wilkinsons seed potatoes

[lynda66]

What do you folks think of the quality of wilko's veg etc. I'm a good believer of, buy cheap pay twice, and my experience with wilko products is just that. I've bought the onion sets before and they just did nothing and bought horse radish before and it turned out to be a lovely healthy plant, just not horseradish!!!!

i've had most of my seeds from there, a couple of rose bushes, some climbers, and various other plants, and never had a problem, all i will say is, make sure you get them fresh (cos they don't tend to look after the plants terribly well) ...... but as i go whenever i'm in town, i usually notice when they have new stuff in ...... and for £1 a kilo for loads of seed tatties, when you're skint, with no postage ...... it's gotta be worth a go ....... last year i grew supermarket ones, this year, i'm hoping for yummy spuds

[terrier]

Same here. I bought seed potatoes and a few plants from Wilcos last season and they were all fine. The packets of seeds from them have all been viable and grew OK.

[Maffie]

What do you folks think of the quality of wilko's veg etc. I'm a good believer of, buy cheap pay twice, and my experience with wilko products is just that. I've bought the onion sets before and they just did nothing and bought horse radish before and it turned out to be a lovely healthy plant, just not horseradish!!!!

I had a few things from them last year, The peppers I grew were nice the bugs got to them though, I have a few seeds from them this year so we will see. Most seeds this year are from elsewhere.

[Jedi Gardener]

Got mine from a local garden centre near Cannock, sold in singles at 10p each. Bargain, although they have gone up 2p since last year! Managed to get small numbers of quite a few varieties to see which do best on the plot this year. Had them from there last year and despite being cheap were excellent quality. Must have about 20 varieties too

[Fluorescent green]

What do you folks think of the quality of wilko's veg etc. I'm a good believer of, buy cheap pay twice, and my experience with wilko products is just that. I've bought the onion sets before and they just did nothing and bought horse radish before and it turned out to be a lovely healthy plant, just not horseradish!!!!

I usually blame myself if anything goes wrong!

I got some red onion sets and a bag of maris peer, I might use eating spuds if I need anymore.
I am just going to try and keep it simple this year. Cabbage, pots, onion, swede, toms; I dont like peas, beans and luttuce.
Oh, and squash, unless I get carried away again.

FG

[Diva1983]

I bought the £1.00 bargain fruit canes last year from wilkos and they all seem happy and healthy. I seem to buy loads and loads of seeds from Wilkos too and they've been good quality-even packs that have been out of date for erm a *few* years have provided me with crops...so can't really complain.

The other half loves tropical looking plants and as wilkos don't seem to look after their plants very well (maybe they don't have the time or staff to do it?!) they knock the price down which makes me very happy as I'm on a tight budget I've snapped up some £6.99 plants for £2.00-bargains all around!

I'm going to go back in about 8 weeks time-that way I'll have hopefully planted out most of the plants I still have waiting to go into the ground by then and I won't have space left!

[Moridin]

We picked up some Charlottes from Wilkos last year. Turned out great. Be careful of their onion sets though. They claim that the sets are heat treated but ours weren't as every onion bolted. May have been a faulty batch I suppose

[Paulottie]

Or user error...did you have any other sets that didn't bolt?...normally itsirregular watering in spring...but poor land or shading can do it too

[lynda66]

well, i now have 5 trays of chitting potatoes on the kitchen windowsill, plus a bowl of little ones i saved from last year, so combined with the potato seeds, i should have enough spuds to keep me going till next year lol

[Newbie]

I went and had a look a couple of weeks ago & was very good, only bought a couple of packs of seeds. Resisted all the spuds (last year i bought enough to feed a very large army) as i have bought a 3kg bad of Vivaldi already, and have my autumn onion sets already in the ground. I considered their red onion sets but they were all quite sort & squishy which i presumed wasn't good.

[Dane End Dolly]

Hubbie and i visited Wilkinsons in Hitchen for the first time (great store). We got the last rasberry bush @ £3 - did not see any for a £1 - as it fruits in August I would say its the summer one and we will not get any fruit this year, I cannot wait until next year. We also got a bag of maris peer £3 (are they any good, we have not tried them), 5 roosters for £1 and a bag on onion sets. The best bargain we got was a round incinerator bin for £20, loads of ashes to go in our compost bin and into our soil.

[cheerfulness]

We've just bought some Pentland Javelin (?) potatoes from Wilcos but someone has just told me that the ones they grew turned to mush when boiled.
Did anyone else have that experience with them last year.

My first year buying seed potatoes and I'm already thinking I've got it wrong before we've even chitted them. We bought the 'tasteless' Rocket, too.

[Beanie]

What do you folks think of the quality of wilko's veg etc.

Their seeds are fine, and their plants etc are OK but only if you get them when they're first put out: I've had good results with their plug plant packs, as these usually have water-retaining gel in the bottom. I tried some of their white onions last year, they were OK, though not brilliant - but that could have been the wet weather. Their spring bulbs are usually fine, I've also had roses and currants from there & they're doing OK, though they were very small at first.

Unfortunately Wilkinson's don't water anything at all, it's quite depressing watching the poor plants shrivel up & die off. My Mum once asked a shop assistant why they don't water anything, & she replied that they weren't allowed to: the profit margins were so low that the managers wouldn't waste resources by paying someone to water them. Shame.

[sarraceniac]

I love Wilko's policy. My final buy last year was 2 Salix japonica at 50p each. Reduced from £8.50 and very dried up. They both recovered before winter and I am certain will be fine. I watch Wilko's like a hawk and snap up so many bargains. They actually have a 'sell by' date on growing plants ?????. I bought a Brugmansia, which flowered last year, for £1. I'm sure they must know about business but they certainly don't know about plants.

[Beanie]

I love Wilko's policy. . . . . I watch Wilko's like a hawk and snap up so many bargains.

Well done you! I shall have to try to get down to my one more frequently!!