Kitchen Garden Forum

Italian seeds seem to be all the rage at the moment. I'm not going to mention any names, but....
Why can I buy a packet of seeds from an Italian company (lets take Peperoncino Cilieggia Piccante for instance)stuffed full of around 200 seeds, but a British company jumping on the Italian bandwagon is charging the same price for a packet of 10 seeds. Are we being ripped off by the big seed companies in the UK?

Dear Ray, i think the big seed companies are over-charging, i try and deal with some of the smaller companies, and these do a lot better seed count.
The bigger companies do seem to be breaking into the plug plant market so maybe their getting the message.

Hi Ray,
I think I know the range you mean - I spotted them in a local garden centre a couple of weeks ago and thought they were very expensive, but the seeds from this company usually seem overpriced to me!
Vivien

Hi Ray

The answer to the first part of your question is that continental seed companies, particularly Italian ones, have always sold seeds cheaply and in vast quantities. Only British seed companies have become increasingly greedy and "big business" over the last 50 years, and have generated a variety of myths. One is that seed life is limited to one year, another that seed production, especially of open-pollinated varieties, is a very expensive process.

Since you "name no names", I'm puzzled about the second part of your question. I buy from Seeds of Italy (Franchi Sementi). I understand that Thompson and Morgan are selling the Vita Sementi range. Their prices seem slightly higher than SofI but the seed counts appear to be typical of Italian seed packets.
http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/ ... -sementi/1

The message is: do your homework before you buy - there are more seed companies than the ones which have your local garden centre signed up to their range.

Alan

Hi Alan,
At the risk of being called a Nitpicker! Do you mean F1 seeds as opposed to Open Pollinated seeds are expensive to produce?
JB.

Hi Johnboy

Nit well picked!
I meant that they would have us believe that all seeds, F1 and OP are very expensive to produce. Perhaps I should have said this is not really true of open pollinated. I still notice the Italian companies can sell their F1 varieties at a fairer price.

Alan

Our allotment society stores (which I manage) has a great deal with Seeds of Italy - we buy at wholesale prices and make a little profit for the society while selling the seeds at a discount to our members - it's been a really successful operation in which everyone's a winner and long may it continue. They start you off with a seed stand filled with a broad range of varieties chosen by them but from then on you can order what you like (5 packs at a time) to restock as the season goes over. Our members are well impressed with the generous fill and high germination. Their 'Marvel of the Summer' lettuce never bolts (not even last July!) I had to smile when the van driver from one of our other suppliers asked if he could by 8 packs for his own plot 'cos they were so much better than the ones his own employer sells!

I'm convinced that we live in Rip Off Britain. The site i'm on has a deal with Kings, which is fairly good, are reasonably priced and they do larger packs on some ranges. I try to buy from from other sources as much as I can. For basics you can't beat Alan Romans site.

There are also some sites through Quidco where you can get money back, such as Dobies. It's better in my pocket than theirs.