How *do* you choose your varieties?

[organic]

Hey folks.
I've been flipping through the Garden Organic catalogue again recently (time to choose a few things to get in the ground over the next few weeks) and it's making my head spin.

It seems everything is a variety with great flavour and a load of other fine qualities a grower could want.

I'm trying to choose my summer cabbages, spinach, turnips, onions and peas but really wouldn't know what the difference was.

Is there anything more to this than just picking a few at random and then trying something else next year?

Is there a good resource with writeups/reviews of varieties of different things or what?

[tamsin]

I narrow it down then google the variety names to see what people say about them

[Snadger]

After a few years you start to realise which varieties of veg suit your taste, growing methods, your soil and your area.

After that it's only a matter of tweaking your seed list to try out new varieties.

[Paulottie]

Well firstly, Don't believe everything it says on the tin. They are bound to say they are good to sell them eh!

This is the best source of info right here!...Pigletwillie did start a list last year...think it might be on techniques board. (sure TS would say 'use the search button at the top)But as Snadger suggests local knowledge(and your style of growing) is important....what do your neighbours grow? and moreover, if you find a good variety can you then produce your own seed? Parsley, Parsnips, leeks etc are particularly best fresh and you are guarenteed to choose a plant that has done well before.(plus it is cheaper) ...out of your list cabbages are a bit trickier to save but others okay.

F1 seed(not generally 'organic') can mean more vigorous growth but also can mean that they all turn in at the same time as they are often aimed at commercial growers.... it's not necessarily desirable to have a whole row of cabbages or lettuce one week and bolting the next (plus not guaranteed results from saved seed)

Finally how many in the pkt!/amount you need...some companies have become increasingly mean recently.

Really there is no substitute for experiance, it is not an exact science and seasons can be quite different....but that's the interesting bit of GYO.

[chriscross1966]

Ask around here, ask around on other forums, ask around at the site where I have my plot... a significant amount becuse they were free or I got them in a swap or cos I liked the look of them.... or they are supposed to grow big (onions, I'm a sucker for big onions)
chrisc

[Paulottie]

¡Other forums!......¡que!?????.....surely not.

don't usually plug suppliers but.....

try googling Tamar Organics....a superb company based in Cornwall for organic growers.

....as a matter of interest Chris...and without hijacking this thread...what do you suggest as the best variety and supplier for large onion seed?

[Flummery]

I use my own experience of what I can grow well, and I'm happy to soak up the experience of others here. I also like to use heritage varieties because I like to keep the gene pool as big as possible for future breeding (some of it, my own) and also because I can save the seed. I now buy very little in the way of seeds. By doing this you can slowly develop a strain which does well in your local conditions (a land-race) as you will collect from the best.

Most commercially available seed is there because it sells well to farmers and commercial growers - there has to be a big sale of seed to make it feasible to register under EU laws, and to maintain the registration annually. What suits the big growers is stuff that all comes ripe together and that you can harvest by machine. No-where is flavour a consideration, it seems. Well it is to me!

By the way - when they say 'freezes well' you can translate that as 'all comes ready at the same time'.

[smallblueplanet]

...

By the way - when they say 'freezes well' you can translate that as 'all comes ready at the same time'.

Never thought about it that way, but handy to know...

...any more useful translations?

[Pumpkin Becki]

I really struggled to get my head round the Garden Organics catalogue - something to do with the layout I think.

In my first year I just started with what the garden centre had on their racks. I picked 1 of everything I wanted to grow and then looked at sewing and harvesting times. Variety wasn't a real issue.

My seed collection is growing, but mostly with different types of seed rather than variety. If it works I stick to it, if it doesn't I try something else.

I do show my veg too, so I do look out for the RHS award of Garden Merit in the catalogues, or things that say 'good for showbench'.

[Alison]

In my first year I just started with what the garden centre had on their racks. I picked 1 of everything I wanted to grow and then looked at sewing and harvesting times. Variety wasn't a real issue.

I prefer the catalogues as I can then investigate each variety in more detail rather than just the limited information on the packet. Also can compare different suppliers and not get carried away by the pretty packets.

I do show my veg too, so I do look out for the RHS award of Garden Merit in the catalogues, or things that say 'good for showbench'.

As showing isn't my thing at all I tend to avoid ones that say they're good for the show bench as I read that to be selected for size rather than taste. The words I look for tend to revolve around flavour, when they can be harvested and how well they stand so that I can get a continual supply of tasty veg for my table. Tend to try a few new varieties every year as it's nice to ring the changes but mainly grow old fashioned varieties for the reasons given by Flum.

[HeyWayne]

You don't choose them, they choose you.

[Lazgaot]

Also check out Real Seeds as a supplier. They are a bit more expensive than regular packeted stuff but they have some very interesting varieties. I had some Millefleur tomatoes last year from them and I was astonished at the amount of cherry toms I got. Each truss had literally hundreds of flowers and each plant had 4-6 of these trusses. They tasted great and kept really well, on and off the plant. They give great advice on how to save the seeds for next year.

[sarraceniac]

You don't choose them, they choose you.

Ah zat is zen. This is tao.

When I started growing, in an area that only had two people, an apple tree and a serpent, I just bought on the basis of 'We like those'. Then I found the cheapest seed going. 'What's a variety?' I thought. Once I'd found I could grow things I started looking for different types (I found out what a variety is ).

Then I found that some varieties were 'better tasting' than others (to me). That is when Lady S. and I had our fist fight. Sorry, our first fight. Sorry again, our first fist fight. Then we agreed that if one of us really liked a variety we (me) would grow it and we would also grow different varieties from catalogues, to decide if one of us liked them better.

39 years, sorry 3.9 years later, we are still trying different varieties (and even vegetables) and although we have certain things we like, we are still swapping and changing. (With non-edibles just chuck them in if they look interesting. )

[Rossa]

Also check out Real Seeds as a supplier. They are a bit more expensive than regular packeted stuff but they have some very interesting varieties. I had some Millefleur tomatoes last year from them and I was astonished at the amount of cherry toms I got. Each truss had literally hundreds of flowers and each plant had 4-6 of these trusses. They tasted great and kept really well, on and off the plant. They give great advice on how to save the seeds for next year.

Great Vegetable Seeds from The Real Seed Catalogue

I second this supplier. Based in Wales, grow their own and happy to encourage you to save seed rather than buy every year. As they say, if it can grow in wet, cold and windy conditions like theirs it will grow anywhere. No hybrids just open pollinated stock and their descriptions are accurate not a sales pitch. May be more expensive but they are only small in comparison to others and it is labour intensive saving all the seeds. I like to support the small business.

Only other one I've tried is Kings Seeds. They have an arrangement with the National Allotment Assoc and as a friend of mine is on the AMAS committee in Manchester he gets his seeds for about 1/3rd of retail. So I nick or swop seeds with him. Their seeds have a good germination rate unlike some that have been reported like T&M. May be cheaper but you may need to use more seeds to get the number of plants you want.

Kingseeds - Home

He used Kings for the Tatton Show last year and got a Silver Gilt so the seeds do the job.

"... I went from adolescence to senility, trying to bypass maturity ..." - Tom Lehrer
Earth Wind and Fire

[Alison]

Kings are great, only a quid a packet for most stuff and a decent number in the pack.