On Mar 16, 8:56 pm, K wrote:
Rosie writes



I've never grown Sungold but I'll definitely try them this year. Will it
be too late to sow seed towards the end of April do you think as I cannot
do so before as we are away for 10 days during that month and I wouldn't
trust anyone looking after our cats to water the seeds.

I try to sow seeds just before a holiday. They'll take 1-2 weeks to
germinate, and if they are in a sealed container (a propagator with the
lid closed, or a big clear plastic bag enclosing the seed tray) the soil
will not dry out, and the seedlings aren't large enough to begin using
water at any significant rate.
--
Kay

Good tip Kay, how are you and the boys?

Judith

On Mar 16, 4:43 pm, Rosie wrote:
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:00:59 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France wrote:
On Mar 16, 3:06 pm, wrote:
[36 quoted lines suppressed]

If you would like to email me, I am happy to buy whatever seeds you
need and forward them to you.

Judith

can you get Sungold tomato seeds in France Judith?
--
Don't take the wrong side of an argument
just because your opponent has taken the right side.http://www.copelands.plus.com/val/

I was unable to post earlier, hence my email to you, but for others
here, I don't know if we can or not but I can find out. I have all my
tomatoes seeds sown on damp tissue paper, some are ready to be potted
up some have damped off so I have bought a few plug plants as well :-)

Judith

judith wrote:

I have grown Sungold tomatoes every year for about the last ten years.
I always bought seed from Thompson & Morgan - indeed, I was originally
told that they were the only people you could get them from as it was
"their" variety.

I now see that this is incorrect - and you can buy from any number of
sources - (too late from this year - already bought T&M)

I have noticed that there is great variation in the prices - eg ten
seeds for 3 pounds or thirty seeds for three pounds.

Yes, there is a huge variation, but even from a single supplier for
different varieties of the same veg. I just assumed some seeds are
genuinely more difficult/expensive to mass produce (e.g. F1 hybrids, new
varieties etc.)

My question is : is it worth paying more for such seeds or are the
cheaper ones fine?

Frankly I pay almost no attention to the price of a pack of seeds once
I've decided on a variety. This year I sowed the grand total of 14
tomato seeds. They seem to germinate easily enough, so I'm probably
going to end up with 10 plants. I really don't have any need (/space)
for more than about 6 plants, so I expect to be giving them away in a
couple of months.

At that rate, my one packet will take about 5 years to use up, by which
time I don't suppose the seeds will be viable any more. So it really
doesn't make any difference to me whether there were 50, 100 or 500
seeds in there in the first place.

Per seed, the price of tomato seed is utterly insignificant compared to
the cost of compost (I do use bought compost for seed sowing).

I did pause a little paying about 3 quid for only 10 sweet pepper
"Gypsy" F1 seeds. But even then they will last me two years (or more if
I manage to overwinter the plants).

Peter

wrote:

Earlier in the spring
I sat down and decided what I wanted and tried to order on-line - with
no success. I then telephoned to place my order and was told that as
I was ordering from three different catalogues - I would have to place
three separate orders !!!!

They do have an incredibly annoying site!

I declined this suggestion.

I think I bought my seed potatoes from them this year, but they do seem
to be expensive for most things. I've never bought anything else from
them, and probably won't.

I mostly buy from Sutton's, partly out of habit, though I've got nothing
bad to say about them, and they seem much cheaper than T&M. I do feel
slightly miffed that their free postage offer ended though - somehow
it's a much more stressful experience feeling like you have to get
everything in one order.

Peter

someone wrote:

Tomato seeds are very hardy and
long-lived, as are all the brassicas and squashes.

Good to know.

Sweet/chili pepper seeds? They look like tomato seeds, so hopefully the
same applies...

Carrot and onion seeds
are very short-lived and not worth storing from one year to the next.

Oh that's interesting! Not knowing any better, I sowed some of last
spring's carrot and onion seeds and they've come up fine. 90%
germination of the onions. "Enough" carrots, but I din't sow
individually so I've no idea.

I also sowed an impregnable (hopefully) barrier of last year's spring
onion seeds all the way around my carrot box, so I hope they come up
ok...

Peter

"Des Higgins" wrote in message
...
On Mar 16, 4:41 am, wrote:
On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:56:06 -0000, "someone"
wrote:


Thanks for yours and Judith's comments about Sungold being F1 hybrids. I
stand corrected about these seeds, may even try them myself :-) But it's
still true about a lot of the others, you can save them yourself, especially
winter squash.

someone

"Des Higgins" wrote in message
...
On Mar 16, 4:41 am, wrote:
On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:56:06 -0000, "someone"
wrote:







"judith" wrote in message
.. .

I have grown Sungold tomatoes every year for about the last ten years.
I always bought seed from Thompson & Morgan - indeed, I was originally
told that they were the only people you could get them from as it was
"their" variety.

I now see that this is incorrect - and you can buy from any number of
sources - (too late from this year - already bought T&M)

I have noticed that there is great variation in the prices - eg ten
seeds for 3 pounds or thirty seeds for three pounds.

My question is : is it worth paying more for such seeds or are the
cheaper ones fine?

Over the years I have tried a lot of seed merchants. I had a bad
experience
with T&M last year and would not use them again. Their seeds are
expensive
and their live plants didn't do well for me (after I'd paid in 2007, they
told me that the plants I wanted wouldn't be available until a year
later,
and the ones that arrived in 2007 came as small cuttings, with nothing
around their roots, so they promptly died).

We have shops like Aldi, Lidl and Wilkinson's in our area, and Wilko's
seeds
are 29p a packet. You don't get many seeds, but who needs more than 10
tomato seeds of any variety? I've found their seeds very reliable. Lidl
is
also good because, being a German company, they sell slightly different
things, e.g. yellow string beans, as well as the regular green ones. They
of course sell all the normal flowers and vegetable seeds.

I can recommend Franchi Italian seeds as well, they have interesting
varieties, although they're pricier. Their Cavolo Nero is to die for.

http://www.seedsofitaly.com/

If you've been growing Sungold for all these years, you should be saving
seed yourself from your tomatoes. Tomato seeds are very hardy and
long-lived, as are all the brassicas and squashes. Carrot and onion seeds
are very short-lived and not worth storing from one year to the next.

HTH

someone

Thanks for comments.
(Sungold are F1 hybrids and will not reproduce same next season so I
have to buy new seeds every year)
--


You are right (F1 etc.). I also find Sungold very expensive but worth
it as they are the one variety that I have grown so far that spouse
and kids agree are really really worth the effort. Other tomatoes are
nice and it is very fulfilling to grow them from seed etc. but Sungold
are magic. What annoys me about the price is not the money but the
tiny number of seeds you get in most packets leaving no room for
mistakes.


Thanks for this info, judithsmith and Des, I had forgotten about the problem
of hybridisation. Ok, then, just save seed from Cavolo Nero and Squash :-)

If I find anyone who sells Sungold seeds in a larger quantity I'll posr
here.

s.

"K" wrote in message
...
Rosie writes

I've never grown Sungold but I'll definitely try them this year. Will it
be too late to sow seed towards the end of April do you think as I cannot
do so before as we are away for 10 days during that month and I wouldn't
trust anyone looking after our cats to water the seeds.

I try to sow seeds just before a holiday. They'll take 1-2 weeks to
germinate, and if they are in a sealed container (a propagator with the
lid closed, or a big clear plastic bag enclosing the seed tray) the soil
will not dry out, and the seedlings aren't large enough to begin using
water at any significant rate.
Kay

Good idea kay!!
I was going to wait until we were back, but maybe now I'll plant before we
go :~)
Jenny

On Mar 26, 12:41 pm, Martin wrote:
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:37:49 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France



wrote:
On Mar 16, 10:27 am, Rosie wrote:
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:23:57 +0000, wrote:
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:47:39 +0000, Rosie wrote:

[21 quoted lines suppressed]

I have sown in late April in previous years. One year intentionally
left two fruit on the plants and picked them on Christmas Day (just
to be able so say - as here - that I had had own grown toms at
Christmas ;-)

Thank you, I'll buy some seeds and see what happens
--
"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend."http://www.copelands.plus.com/val/

Why not wait until you are in Italy, you will eat so many tomatoes and
love them especially with olive oil and Basil,

Fawlty?
--

Martin

Martin you're back!!!!! Did you have a good time, I missed you and
your humour.

Judith

On 26/3/08 15:44, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:30:26 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France
wrote:

On Mar 26, 12:41 pm, Martin wrote:
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:37:49 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France



wrote:
On Mar 16, 10:27 am, Rosie wrote:
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:23:57 +0000, wrote:
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:47:39 +0000, Rosie wrote:

[21 quoted lines suppressed]

I have sown in late April in previous years. One year intentionally
left two fruit on the plants and picked them on Christmas Day (just
to be able so say - as here - that I had had own grown toms at
Christmas ;-)

Thank you, I'll buy some seeds and see what happens
--
"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a
friend."http://www.copelands.plus.com/val/

Why not wait until you are in Italy, you will eat so many tomatoes and
love them especially with olive oil and Basil,

Fawlty?
--

Martin

Martin you're back!!!!! Did you have a good time, I missed you and
your humour.

We were too busy trying to survive hurricanes, fog, blizzards, torrential
rain,
hail and flu to have had a really good time )

Er, where? Just so we can avoid it! ;-)
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On 26/3/08 17:07, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:11:12 +0000, Sacha wrote:

On 26/3/08 15:44, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:30:26 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France
wrote:

On Mar 26, 12:41 pm, Martin wrote:
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:37:49 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France



wrote:
On Mar 16, 10:27 am, Rosie wrote:
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:23:57 +0000, wrote:
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:47:39 +0000, Rosie wrote:

[21 quoted lines suppressed]

I have sown in late April in previous years. One year intentionally
left two fruit on the plants and picked them on Christmas Day (just
to be able so say - as here - that I had had own grown toms at
Christmas ;-)

Thank you, I'll buy some seeds and see what happens
--
"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a
friend."http://www.copelands.plus.com/val/

Why not wait until you are in Italy, you will eat so many tomatoes and
love them especially with olive oil and Basil,

Fawlty?
--

Martin

Martin you're back!!!!! Did you have a good time, I missed you and
your humour.

We were too busy trying to survive hurricanes, fog, blizzards, torrential
rain,
hail and flu to have had a really good time )

Er, where? Just so we can avoid it! ;-)

From Whitby via Sheffield to Stoke-on-Trent and Hull to the Netherlands. )

Ah - not in our immediate travel plants, I must admit!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On 26/3/08 21:44, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:23:56 +0000, Sacha wrote:

snip

From Whitby via Sheffield to Stoke-on-Trent and Hull to the Netherlands. )

Ah - not in our immediate travel plants, I must admit!

I assumed that. )

Or plans, either. ;-)
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

As long as it is a licensed seed supplier and they describe the variety the same (F1 etc) I would go for the cheaper ones as they are all bought from the same breeder in the first place. T&M do hold the license for Sungold so everyone gets it from them, this will give an idea of how expensive T&M actually are, through the catalogue, when Moles (a commercial seed supplier) lists Sungold at £5.10 for 50 seed or £36.40 for 500 seed. I use smaller independant seed suppliers like Simpson's or Robinson's for small quantities.