Back of seed packet information

[uulwyn]

Hi all,

I have a question, but how much notice do you take from the info from the back of the seed packets. Going on peoples advice on this forum, they all tend to sow so much earlier than what the packet says too.

Any advice is welcomed.

[zazen999]

I consider the back of seed packets to be correct if you are in Milton Keynes and growing with no heating. So you have to adjust depending on your own personal circumstances.....but for the first year or 2 - go with what they say.

[Pies]

I tend to start earlier,particulary with squash and anything else that needs along time before it fruits,I can easily start of in a greenhouse or indors or under a cloche.But once the plants have got large it gets difficult to protct against the elements.

Plus I'm in the Garden of England

[Alison]

People tend to talk a lot about early or out of season trials as they're something different but the best time does depend on your location, soil, weather etc etc and will vary from year to year. You're probably best paying attention to the packets the first time and then adjusting to suit. Some manufacturers are better than others, the thing that annoys me more is that so many seeds so that it's fine to direct sow which whilst in theory may be true, it's very demoralising to lose everything to slugs so you're often better sowing in modules which you can often get away with doing earlier as they can be kept in a warmer environment.

[Two_Sheds]

I pretty much always follow the packets. If anything, I sow a bit later than they say .... we don't get warmth and light until April here, so it's a waste of time sowing anything early

[Flummery]

I follow them too. I'm too far north to take chances although if you have good weather conditions (Scillies!) you can get a bit previous.

[oldie]

Being in Kent I have found that I can sow both earlier and later than the packets suggest. My biggest argument with the information on a packet of beans was "Dwarf Variety" does not need staking. They grew 5ft tall and fell over.

[Rocketron]

Being in Kent I have found that I can sow both earlier and later than the packets suggest. My biggest argument with the information on a packet of beans was "Dwarf Variety" does not need staking. They grew 5ft tall and fell over.

I'm in East Sussex and my dwarf beans have never grown more than 18" tall. What were these ?

[bobleponge]

Use the seed packet advice as a guide, certainly as a beginner, as they are generally not too far out.
What they often dont take into account is greenhouses/cloches, impatience, regional temperature/rainfall differences etc.
If you assume that the instructions on a pack of seeds in the UK estimate average conditions, if you are further NESW than the centre of the UK (and I note you are slightly more north) then estimate accordingly.
If you continue to grow fruit and veg, and make notes while you do so, you will find out what works best for you and plan appropriately the following seasons.

[rana]

Seed packet advice is a good guide but often conflicts with advice from other sources (eg RHS guides, gardening books). As I am in the south I take the earliest date from the consensus then wait for a mild spell of weather before sowing.
More confusing are seeds from the US which come with USDA zones which are completely meaninglessw here.

[Snadger]

What you have to remember is that it is in the old established seed merchants best interest for you to succeed.
They want you to keep coming back to them each year because of your success.
If they give you duff information and your seeds fail, they've lost a potential customer for the following year.

Simples!

[Two_Sheds]

My biggest argument with the information on a packet of beans was "Dwarf Variety" does not need staking. They grew 5ft tall and fell over.

Oh yes!
I got some Mr Brooks Blue as dwarf ... they grew to 3 foot before I stopped them. This year I staked them, and they refused to climb at all.
Some things are just mardy.

[snohare]

I go by a couple of simple maxims taught to me by oldschool gardeners; one is feed the soil not the plants, and the other is sow according to conditions. You will find some good gardening books that tell you the germination temperatures and growing conditions soilwise for the different types of plants, go by that and you won't go wrong.
The seed manufacturers, given that they are all giving extremely general sowing times and there are a million different variables in how they are sown/grown, are not under a lot of pressure to make sure that the dates are correct. Furthermore there are epigenetic factors to consider; plants grown somewhere warm with sporadic rain, or exposed to early frosts, may have different genes switched on in the seeds they produce for the next year. This is them trying to adapt to the local climate, which of course doesn't help if yours is different ! This is one reason why seed even from major producers will sometimes have a very variable success rate; sometimes the epigenetic changes mean the seed will have a poor germination rate the first year (even parsnips).
Personally I plant late rather than early unless I can grow seedlings under glass to begin with.