Best place to buy new seeds

Depends on whether you want "ordinary" varieties or something special.
Wilkos and Lidl/Aldi are good and cheap for basics.

bulk value online - premierseeds on flea-bay
mid value and range online - https://www.seedaholic.com/
full whack but very good online (also do ornamental lucky dip seeds) - https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/

There are well known and long established seed companies out there like Marshalls, Suttons, Mr Fothergill's etc. So it's worth visiting their web sites and requesting either a paper seed catalogue which is equivalent to an allotment owners porn, of download the catalogues as Adobe or surf them on the interweb thingy.

Subscribe to their news letters and you will be bombarded with offers to save and spend your money, some are good some are not so good, it depends on what you want.

Be aware of who is part of whom

Unwins is part of Marshall's, apparently, Fothergill's comprises five main brands: Mr Fothergill's, DT Brown, Woolman's, The Sweet Pea Company and Johnsons. You will find that the same seed is being packaged in different quantities and for different prices between these companies. Suttons & Dobies are part of the same group

I know an allotment owner who always bought his seed from DT Brown, thinking they were a 'bit special'. Now he knows he may as well buy from his local DIY Shop.

If you have the fugal allotment mindset you may want to leave your seed acquisition until Wilko, Lidl and dare I say it the pound shops have their gardening stuff & seeds in stock. Lidl sell 3 small packs for a £1 and 4 Large packs for £2 normally and the pound shop selling 4 packs for a £1 but their range is obviously limited but ideal for a new plot holder starting out.

Below is an example of the cost of Leeks from the In My Seed Box review for 2018

Musselburgh (Seed Tape) - 180 Seeds - £1.99 - Thompson & Morgan
Musselburgh - 300 Seeds - 60p - Wilko
Musselburgh -500 Seeds -£1.89 - Mr Fothergill's*

You expect to get less seeds when buying seed tapes, and The T&M and Mr Fothergill's came via the Wyevale 50p seed sale. I have paid full RRP when wanting a particular seed that was only available from a specialist supplier and new to the UK but mainly I buy in the 50p seed sale.

Early August Wyevale will have a half price seed sale and at the August bank holiday Wyevale sell off all their remaining stock at 50p per pack which basically means with the average price of a pack of seeds between 4 -6 packs for the price one. They don't leave them on the racks they spread them out on tables or in trugs and sometimes yes you have to get on the floor

Other sources of seeds are off the front cover of magazines, I had a good few seeds from my subscription to Grow Your Own Magazine

Normally on Sundays at the end of the January there are Potato Day & Seed Fair around the UK check out http://www.potato-days.net for events near your area.

Then there is Brightons Seedy Sunday which is the UKs largest Seed Swap which will be held on Sunday Feb 4th 2018 between 10:30 AM - 4 PM at the Brighton Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College where you can swap seeds, buy seeds, listen to expert speakers, visit more than 50 stalls and enjoy Infinity Cafe's wonderful food

Check out your local Allotment Trading Huts For a small membership fee many large allotment sites have trading huts which enable you to purchase all your gardening needs at reasonable prices and are more convenient than going to your local garden centre as long as your happy to shop on a Sunday morning.

Most of these trading huts are not only open to the plot holders but some are also open to gardeners in the surrounding area. Most are no profit making and are staffed by volunteers any profits go back into the association or get donated to charity. So if you have taken on an Allotment or are growing vegetables from home check out your surrounding Allotments and find out where they are located.

Fothergills also supplies Wilkinson’s, CountryWise Brand, Sarah Raven, Eden Project & RHS.


Another useful company is Moreveg sow grow eat and enjoy. Quality vegetable and herb seeds.

They sell small packets of seeds for small amounts of money.

Keep your eyes out in spring when visiting Lidl/Aldi for cheap plants.
I got some Apache Chilli plants for not a lot at Aldi.
Lidl also had some nice squash plants.
You have got to watch as they don't seem to look after them.
Check they are not dying !
Jimmy

Some excellent advice from Cadalot above about seed sales and the different prices charged for the same seed under different labels.

What you do critically depends on your attitude to taste. Some people have very much more sensitive taste than others, so to some people a tomato is a tomato, to others there is a huge difference between a fine flavoured tomato such as Ferline or Sungold and a bog standard one such as Moneymaker.

If, like me, you are fussy about flavour, then you are unlikely to be able to buy everything from the same place. You may also find (like me) that a fair proportion of your favourites (like Ferline and Sungold) are the more expensive F1 varieties. You will also find that it is impossible to buy every one of your favourite varieties from the same seed company.

What I would do is get all the seed catalogues sent now and go through them to see who stocks what and compare costs. Some firms have a wider selection online. I find that T&M and Mr Fothergills are widely available at garden centres, others less so. It is too late for seed sales this year, so I would go to the shops after Christmas when the seeds arrive and pick up what you want from local outlets. You may then be left with a list of varieties that you can't find and you will know who stocks them online.

I generally end up at Moreveg mainly as they have a fairly good selection and they sell in smaller numbers in a pack. I can always 2 packs of the same or 2 different packs.

Did try another supplier for a specific variety of pepper but they had an odd condition of the seed cost had to exceed a given amount. Which would have been fine if the postage was feree but in either case I was paying the postage so never could understand why they cared if I bought 1 pack or 4.

Presently it is a case of I plan on whatever Moreveg have, and any spare rows are filled with whatever I bump into in one of the shops. I have found it best to keep one or two rows empty for changes in whatever plan.

One aspect of Moreveg is they send in a padded envelope and I then write the year on the thing and keep the seed packs in that. Easier to find and the year of purchase is on it.

Much appreciated advice. Many thanks everyone.

Regards......Rob

Thanks. The moreveg website looks most helpful, especially as all I'm doing is square foot gardening.

I'm very surprised that no one has set up in opposition to Moreveg as they are the only ones doing small quantities of seed cheaply.
I should maybe buy some big packs of seed, split them up into small portions and undercut them!

How does 49p a packet sound!

I'm sure I've seen others doing similar - on the bay maybe?

Nowt under 99p postage inclusive last time i looked!

I like to save my own seeds as much as possible - shallots, leeks, chilli, peas, beans (broad, french and haricot) are all quite easy though leeks take a long time. I've not bought a pea, bean or chilli seed now for over a decade.

Sweetpea should come true as well but I don't bother with these much.
Squash, tomato, aubergine and peppers should be easy as well with a bit of care.

Premier seeds direct and Just seed off ebay are what i use. Not had any problems.