Seed Catalogues and the Joys of Ordering

[Jaxom]

Have just sent off my order for next year’s seeds. I chose Dobies in the end. The Dobies Catalogue came free with on of my subscriptions this month. I have been pouring over my seed catalogues for weeks now and thought I had made my choices. The list I had made, took the best from five suppliers to meet my needs.
Once I had seen the Dobies catalogue I had to start all over.
I searched each type of vegetable in all the catalogues and the list started to grow.
In the end, of the 21 items I wanted to order 19 came from Dobies. The two, remaining came from "Plants of Distinction".
How are other Grapes finding their seed orders shaping up?
Jax

[Lesley Jay]

I get lots and lots of seed catalogues but you need to compare one against another. Quite often more than one will sell the same variety and sometimes you can save about one pound a packet if you are careful who you buy from. You also need to watch the P&P.

This year we have bought seed from Thompson and Morgan who are expensive but I do rate the quality of their seeds. Suttons who are not as expensive and a sister company to Dobies. Simpsons and Tuckers both of which we are trying for the first time. Their seeds are very keenly priced. We have also ordered from Seeds By Size they have a huge choice of seeds and they are not expensive.

Now all I need to do is sort out the seed potatoes and the onion sets.

[sewer rat]

Seed Catalogues

A this is my first year as a "serious" veggie grower, I have yet to decide what varieties (and to acertain extent, what veggies) to grow. Have several on my shortlist but every time I open a new catalogue, my eyes light up and I'm like the proverbial child in a sweety shop. Haven't got Dobies catalogue - is ordered but yet to arrive,similarly Real Seeds catalogue is eagerly awaited. Should keep me going til end of Jan.
I am one step ahead of Lesley however in that I already know what tatties I'll be ordering. And following on from the article in GYO this month, Rooster is top of my list. This area grows a lot of seed potatoes, and I have yet to meet a grower or tractorman employed by a grower who doesn't rate this variety - I urge you all to try and get hold of it - you will not be disappointed.
Rat

[Jaxom]

The only thing I have not ordered is my seed potatoes as I have too small a garden to grow many. The problem is that even 1.5kg of seed potatoes is a little big for me. I would like to grow a few types so would be happy with just three seed potatoes of each type rather than the 20 - 25 potatoes that seem to be the minimum order of 1.5Kg for each type.
I would like to grow Red Duke of York, British Queen, Royal Kidney and Kerrs Pink.
Four types of spuds all add up to 6Kg of seed potatoes, which is way too many for me, as I will be growing in containers rather than in the ground.
Jax

ps. I'm going to be using black plactic dustbins to grow them in. so if anyone knows the best number to place in this size container for the best results i would love to know?

[Lesley Jay]

Last year at our local garden centre they were selling small bags of seed potatoes with about 8 in a bag. So you could try out a different variety. Have a look at your garden centres after christmas and see if they are selling them Jaxom.

[sewer rat]

Seed Potatoes

Hi Jaxom
Local garden centres up here - especially the family run ones, get sacks of seed potatoes in, so you can go along and help yourself to as many or as few as you want. The only problem may be the restriction on choice of varieties. You could always club together with another local veg grower or two (or three!) and buy them between you.
I am of like mind in that I quite fancy British Queen and Royal Kidney too, my other two being Rooster and Pink Fir Apple. Have never tasted the first two, but love the last two.
Rat

[Berr]

I keep plugging Alanroman.co.uk (or is it romanS?). You'd think I'd shares in it. I've received an order from him, in no nonsense, unadorned, foil packets at 50p. each. ALL his seed is 50p a packet, in case you don't know of him. I can't get ALL my seeds from him because his range is as yet limited (going to D.T.Brown who are, I believe better value than Dobie et al, and to Tamar Organics, Vidaverde and Tucker ) But he IS an expert on potatoes (his pamphlet is well worth acquiring imo.) and so I propose to get my seed potatoes from him too. Will be looking out for Rooster though, S.R. I'm hoping to get Alan Romans's book on potatoes for Christmas! What with all this plugging he should be sending me a complimentary copy.

[Jaxom]

Here is the link to Alan Romans page.Alan Romans Unfortunately he still sells a minimum of 1.5Kg so I will try the local Garden centre. thanks for the pointers.
Jax

[Jaxom]

Trip to Mars

Went to visit my two local garden centres today. While there I asked about loose seed potatoes for the coming spring. They looked at me as if I was talking another language or had just come from Mars. If I had been asking about artificial Christmas trees or tree decorations they would have been able to help me like a shot.

[WiZeR]

I'm afriad this is also true of our 2 local garden centres

[Lesley Jay]

Jaxom wait until the new year thats when the seed potatoes are in the garden centres. But I had a thought today (yes I know - you wondered what the noise was!) at most allotments they have a shed where they sell fertiliser etc to the members. Some sell seed potatoes and onion sets and you are able to join as a gardening member to take advantage of the good discounts. Go down to your nearest allotments and see if they sell produce and also if they have garden members. The shops are usually open on sunday mornings. They sell loose seed potatoes. It's worth a look.

[dni_dave]

Local Garden Centres

Jaxom
My good lady works in the office of our local Garden centre and it is the same there. The inside area is totally for gifts and goods and is larger than the outdoor area. There are a few shrubs and small trees and then whatever is in season has it's own area. The coffee shop is higher up the order of importance than the plant side as it takes more money. Just a fact of business I guess.

I bought this years seeds from there but they are tied to one supplier so I was limited to what they have. We did get seed potatoes from them in around Feb of this year and they went well, as did their onion sets. You certainly don't get the variety that you will in the seed catalogues and indeed this year I will be mostly purchasing all of what I require online.

[andrewo]

Loose

I'm with Jax on this, I have a small plot (by the way, if you're using compost bags, two-three seed potatoes tend to give you the best result) and all I want is three seed potatoes but does anyone offer them loose? My garden centre is a waste of time, last year I went in for a packet of ruby chard - yes, RUBY CHARD - and they offered me rhubarb - I won't tell you what I counter offered.

What annoys me about some of the big garden centres is that the staff there do not know anything about gardening (for example, we got our tree but the staff were unaware of the variety or when it had been cut) and because they undercut prices, other the garden centres that do have the knowledge and expertise to advise we lose. Some of the best gardeners working in the garden centres/specialists today are being lost.

There must be happy balance.

Andrewo

[sewer rat]

Seed Potatoes

If I get the time I'll visit my local GC's this Saturday and ask them what varieties they are planning on getting in stock come spring. If any of you have no luck in tracking down somewhere that will sell you a small number of individual tubers, and my local GC has the varieties you are after, give me a shout and will do my best to get some to you.
Cheers
Rat

[sewer rat]

Seed Potatoes

If you are still looking for somewhere to buy small quantities of seed potatoes, I can help (with the assistance of my local GC owner, Kevin)
Please see my message on the thread in New Shoots titled Small Packs of seed potatoes.
Cheers
RAT