Any frugal vegetable seed buying tips?

[Samuel1988]

Morning all,

I was just wondering if anyone has any frugal buying tips with regard to vegetable seed packets as now that I have nearly cleared all my weeds from my plot and thus I shall be growing more produce next season (unlike this year where I did not have much time to grow all I wanted due to starting late), I will be investing more money in buying packets of seeds.

Around 3-4 months ago I went to the garden centre where I got to buy seeds for next year at 50p a packet but I did not arrive quick enough and those ealrier in the pecking order got their fill before I could.

So I was wondering where people manage to save some money when buying their seeds for the next growing season?

Thank you for your advice & tips,

Samuel

[scarey55]

What you need is a seed swap thread

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...nce_68032.html

[Jeanied]

You can get budget seeds in some of the supermarkets - not as much as 50p a pack. You won't get the unusual varieties but they are good for the basics.

[veggiechicken]

You may find the 50p seeds are now 10p a packet at the GC!!

[BertieFox]

Saving your own is the most frugal thing you can do. For example, stop buying expensive F1 hybrid sweetcorn seed and instead use open pollinated varieties like Sativa Early from Chase Organics. Tomato seeds, again if you avoid F1 hybrids, come true, and so do most beetroot, chard, and even carrot and parnsip seed. Brassicas are the problem area, but try growing certain varieties in isolation, likewise cucurbits such as courgettes or melons.

[Bren In Pots]

If you have either a Lidl or Aldi near to you they both sell seeds from 27 pence a packet, it's usually around February time.

[Scarlet]

Get talking to other gardeners and start swapping. Use the Virtual seed parcel to swap your surplus. As Bertie said, avoid F1 varieties and save your own - it really is very easy and then you can join the seed circle swaps. All of a sudden you will have so many seeds in your seed box you will never sow them all.

[Vince G]

I've had a couple of emails from Dobies and T&M in recent days offering various discounts, free P&P etc, so worth scanning the usual seed merchants' websites for deals.

[rustylady]

Don't sow the whole packet of seeds at once. You really won't need that many plants, and you can use the rest of the seeds for the following year.

[andy_j]

have a look to see if there's any seed sales in your area. We have this coming soon Seedy Sunday | Events | Other seed swap events | Seedy Saturday, Lewes 2014 | 10.00am - 3.30pm 1.2.14

[taff]

buy heritage seeds - frugal in the long run because you can save your own....

[elleme]

Of the cheapo supermarket seed brands, Wilko were one of Which's Best Buys for germination rate in 2010 - unfortunately I can't find a more recent test but they came out just under Garden Organic who were top. I've used them before and they were fine, but don't expect much variety. If you're thinking of saving seed, just avoid the F1 varieties.

[MrsCordial]

I start every year with good intentions that I'll keep to sensible amounts of seeds and plants, then end up going mad at every plant sale I'm magnetically drawn to.

This year I'm buying as much heritage seed as possible from RealSeeds, so that I can save seed for next year. That should work as long as I don't screw up the process of saving the seed. I know I'll end up buying a few things in pots because I just can't pass up a good-looking tomato or aubergine plant, and there are a couple of herbs that I'd like to buy as a young plant rather than from seed.

In the end self-control is the best budgetary tool I've come across. It's great finding cut-price seed, but if you end up spending £10 that was mneant for something else, you've not really won!

[BertieFox]

Keeping seed from one year to the next, and the next, and the next, is good sense in terms of frugality but can be very annoying as some seed, especially things like onions, don't germinate well or at all after a couple of years; so you can waste a lot of time waiting for them to come up before rushing out to buy new seed. I've found parsnips, contrary to conventional wisdom, are fine for a couple of years.

The other observation I've made over the years is that seedlings from old seeds, especially brassicas, can take longer to germinate and the seed can produce weaker plants. Whether the weaker seedlings go on to produce less productive plants I'm not sure, but sometimes it does pay to get fresh seed.

[Paulieb]

Apart from saving your own seed (some are easy others take a bit more care), and/or getting involved in seed swaps and seed circles, I find these two suppliers are good premier seeds on fleabay and moreveg.

They sell smaller packets for between 50p and 99p. Moreveg for instance sell packets of squash seeds in 3's. This is plenty (for me) as quite often you get 20 for 2.50, and who wants 20 courgette or squash plants (of the same variety), or 600 cabbages!