Where do you buy your seeds?

[Amari]

Don't eat cucumber leaves

 

[rossbyjove]

I was joking I don’t think we can buy from sensi in the uk ?

You can.

 

[Nannysbees]

Not brilliant with tomatoes in the greenhouse either, I grow in pots but again they are pathetic, very little fruit!!! Usually buy the plants not grow from seed, reasonable when I buy them but become weak after I've had them for a month or two, what compost do you use?

 

[philat98]

Premier Seeds seem to have a reasonable reputation and have in the past been quite cheap, but most of my vegetable seeds I try to buy from Real Seeds because they only stock open-pollinated varieties which means saving seed is often practical (and they even provide instructions on how to do it for each type of plant).

Perhaps it might help to buy seeds earlier in the Winter too, before most people are really thinking about the coming season. I try to get all my orders in by the first week of November, even if some stuff won't actually be delivered until late January/early February.

James

I had good success with Premier Seeds Sungold tomatoes and Rising Sun sweetcorn. They no longer ship to the EU.
I saved a lot of seeds last year. A few I saved were F1. I am curious to see how they turn out. I might create a new variety of sweetcorn. I saved 500g of broad bean seed. Germination was 100%. I have to wait and see what the harvest is like.
I grew coriander from a supermarket spice packet. Pretty good germination.

 

[JamezF]

I had good success with Premier Seeds Sungold tomatoes and Rising Sun sweetcorn. They no longer ship to the EU.
I saved a lot of seeds last year. A few I saved were F1. I am curious to see how they turn out. I might create a new variety of sweetcorn. I saved 500g of broad bean seed. Germination was 100%. I have to wait and see what the harvest is like.
I grew coriander from a supermarket spice packet. Pretty good germination.

Saving seed from sweetcorn is apparently not straightforward because a very large number of plants are allegedly required to maintain sufficient genetic diversity. I think at least 400 are recommended. Just for one year perhaps it might work well enough though.

I took some cuttings from an F1 tomato back in September that seemed to be doing very nicely in the greenhouse and could have been replanted for this year, right up until we had a sudden -6°C night that took them all out. Clearly I need to be much more on the ball if I try that again.

James

 

[fian]

Not brilliant with tomatoes in the greenhouse either, I grow in pots but again they are pathetic, very little fruit!!! Usually buy the plants not grow from seed, reasonable when I buy them but become weak after I've had them for a month or two, what compost do you use?

https://sembralia.com/blogs/blog/problemas-cultivo-tomates

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Saving seed from sweetcorn is apparently not straightforward because a very large number of plants are allegedly required to maintain sufficient genetic diversity.

that's when you need a bucket toilet, only the hardiest kernels survive

 

[Midget Gem]

Not brilliant with tomatoes in the greenhouse either, I grow in pots but again they are pathetic, very little fruit!!! Usually buy the plants not grow from seed, reasonable when I buy them but become weak after I've had them for a month or two, what compost do you use?

I grow tomatoes in the greenhouse but I plant everything into the ground. I think if you have pots you have to get the watering and feeding just right. I'm not too disciplined about watering so decided on planting in the ground and it works better than friends who have pots. Got good crops of tomatoes, sweet peppers, chillies, aubergines, basil, coriander. Managed to grow a few cucumbers and even a loofah last year.....in North Wales!

Cucumbers are always a bit disappointing - spikey and watery with more seed than cucumber. Any advice on a good variety without spikes (is there such a thing?) and few seeds greatly received.

 

[Bryang]

I grow tomatoes in the greenhouse but I plant everything into the ground. I think if you have pots you have to get the watering and feeding just right. I'm not too disciplined about watering so decided on planting in the ground and it works better than friends who have pots. Got good crops of tomatoes, sweet peppers, chillies, aubergines, basil, coriander. Managed to grow a few cucumbers and even a loofah last year.....in North Wales!

Cucumbers are always a bit disappointing - spikey and watery with more seed than cucumber. Any advice on a good variety without spikes (is there such a thing?) and few seeds greatly received.

I grow Marketmore 76. Some spikes, but they can be rubbed off. They are a "small" type.. 20cm approx.. Pinch out the growing point after 8/10 leaves (approx)..

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Cucumbers are always a bit disappointing - spikey and watery with more seed than cucumber. Any advice on a good variety without spikes (is there such a thing?)

plenty of varieties without spike around, the seed issues is down to the flowers being fertilised, so either you have to be on the ball and pinch off the male flowers every day or go for a female only variety which means F1 hybrid varieties. I do like Carmen - large, smooth cucumbers and if well looked after, heavy croppers) I think I got over seventy off one vine one year and I was still picking them in November.

 

[JamezF]

Some cucumbers won't develop fruit at all without the male flowers as far as I'm aware. Depends on the variety.

I've grown Marketmore and it did ok. For the last couple of years I've tried a variety called Wautoma which I've not been entirely happy with. It's slightly spiny (which I don't mind) and produces a lot of quite fat short-ish fruit, but the seed cavity is quite large unless they're picked early and the skin is often tough. This year I'm trying one called Gergana which is closer to the long thing supermarket style that we're used to.

James

 

[Goran]

We use for oureslves -Raider F1 cucumber. If we can't find it, we settle for Darina F1..

 

[Nannysbees]

I grow Marketmore 76. Some spikes, but they can be rubbed off. They are a "small" type.. 20cm approx.. Pinch out the growing point after 8/10 leaves (approx)..

I didn't think to pinch out those leaves!!!

 

[Nannysbees]

plenty of varieties without spike around, the seed issues is down to the flowers being fertilised, so either you have to be on the ball and pinch off the male flowers every day or go for a female only variety which means F1 hybrid varieties. I do like Carmen - large, smooth cucumbers and if well looked after, heavy croppers) I think I got over seventy off one vine one year and I was still picking them in November.

Thank you I'm going to see if I can get those and give them a try

 

[Amari]

Not brilliant with tomatoes in the greenhouse either, I grow in pots but again they are pathetic, very little fruit!!! Usually buy the plants not grow from seed, reasonable when I buy them but become weak after I've had them for a month or two, what compost do you use?

Try growing your tomatoes in Quad Grow - one plant per pot, the pots sit on a reservoir of water/liquid fertiliser which needs topping up about once a week. The pic shows SWMBO's tomatoes against the greenhouse wall on the right.
https://www.greenhousesensation.co.uk/product-category/quadgrow/

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thank you I'm going to see if I can get those and give them a try

I've just received some from Yorkshire seeds (less than £3.00 for ten including postage) who sell them on ebay, at a fraction of the cost of sellers like Thomson and Morgan who charge over two pounds a seed

 

[fian]

Try growing your tomatoes in Quad Grow - one plant per pot, the pots sit on a reservoir of water/liquid fertiliser which needs topping up about once a week. The pic shows SWMBO's tomatoes against the greenhouse wall on the right.
https://www.greenhousesensation.co.uk/product-category/quadgrow/View attachment 38847

You can get the same result with a more basic system, you just need:
a.A one-liter plastic bottle that you fill with water+fertilizer
b.A piece of plastic level hose (ask at a hardware store/construction store)
To proceed, insert one end into the pot, 3 inches is enough, and the other end into the mouth of the bottle to the bottom, making sure the hose is full of water. Then it is a matter of refilling the bottle to prevent all the water from being consumed. As the plant needs water, the underpressure of the soil lowers the level of the bottle by a sufficient amount. So what is the need to mechanize a system that the plant is capable of doing on its own.

 

[E&MBees]

I’ve grown a cucumber called Passandra for the last few years. Its an F1 variety. It produces fruit that don’t have any spikes and the skin isn’t tough either. Two plants produced more than we (5 of us) could eat. The plants needed plenty of support and regular watering as they reached the roof vents and apex. I plant directly into the greenhouse beds, having dug out the old soil and replenished with garden compost and well rotted horse manure.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Try growing your tomatoes in Quad Grow - one plant per pot, the pots sit on a reservoir of water/liquid fertiliser which needs topping up about once a week. The pic shows SWMBO's tomatoes against the greenhouse wall on the right.
https://www.greenhousesensation.co.uk/product-category/quadgrow/View attachment 38847

Ooooo they look interesting
Thanks

 

[Bryang]

I didn't think to pinch out those leaves!!!

I suggested that you pinch/remove the growing "point" of the plant, not remove the leaves. This stimulates the plant to produce side shoots and so increase the crop.