Anyone Buying New Seed ?

@Loofah If you are stuck have a look at Special Plants (Special Plants Nursery) I've just been leafing through their catalogue and they have an interesting range of seeds. Also I've had pretty good germination with their seed, certainly better than some suppliers.

 

I know the feeling @simone_in_wiltshire; I don't seem to have a lot of luck with flower seeds started off in trays/modules/pots. They usually germinate and then for some reason I can't get them as far as the true leaf stage. The only ones I was successful with last year were French marigolds, Ammi Majus and a few foxgloves. I tried Nicotiana several times, they are supposed to be easy ... And the white foxglove seeds I sowed in the summer for next year have germinated and then vanished.

I've done better with seeds that are sown directly in the garden. Cosmos and Candy Tuft always work. Ammi Majus I also decided was better sown direct and later, as it didn't grow to such ridiculous heights!

I did OK with growing veg seeds last year; managed to raise courgettes, cucumbers, tomatoes, French beans and broad beans.

 

Thank you @Songbird
I do sometimes have trouble with Snapdragon seedlings when pricking out, 50% of them would collapse and die, then i started leaving them until they had a few real leaves. I wouldn't sow cosmos in situe because of slugs and snails but 2024 had a abundance of slugs and snails but I'm still going to try them again.

 

@Logan , we don’t sow seeds direct into soil, tried that and nothing germinates here that way. Always sow the seeds in trays which go in the greenhouse for the duration.

 

@Escarpment I'm glad (and sad) to hear that I'm not the only one who fails.
I have to admit that I ordered different types last year which obviously are harder to get germinated. Our GH is unfortunately in the shade in February and just starts to get sunshine at the end of February and in March.
With the peat-free soil available, I think it didn't make it better. I didn't buy soil last year and used my own compost which was no good idea. I can hear Carol Klein saying, don't use your own compost for germination.
When it was too late, I found a soil which worked. I will have a look today for the name. I still have got the bag. With that, all seeds germinated. I will buy one bag this year for such jobs where I use seeds like my Linaria Canon Went. The slugs and snails are ruthless in my garden. That's why I took my only surviving Salvia upstairs and have it currently even inside due to the frost.
Apart from the very first batch in 2020, I never got Nikotania germinated again. In particular not the green ones that Carol Klein so loves.
What we need to accept is that apart from 2018 which was here perfect for tomato growing (2.5 months constant 25c and sunshine), we had with that cold Spring 2021 and the drought in 2022 a change in weather which has been too dark and too cold over the recent 2 summers.
So I leave the germination and first weeks to the farm shop, pay them for their work and I have healthy and strong plants in my bed. Nothing wrong with that
What I definitely will not grow are tomatoes. Too unreliable weather and then they appear in an amount which is too much at once and the blight hits us.
Marrows always worked, but I was the only one who ate them, and after 6 years marrows all summer long, I gave myself a break.

 

Woohoo! Seeds arrived from Plant world and also from my daughter who had been in Perth!
Now the problem is that the thermostat control on my heat mat has died... And crazily it's cheaper to buy a new mat and control than a controller on its own.

 

I must do my annual seed packet check to throw out dated seeds before I buy in any more. I usually try to grow something I have never grown before, each year.

 

My most successful vegetable so far has been French beans, I have been growing the purple variety Blauhilde. They were slow to get going this year but I still ended up with a good crop. So I'm think of branching out a bit this year and growing Borlotti or Cobra beans, or maybe both!

 

Isn't that weird @Escarpment , I have a harder time starting veg seeds and other than for Cleome or others that I consider to need exotic germination methods, my flowers pop up no problem.

 

Try to plant fresh seed in modules, just 2-3 seeds in each. When it is clear that you have need to space, take a small pair of (Nail) scissors and behead the weakest, leaving one strong seedling. Remove the unfortunate, continue to water (less) and grow on in strong light.It works for me.

 

I have a spray bottle filled a weak solution of peroxide ready to spritz any sign of mold or the damp soil surface looking ready to incubate naughty stuff. This stops any damp off happening and is a heck of a lot cheaper than the damp off solutions sold at the garden centers.

 

Tiny seed are always the w

I'd suggest that could give you a batch of plants all the same colour in mixed seed.
Often if you grow mixed colours the strongest seedlings are the norm for the plant and the slightly puny ones are better colours.
I think its to do with genes, but not sure.