The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Gardens => Topic started by: Kitchen Cottage on January 02, 2014, 07:05:55 am
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This year is the year of the allotment!. Previous attempts (note: allotments are better sans piglets in them) were produced with the help of Alan Romans seeds. I note that they've now been taken over by Thompson and Morgan and their reviews were so bad I don't want to buy from them. Where would TAS Gardenators recommend as an online seed company?
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last year I had mine from the kings catalog because they were discounted as part of the Allotment association.
NSALG) I had a few failures but not much.
The year before i bought from an ebay online site - larger amounts of seed, same price, free postage and a again a couple of failures but not much.
This year no access to the NSALG so I will be back to ebay.
I dont really get many failures really wherever i buy.
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I concur
Ebay is good, and for organic ones then Stormy Hall Seeds
Unusual ones Real Seed Copmpany
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I bought most of mine last year and the previous year from T&M with no big problems. I've had a slightly bigger issue with some of their plug plants but only one set of seeds from them was an issue - and it wasn't their own branding but under Kew Gardens (ornamental thistles, terrible, terrible germination even with a second free replacement pack). My mum always buys from Suttons.
This year I've ended up with a Which? subscription and they have tested lots of the veg and some flowers for their 'Best Buys' so I'm going to try out some of those. I've also found a couple of specialist websites for pumpkins/squashes/courgettes so I'll have a play with those too. Just brought all my seed packets in today (very damp :() to check which might still be viable and which to order.
Which? has also reviewed the different seed companies for customer satisfaction and T&M didn't do great but they did have about ten times as many replies as any of the other companies. Interestingly Parkers did better and I've had huge problems with them - along with several others I know. I can't remember who came top but can probably dig it out.
If you have specific seeds in mind, I can check the Which? recommendations and let you know if you want.
H
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On a similar topic I have bought many things from Suttons, but last year my daughter bought me a Victoria Plum tree for my birthday, five months later I contacted Suttons as the tree had done absolutely nothing, I was told that I had to photograph the tree and email it to them so that they could advise me what action to take - IT'S A DEAD TREE!! They were most unhelpful to the point of dismissive. Had I been an unknown customer with no purchase record or someone with a history of complaining then ok but the way they spoke I was left with the impression that it would take much jumping and many hoops with little chance of resolution - I've gone right off said company :rant: :huff:
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I got three magnolias from T&M last winter under a special offer. When they turned up they had next to no roots - awful - so I phoned up immediately and complained and said I just wanted to register it in case they didn't take. They asked whether I wanted a replacement but I said hold it and I'd let them know. They sent me some anyway so I stuck those in pots. The first lot did fail so the second lot are now in and looking better. They also said if I didn't have room to keep the second set on hold, I could give them away and they'd send me a third replacement set this winter. Seemed decent to me.
H
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Has anyone used vegetableseeds.net? They were mentioned on superscrimpers and I thought I would give them a go. All cheap and cheerful, I like the site and they do 10% off if you like them on Facebook (or just get the code off someone!). If you order a certain amount - I think over ten pounds - you get a couple of free packs, I got some carrot and coriander seeds. They also have a community where you can blog about your veg growing experiences, and if you keep it up to date you get free seeds twice a year.
They seem good, let's hope the seeds do well. They send you a detailed email with instructions on, which is good because all the seeds come in foreign packs lol.
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on the other seed thread I commented that I had a look at vegetableseed.com & decided the the quantity of seeds for the price was low.
bought mine from premier seeds direct on ebay.
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We usually get ours from Tuckers Seeds or Moles Seeds as you can buy in bulk :) Tamar Organics we've also found reliable.
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I've ordered from Nicky Nursery, very good selection that is why I now have 14 varitys of chilli & 11 varitys of tomato to grow this year :innocent:
Also ordered from simply seeds & seed parade both have very good selection and well priced seeds.
I avoid all the big seed company's.
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My seed Order from premier seeds (from Ebay) arrived quickly and very accurately - all nicely labelled and packaged in polythene bags with a printed list of my order.
49p total postage cost for 19 individual seed selections.
Quite impressed with them.
Hope the seeds work!
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I gave up on T&M many years ago in my town house days - expensive and poor germinations in my hands on speciality seeds.
Year before last I used fothergils with good results but in a bid to reduce costs found vegetableseeds.net last year with excellent germination rates. I've used them again this year as well as premier seeds on ebay for all the basic small volume stuff. For bigger bulk on peas and beans i just bought loose locally last year from the high street hardware shop.
Apart from those seeds that really need to be fresh - onions and leeks - I'll use seeds from the same packet for several years if it hasn't run out; mostly by sowing individually in modules or sparingly to reduce thinning. I do look carefully at seed numbers in the packs as well as price.
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Have a look at this link - helpful as well as funny http://www.growveg.com/growblogpost.aspx?id=171 (http://www.growveg.com/growblogpost.aspx?id=171)
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Very interesting. I hate to admit it but I have fallen for some of the hype :-[ .
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Oh so do I :roflanim: My current one is Petit Posy brukale. I have grown it for a few years and am finding it increasingly difficult to pick, as the sprouts are very firmly attached to the plants and very densely packed. So when I saw in T&M the claim that their sprouting bits are on stalks, I couldn't resist buying them. Of course they won't be on stalks ::) as they are exactly the same plant as all the other catalogues sell :garden: