Growing your own - is it worth it?

[Constantbee]

Veg seeds very difficult to get hold of here. Sold out everywhere. Sellers are profiteering from online sales too, eg charging 3 times as much for a few courgette seeds. We've cobbled together a waist height vegetable trug out of some timber boards left over from fence repairs to grow salad leaves and herbs in. It will be more manageable if we get another wet summer. Cuttings from the soft fruit are doing well.

Took a chance on 5 courgette 'Zucchini' seeds for £3.25 on ebay this morning. I really hope I don't have to worry whether these We've been lucky so far, though It's probably just somebody who bought a packet of 20 before the rush and is trying to make a profit. Well, good for you, old chap. I suppose I would have done the same. The online seed merchants seem to have stopped taking orders now and delivery times are still long.

[Dave2002]

Found some old packets of seeds - probably beyond use by dates - but the salad leaves are now coming up, as are the radishes. Will look for more.

[oddoneout]

Found some old packets of seeds - probably beyond use by dates - but the salad leaves are now coming up, as are the radishes. Will look for more.

Use by dates are only a quality indication, many seeds will stay viable well beyond that, especially if they are in unopened packets, although even then some are inherently short-life. One thing is certain though - they won't grow if they aren't sown! Something that happens to me more than is sensible is finding an old opened packet and sowing the lot on the basis that there won't be a high germination rate, and being proved wrong...The other twist is trying some old seed in a pot, not having any result, and putting the rest out for the birds, then some months later having a rash of seedlings from said seed. I am still digging up artichokes, perennial sweet peas, alfalfa, oregano and chervil as a result of that a coupe of seasons ago.
There's many a veg in the Heritage Seed Library and other such places that are the result of someone clearing an elderly relative's shed out and finding stray seed packets or tins of saved seed.

[gradus]

I received an email from Thompson and Morgan this morning offering to sell me 1 dwarf bean plant in a small pot for £6.99 or 12 carrots in pots for £9.99 as well as a single runner bean plant for £6.99 plus ridiculously overpriced tomato plants. Who's kidding who? Do people actually buy at these extortionate prices?

[oddoneout]

I received an email from Thompson and Morgan this morning offering to sell me 1 dwarf bean plant in a small pot for £6.99 or 12 carrots in pots for £9.99 as well as a single runner bean plant for £6.99 plus ridiculously overpriced tomato plants. Who's kidding who? Do people actually buy at these extortionate prices?

Those are what I would regard as profiteering prices, but yes folks do pay what seem/are very high prices for ready grown veg(and other annual) plants even in normal times. I find it rather sad because the risk of failure can be quite high for novice growers and that's a lot of money to lose, and a big set-back/disincentive.The other thing is that as such plants will be more than likely F1 hybrids - and for such as toms, peppers and cucumbers grafted as well - there's not even the option to recoup for next year by saving seed.
T&M have also got the option in a few weeks, having started at that level, of offering 'bargains'...

[Dave2002]

Use by dates are only a quality indication, many seeds will stay viable well beyond that, especially if they are in unopened packets, although even then some are inherently short-life. One thing is certain though - they won't grow if they aren't sown! Something that happens to me more than is sensible is finding an old opened packet and sowing the lot on the basis that there won't be a high germination rate, and being proved wrong...The other twist is trying some old seed in a pot, not having any result, and putting the rest out for the birds, then some months later having a rash of seedlings from said seed. I am still digging up artichokes, perennial sweet peas, alfalfa, oregano and chervil as a result of that a coupe of seasons ago.
There's many a veg in the Heritage Seed Library and other such places that are the result of someone clearing an elderly relative's shed out and finding stray seed packets or tins of saved seed.

Does the same apply to bulbs which never quite got planted in time? Can they be kept over for a year, or should they just be thrown away?

[oddoneout]

Does the same apply to bulbs which never quite got planted in time? Can they be kept over for a year, or should they just be thrown away?

Bulbs aren't designed for long term survival in the way seeds are - they dry out and then die, especially if they've tried to grow in storage, and are not as adaptable to 'out of season' planting as herbaceous plants. If they are ones that should have been planted last autumn and weren't then no they'll not last until this autumn. Whether it would be worth planting them now I don't know. If it feels as if there's still something in the bulb and/or the sign of a growing point - not just a dry husk - then why not try. The risk will be the dead bits rotting and killing any remaining viable bit, but nothing venture nothing gain.

[gradus]

I agree, if the bulbs look dessicated they've probably had it but what's to lose, just dig a spade or two of earth drop them in and wait. You can sometimes be surprised by the powers of recovery.

[Dave2002]

I agree, if the bulbs look dessicated they've probably had it but what's to lose, just dig a spade or two of earth drop them in and wait. You can sometimes be surprised by the powers of recovery.

Worth a try - will report back next year - maybe!

[Constantbee]

I agree, if the bulbs look dessicated they've probably had it but what's to lose, just dig a spade or two of earth drop them in and wait. You can sometimes be surprised by the powers of recovery.

You never can tell. Two years ago I invested in some mini bulbs - daffs, iris, narcissi and tulips - in the autumn to plant in containers for cheerful colour in the Spring. The question was whether to lift them or leave them be when they'd finished. In the end I lifted them, dried them carefully, kept them cool and replanted them. They flowered again, so I'll do the same again this year

Even some begonias corms I was convinced had rotted away at the end of last summer survived being dried and stored in the airing cupboard over the winter.

[ardcarp]

By chance, came across this today:

The oldest carbon-14-dated seed that has grown into a viable plant was Silene stenophylla (narrow-leafed campion), an Arctic flower native to Siberia. Radiocarbon dating has confirmed an age of 31,800 ±300 years for the seeds

So it's worth trying a packet bought at Woollies by your grandparents!

[oddoneout]

You never can tell. Two years ago I invested in some mini bulbs - daffs, iris, narcissi and tulips - in the autumn to plant in containers for cheerful colour in the Spring. The question was whether to lift them or leave them be when they'd finished. In the end I lifted them, dried them carefully, kept them cool and replanted them. They flowered again, so I'll do the same again this year

Even some begonias corms I was convinced had rotted away at the end of last summer survived being dried and stored in the airing cupboard over the winter.

That's common gardening practice especially with tender subjects like gladioli, begonias, dahlias. It's not quite the same as something which has done the growing drying and storing part but then, instead of being planted again in due season, is left to dry out even more! If you'd not replanted in autumn, by now not only would you have missed the spring display but they would have been in the same situation as dave's.

[gurnemanz]

In February we went to a funeral in a rather pretty Cotswold church. On the way out we were all handed a small packet of self-gathered nasturtium seeds. The five seeds have come through nicely in pots and in the summer the plants should provide a good memory of the the lady in question.

[oddoneout]

In February we went to a funeral in a rather pretty Cotswold church. On the way out we were all handed a small packet of self-gathered nasturtium seeds. The five seeds have come through nicely in pots and in the summer the plants should provide a good memory of the the lady in question.

And you can save some seeds and remember her next year, and the next year...Gardens are often memory banks.

[gradus]

If you're not too keen with the hoe the nasturtiums will re-seed for years and even if you are the spent plants added to a compost bin may well re-appear where the compost is spread. This happens with our compost and I'm finding new Thalictrum plants all over the garden this year.