[Workhorse]

I paid £3.99 for a pack of tomato seeds, when i put them in today there were only eight seeds in the packet... i feel conned. I only bought these seeds as they were the only ones left and i needed tomato seeds!!!
 Is this usual for this make??

[waddy]

How many does it say on the packet? I once bought some expensive pelleted petunia seeds that were 20% short. I e-mailed the company (I think it was unwins) and they sent me another packet free. It's worth a try.


Helen

[Greenerlife]

The grow sure brand does have very few seeds in it by comparison to most and is VERY expensive!  I have bought them very cheap at the end of season (50p a packet - I buy all my seeds every year like this now!) they pretty much have 100% germination though.

[HesterF]

I hadn't realised until this season quite how much the number of seeds can vary. I certainly got a pack from T&M that was one of their special offers (offered at checkout on line) and had only six tomato seeds in, of which only four germinated, I think. Mind you, I think it was only 99p so no where near as much as you paid. But you also get it with lots of the F1 hybrids where there are very few seeds in the pack. The thing that's more annoying is that when you order on line, you often can't tell how many seeds come in the pack - it's only when your receive the packs that you can see the contents.

[Dan]

We're starting a wee TAS project to help judge the value of seed packets. This will be fully populated for next year, for now the beetroot section shows what to expect:

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/shop/fruit-veg-herbs/beetroot/

Any feedback welcome. 

[Possum]

That's really useful. Can't believe the difference in price.


Would it be possible to have a feedback section so that we can see how the seeds performed once sown? The cheapest can sometimes be a false economy is they don't result in many plants!

[YorkshireLass]

I'm not sure how useful feedback would be, as it depends so much on how each buyer stores and uses the seeds, the weather, the pest burden, various deities.... 

[Dan]

We could let you add notes for your own reference, but I agree with YorkshireLass that without at least a handful of feedback from different sources it wouldn't be reliable.

[lilfeeb]

I bought seeds this year from seedparade.co.uk, which have germinated really well and are incredibly great value.i have had better results with their seeds that the more traditional seed suppliers.

[Ina]

Tucker's seeds state the number of seeds per pack in their catalogue. I noticed this year that the numbers had gone down - probably due to the miserable summer last year and lower yields. I'm having problems with germinating at the moment, but I think that's more due to me using cheap seed compost.

[Workhorse]

* Embarrassed face*  the packet says six seeds...  in my defence i didnt take my glasses with me when i bought them!!
 Any way they have been in five days, all my other seeds have come up but am still awaiting the tomato's 

[Ina]

We were just discussing this at work today (veg farm) - seeds in general have been very expensive this year and a lot of them also seem to have bad germination results... No doubt all due to bad conditions last year. Of the ones I bought new, the summer savoury hasn't germinated at all, and of the pumpkins only two germinated, gave very puny plants which died almost immediately... Not good at all! On the other hand, the "old" seeds from the year before seem to produce better results.

[Workhorse]

Pumpkins are up, cress, radish, spring onions, lettuce, but not cucumber or tomato.  But i am always a late starter, my greenhouse isnt heated!
  I actually paved over my veg patch  because i didnt have the time for it, and it was getting away from me, as i was gardening for other people i didnt have the get up and go for my own plot! These plants are for my granddaughter , start em young i say! 

[Plantoid]

We're starting a wee TAS project to help judge the value of seed packets. This will be fully populated for next year, for now the beetroot section shows what to expect:

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/shop/fruit-veg-herbs/beetroot/

Any feedback welcome. 

 I have started saving veg and some flower seeds . Currently all my peas , broad beans , runner beans , garlics and some cabbages are my own seeds that are sown and germinated .
The tomato , capsicum ,fennel , lavender , parsnips and a couple of others are sown but not yet germinated .
This year I intend to add to my range with tall curly kale ( three plants just starting to flower ) several sorts of carrrots , clelery , turnips swede, radish ,  lollo lettuce  and leeks .
 
 I've also got some ever lasting kale which needs a  couple of new cuttings taken off for the next year and growing before the host plant is removed.

[Ina]

The problem last year was - at least up here - that a lot of crops didn't mature properly - so no viable seeds produced. That needs to be taken into account if you keep your own seeds; some years may be a wash out.