Seed Catalogues and the Joys of Ordering

[rauni]

single seed pots

There is a proper old fashioned ironmongers shop near me which sells seed potatoes by weight from buckets. The garden centres round here are all going the way of gift shops taking over from the actual plants. Try ironmongers in Yellow pages... you never know.
I too have been poring over seed catalogues, deciding, then redeciding. The last thing to make me reconsider was Poundstretchers would you believe! They have some quite good, and cheap, seeds. No replacement for mail order by any means, but a handful of goodies.

[Nicos]

When we first moved into this house we grew a few spare spuds in the borders amongst the flowers (took years before we pulled up the last plant as we kept missing the odd tiny spud!!) - so I wouldn't recommend doing this with any spare seed potatoes. It's such a waste not to grow them. (I suppose you could eat them???-would that be ok to do?). However, we came up with excellent results putting them , 1 per pot, in old tomato pots, in potting compost ,facing East up against the side of the house rather like flower tubs. As the foliage tumbled over the side of the pots the whole effect was quite pretty and yet productive. They only needed watering a couple of times a week and if we needed spuds for supper and it was raining we could nip into the garden, tip out the crop and have them cooking in minutes (instead of getting into the car..driving to the allotment..unlock the gates and then the shed for the fork..dig up the spuds..put the foliage on the compost ...and then do all the rest in reverse!). So you see there are some benefits to not having an allotment ..as well as having your loo handy at home! I have never seen spuds sold in less than 2kg bags!

[Jaxom]

Late this summer I bought a whole host of things from "Hyper Value". Blue glazed terracotta strawberry pots for £25 each. Three large blue glazed terracotta planters for £30 a set.
Garden tools I bought there seven years ago are as good as ever and I have to say are really strong. The good thing about these tools was they cost a fraction of what Garden centres and B&Q charge.
Always be on the look out for bargains.
Jax

[Nicos]

single spuds

OK- so the D T Brown Catalogue arrived this morning and I see they sell their spuds in 1.5 kg bags - a bit late for me now as I have already put in my orders......but they do sell single plants at crazy prices as they are Heritage varieties - quote- "more susceptible to common potato complaints". £10.95 for 6 !!!(with a free packet of heritage carrots thrown in!). Certainly not for every day consumption at that price.Thats the nearest I can find to rauni's local ironmonger!!! Still its cheaper than driving to Snowdonia. Visions now of a weekend break next spring with the excuse of calling in to the hardware shop!! What's the address then????!

[sewer rat]

Single spuds

Dear All
I know you have probably all got it sorted by now but my offer of purchasing your small tuber orders and posting them on to you still stands - see my thread titled "seed potatoes".
No charges other than the cost of the tubers and the post / packing costs.
Cheers
Rat

[Hardy]

Kerr's Pink potatoes

Hi Jaxom

I know it's all down to personal taste and differing growing conditions but based on my own experience I wouldn't grow Kerr's Pink again. I bought proper seed potatoes last year but had a very disappointing crop - most of them were misshapen and yields were very low.

Adding to the debate about seed, I always buy my routine stuff (veggie and ornamental) from Netto at 19p per packet (DT Browns) - always performs very well so why pay more? You have to go further afield for the more unusual varieties though.

[rauni]

Visions now of a weekend break next spring with the excuse of calling in to the hardware shop!! What's the address then????!

I haven't been this year yet, but I'll keep you posted. Its in Menai Bridge

[nick the grief]

Andrew,

If your still struggling we have a shop in Nuneaton that sells loose potatoes (and 1/2 pints of peas & beans!) I had 6 last year of a variety to try in pots. So if you know what sort you want I can look next week when I go for mine.

Nick

[Nicos]

ordering seeds

Have received the spuds and seeds with several items to follow. Just wanted to suggest to the new gardeners that it is worth checking not only the delivery docket with what has arrived but also what else is on order. I had 2 errors and nearly had 500 onion sets to cope with!! Easily done I suppose.

[nick the grief]

do you like onions

[Nicos]

Yes A lot!! -but within limits!!! I wonder if you could make wine/schnapps/aphicide with spare ones????

[nick the grief]

Yes A lot!! -but within limits!!! I wonder if you could make wine/schnapps/aphicide with spare ones????

Failing that get a catapult and use them for ammo against the bunnies

[Nicos]

good one ntg

[JennieAtkinson]

Going way back to LJ's comment about postage and packing, as we are not on the UK Mainland we get absolutely stung for extra carriage. Even some of the offers in the magazine are not available to us! (the seed runner bean offer in September really got me annoyed, when it was only being posted). Dobies however, only charge me the usual rate for postage, no matter what I order. So I have gone the whole hog this year and ordered, spuds, buckets and runner bean frames and boxes and managed (just) to get everything I needed from them (with a few seeds from Thompson & Morgan who charge the same price for seeds wherever you live). All arrived from Dobies at the weekend, with no "extra" added for carriage. Bless them!!

[Jaxom]

I like Dobbies
Good prices and quick delivery!
They also let you print off a record of your order after you press send.

One company I am still waiting on, has three orders from me, none of which have arived yet.
Jax