member of National Society of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners every year we get a members seed catalogue from Kings Seed,never ever had a problem with them.

Regards

Arnie

I recently came across "Seedaholic.com". Prices are good and sowing and culture instructions excellent.
"Seeds of Italy" are also good value.

Regards, Gerry.

I like the Real Seed Catalogue, they only sell seeds they have tried out and that do well (in Wales). They also sell very fresh seeds and in generous quantities. There isn't a huge number of different varieties, but they do introduce new ones every year. Also they don't sell any hybrids so they come true from seed. and they include advice on saving your own seeds so you can keep growing your favourites without having to buy them.

I also like Marshalls for seeds, garlic, onion setts and potatoes.

I've tried most of the others over the years, but don't stick to one in particular, and if I only need one or two I buy them from a garden centre, and like the quality of Suttons and Johnsons

Like Arnie we use Kings as we get a discount through our NSALG membership. For seeds they don't supply we use T&M, Plants of Distinction, sometimes Dobies too

I mainly use Dobies as I have a discount through the local horticultural club.

Also the Organic Gardening Catalogue, Chiltern seeds (no pics but the descriptions are sometimes hilarious), Thompson & Morgan (if they send me a voucher). I'd never heard of Wallis Seeds either - had a look - only 95p delivery so that's not bad.

I generally look at the delivery prices before I make up my mind.

I always order the bulk of my seeds from D T Brown, having found their seeds and service very reliable over many years, but I usually also get some from Marshalls and Kings Seeds/Suffolk Herbs. Last year I had some pelleted seeds from Moles Seeds which germinated very well and have provided us with good carrots this year, but there were far more seeds in one packet than I would use, so I am hoping they are still viable this year.

Like plum pudding I like Real Seeds, because quantities are generous, descriptions honest, instructions for seed saving excellent - price is fair and if I save the seed I only need to buy them once so it works out cheapest in the long run. I also like seeds of Italy they're tasty, generous quantity and grow well when we have a warm summer. I have ordered from garden organic too, nice variety of organic and the heritage seeds are great to explore. I have been really disapointed with mean quantities from some of the major seed companies and usually only buy them when reduced to 50p at end of season, if there is something new I want to try, eg this year i tried a mini mange tout broad bean statissa I needed 2 packs, reduced at 50p - they germinated well and I am hopeful of a very early crop from containers in the lean to greenhouse before the autumn sown outdoor ones! Lettuce - if the lettuce is harvested a bit higher on the stem than normal it can be left to regrow and then produce seed that way you can have your cake and eat it - saves buying more lettuce seed !

I've always been enthusiastic about Kings over the years. They grow most of what they sell and supply most of the other suppliers. Good prices and quality seeds, and their catalogue is always superb. Tuckers are good for their wide range of varieties but their packeting leaves something to be desired — leaky paper packets with illegible hand-written labels, or polythene bags, strangely. I used to like Marshalls but I've decided that actually they're really too pricey for what they offer. I have never had a single positive experience with T&M, cannot recommend them at all.

Tried the pound shop this year [4 packets for a quid] Not a large range, but all grew OK.

I've used Wallis for quite a few years with top ups from elsewhere of things they didn't stock, Simpsons being quite a regular one. For this year I wanted Tomato rootstock which I could only find from Moles so they got an order as well. I have been well pleased with everything from Moles, the main down side being large packets, and coupled with this some Wallis things haven't done as well as usual (two varieties of Peas didn't seem to be pure strains for example) so I think Moles could get a greater proportion of the next order.