[cloddopper]

As the title say's
It sounds crazy but think about next years seeds .

It won't be long before the garden centres start bunging all the Crimbo crap out on the shelves and so as a result most will be selling off unsold seed packets fairly cheaply .
 So long as the centre is normally dry and clean it's a fair bet that the seeds will be still viable next year  ( some times even longer)
So looking at what you have now got and planning what you need for next year is a sensible exercise to make the shopping list early . Carry it with you when ever you're out and about .. you'll be surprised just how much you can save by buying when you see them and know they are needed. .
.

[Duckduckgoose]

Hi, just came across this post and was pleased to find someone as thrifty as me  . Have been and bought a load of seeds in anticipation for next year at a fraction of the price. I'm fairly new at the smallholding and veg growing but it just seemed like a good idea

[Ghdp]

Me too. Bought some seeds prompted by this post : )

[cloddopper]

I've got a list .. Went out with my lass on Friday and realised I'd forgotten the bloody thing . as we walked through a shopping mall where there was a massive six foot across roundabout display stand some five feet tall packed choc a bloc with them .
 It contained all manner of seeds , from all the well known seed houses at a pound a packet for all seeds.  Arragh ! 

[Caroline1]

Yeah I get a bit carried away last year so still have loads, have bought a couple more though ready for next year 

[cloddopper]

Well we did it .
 I made my lists  of all the viable seeds left in my seed storage pots & tubes , disposed of all the well past their use by dates and out of the years of the viability ranges as  indicated from my internet searching .
 It's left me with about 30 empty pots & tubes out of a total of 140 or so .
 I made a list for things I definitely need.
 IE .
Three types of cabbage  . cut & come again salad leaf , radish , three types of carrot , two types of cauli several beans & peas , three types of tomatoes , celery and several herbs .
 We went to  the Wyevale garden center that is in Carmarthen .

Our luck was in , they have just set up the Christmast rubbish and  had put all the unsold seeds in nine plastic window boxes ( 3 x 1 x 1 foot ).

 I spent a half hour or so leant against the racking , slowly & methodically picking my way through a couple of boxes of the seeds . Got crazy back pain doing it plus hurting legs feet and hands ... but somethings in life are worth a bit of discomfort
 
 
 Once I had got what i wanted Alison & I  then went back through the basket to make sure we had all bases covered and  had not made to many duplication's or gone stupid and purchased things we'd never eat or put in the flower gardens .
 Going through the till we were given FOC an £8 ish bag of big tulip bulbs as we'd spent over £20 
 The seeds amounted to £ 26 ...not bad for 52 packets of seeds we really wanted that had at least an 18 months sow by date and  a true viability date well in excess of that in most cases . .

 Back home after a bit of bed rest I sat and  added up all the normal prices .. I'm happy to report that we would have spent £ 98.30 if we'd paid full price ..so that was a fantastic saving of just over £ 73 .
 Happy hunting guys and gals now is the time to have a go if you can .

[Rosemary]

I've just recieved ours 

[Womble]

Nice one!  We thought about ditching all our out of date seeds this spring, but decided to sow them instead...... in far greater density than normal.

For some, only one in four seedlings came up, but that was still enough. For others, they all still sprouted, and we just thinned them out, keeping the strongest ones as usual. If you sow them a little bit earlier than you would usually, you still have time to buy new ones to replace any failures  .

[devonlady]

I found all mine at a car boot sale, all well in date and "healthy" looking packets. 30p a pack or 4 for £1!!

[Blondie]

Aldi was selling seeds for 19p a packet this week. Unfortunately nothing I wanted.... Just loads of aubergines and tomatoes. Maybe other stores will have a better selection. Having tried to grow tomatoes from seed this year and only getting a couple of good plants, next year I'll just pay for saplings. 

[cloddopper]

for a lot of folk this year has been dismal for growing beans and tomatoes outside as it's been too cold early on inthe year.
 
On the positive side of things we have some fantastic ten inch long main crop carrots ready for eating .. one carrot is enough for two meals.  best of all there are several other square foot patches of successional main crop carrots as well . We also have what looks like will be a lot of late winter carrots as well . Our leeks & self blanching celery are doing great too.

 All the cabbages, cauli & broccoli's seem to have survived several prolonged slug , snail & cabbage white attacks and are giving indications of a real bounty  crop in the offing.

[sabrina]

I am wondering about growing more flowers from seed next year and a wee bit less veg. I have the freezer pretty full now and OH thinks I should grow less. Maybe look at growing more fruit. I have tried shallots and onions but with little luck. Our ground has to much clay maybe. I have collected leek seeds to plant next year as they never go to waste. Apart from that still trying to decide.

[Marches Farmer]

Aldi was selling seeds for 19p a packet this week. Unfortunately nothing I wanted.... Just loads of aubergines and tomatoes. Maybe other stores will have a better selection. Having tried to grow tomatoes from seed this year and only getting a couple of good plants, next year I'll just pay for saplings.

I did this last year - lambing coincided with the time I should've been starting tomatoes.  Got some from Marshalls and grew them outdoors.  Some of the seeds from the fallen tomatoes germinated this year and I just let them get on with it.  Still picking them now and not a hint of blight!

[cloddopper]

Sabrina,
 you can " build the soil " over a few years to give you a fantastic permanent onion bed on top of even the bluest of clays  by  compoosting manures 7 waste then putting it on a set aside area  in a thick mulch . worms will  come along and start to take it intot eh clay , Once the bed is a couple of years old and the decaying composted mulch has got to about 4 " thick  you should be able to grow your onions from sets as they only need a few inches of soil for the roots , the decayed mulch will retain enough moisture for the roots to enter the " new soil " . Using a five inch walled raised bed can be very for this .
 As it's on top of clay there will be enough nutrients and trace elements in the clay to grow the crop.
 After the first crop year you'll only need a light application of the well made compost each year to have a great onion bed for years & years . Till the bed soil is " Built " , you can grow salad crops in it .. Once harvested the salad crop hair roots will also help build the bed as they decay .

Good luck

PS
If you want to grow your own onion sets , sow the onion seeds in 3 inch damp sand  tray at the end of May & place the tray  on a north facing wall . Come late August to mid October when the seeds have turned to set sized onions simply take them out and store them in paper bags in a cool frost free place out of the sunlight .
 Red onions  are a bit of a problem as the sets might have to be sown around mid June and  the sets held back till the May next year.

 Whatever you do don't sow onion sets in a new overly nitrogen rich compost bed  as  most will bolt . They seem to do best as the second crop after adding quality made compost ... I've been growing late brassica in the onion bed once the bed has been cleared of onions .

I'm also experimenting  by sowing a couple of square feet of late/main crop carrots with 50mm spacing's between the sown carrot seeds that were sown in three & fours in a bed that has had onions taken out but no compost added afterwards.

Results so far are fantastic we've 35 to 45 mm dia x 250 mm long carrots out of this bed so far this year  ( I've got 900 mm deep soil-less beds made up with homemade matured compost for all my veg beds ) .

 

[DavidandCollette]

Our seed order has already gone in :excited:we belong to an organic group and put in a bulk order and get a big discount. Although it's a bit more expensive than Aldi etc. , It means that we can sellall our excess produce on the farmer's market, again as part of the organic group