Plug plant sales

[Jelliebabe]

I bought lots of plug plants via mail order last year and was quite dissappointed on several counts. They were small plants (Tomatoes, courgettes and chillis) and did not arrive until the end of May. I therefore did not really have the time to have get really productive plants. I also did not get all of the varieties that I was expecting - the tomatoes had sold out so they sent me different ones - not really adequate substitues either. I was also expecting 2 yellow courgettes and it was only when they started fruiting that I saw they were all green.

This year I have grown from seed - my plants are exactly the varieties that I wanted - are nice big healthy plants that are ready to go outside AND flowering. They were much cheaper than the plug plants and I have seeds for next season too.

Thats not to say that some broccoli plugs didnt fall into my basket last weekend however )

[endymion]

I bought some 'plug plants' once, online. They were so tiny, almost as if they'd been grown in a test tube and took a lot of nurturing. I felt a bit foolish, put it down to experience, and would never buy anything like that again, or not without first checking how big they are.

The other day I spotted a tray of 8 broad bean plants, badly wilted, for £5

[gojiberry]

I,m a fan of plug plants but never buy from the garden centres or supermarkets. I usually buy from Jersey plants who tell you what size the plants are and send them out at an appropriate time. I bought 160 geranium for a tenner, they were small plugs, which I expected but now are good sized plants that would cost about £2 each. Nothing wrong with small plug plants providing that is what you were expecting. Next year am going to double or triple order and sell plants on.

Ian

[poppysocks]

I am into my second year of growing veg. My initial plan was to grow all from seed but as a working mum found that I didn't have the time to grow as much as I would like. I bought plants from B&Q last year but they didn't do very well and I should have known better as I have bought bedding plants from them previously which are often sold too early and are of poor quality. I also bought some from a garden centre which were much better but not all did well. This year I have grown most of my own but did order some plug plants from 2 well known suppliers, these were all delivered at the appropriate time of year and were good strong plants and all barring one are thriving. Yes they did need potting on and to be in the green house for a week or so. I did get tempted to buy some cucumber and melons from a garden centre but when I got home, found there were no variety names of the plants that I bought so I don't know what I am growing or even how to grow some of them, i.e. male/female flowers etc. For next year, I will continue to grow as many as I can and order the rest as I have done this year.

Diana