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Recent updates

New cucumber seeds section added

There are a large number of cucumber varities to plant and grow. Cucumber seeds

Special offers on a variety of seeds

Suttons are one of the biggest vegetable seed retailers. Sutton seeds

Discounted garden accessories

Greenfingers offer a great selection of top quality garden tools. Greenfingers

Lots of seed bargains

Unwins has many offers on vegetable seeds. Check out their site. Unwins offers

Gardening equipment

• Secateur
• Trowels
• Spades
• Rakes
• Forks
• Hoes
  
  

Netting/pest control

• Fleeces
• Nets
• Ant prevention
• Slug prevention

 

Seed advice

Growing vegetables and fruit from seeds can be a particularly rewarding experience. Now-a-days gardens and allotments have become a lot more accessible and the popularity of growing one’s own vegetables has increased dramatically . . . so much so that in some towns there is a 5 year waiting list for an allotment space.

However growing vegetables from seed isn’t plain sailing – there are a lot of considerations to make, including

Garden space
How big’s your garden? If you have a small garden its recommended to plant space-efficient vegetable varieties .  Succession planting i.e trying to get more than one crop in the same space is a good idea.  As is inter-planting which is the method of planting two or more crops together that have have different growth habits i.e. tomatoes , peppers, and basil. If you live in a flat then think of the vertical space and use pots with trellises so that the plants grow up.

Gardening experience
With experience comes confidence with growing vegetables. If you are a newbie it’s recommended starting with some of the low maintenance vegetables such as lettuce, peas, onions and tomatoes (some of which can be grown from sets/seedlings) .

Germinating seeds

Different vegetable varieties germinate at different temperatures. Refer to the seed packet for the optimum germination temperature.   Germinating seeds under cover and then transplanting is the easiest way to raise temperatures however keeping soil temperature from getting too high during Summer can be tricky. Try to provide shade and regularly water to help keep the soil temperature down. Recent research has shown that sowing between 14:00 and 16:00 achieves a better emergence than sowing in the morning or early evening.

Sowing guidelines

Sowing seeds is not as complicated as it sounds. As a rule of thumb the larger the seed the deeper it should be planted i.e. small seeds, such as carrots should be planted about 6 mm’s  deep, medium size seeds  such as radishes should be planted approx  12.5 mm’s  deep and large seeds such as sweetcorn should be sown around 3.8 cm’s deep. The following video will show you some best practice when sowing seeds.

Always, always read the instructions on the packet of seeds you buy ... do not assume anything!

Planting techniques

When planting seeds, lay out a straight a piece of garden twine attached to two bamboo stakes. Try making a square for a uniform garden bed. To make a furrow simply lay down the handle of say a hoe and press firmly into the soil. Check out RHS's useful planting calendar. The following video takes you through some planting tips (check Youtube for more videos).

Harvesting methods

So you’ve done all the hard work and now it’s time to reap (or eat) the rewards. The harvesting of your vegetables is very much decided on what you are actually growing and the species of the vegetable. Its recommended to check days to maturity and expected root size of each vegetable variety to gauge the best time to pick root vegetables.

Many vegetables should be picked when they are young as they tend to be at their sweetest. Bear in mind that as your vegetables mature, their sugar turns to starch. Root crops can become bitter and fibrous if left too long or become too large. However some vegetables should be picked at maturely such as winter squash and tomatoes.

One thing to remember (and it’s not an old wives tale) “the more you pick, the more they'll produce” this is especially prevalent with beans and peas.

Summary

Growing vegetables is a rewarding and (if you get it right) delicious experience. Seeds and equipment have all recently dropped in price so there’s now no reason for you not to get out there and start planning your bumper harvest. There are also plenty of great vegetable growing and sowing resources on the web ... so start browsing.

Vegetable seed links

Click on the following quick links to take you to the vegetable seed you are interested in.

• Artichoke seeds
• Aubergine seeds
• Beetroot seeds
• Broadbean seeds
• Broccoli seeds
• Brussels sprout seeds
• Cabbage seeds
• Carrot seeds
• Cauliflower seeds
• Celeriac seeds
• Celery seeds
• Chilli seeds
• Courgette seeds
• Cucumber seeds
• French bean seeds
• Kale seeds
• Leek seeds
• Lettuce seeds
• Marrow seeds
• Onion seeds
• Parsnip seeds
• Pea seeds
• Pepper seeds
• Potatoe seeds
• Radish seeds
• Runner bean seeds
• Spinach seeds
  
• Spring onion seeds
• Squash seeds
• Sweetcorn seeds
• Tomato seeds
• Turnip seeds

Herbs seeds

• Basil seeds
• Chives seeds
• Coriander seeds
• Dill seeds
• Mint seeds
• Oregano seeds
• Parsley seeds
• Sage seeds
• Thyme seeds

Vegetable plants

• Artichoke plants
• Aubergine plants
• Broccoli plants
• Brussels sprout plants
• Cabbage plants
• Cauliflower plants
• Celeriac plants
• Celery plants
• Chilli plants
• French bean plants
• Herb plants
• Leek plants
• Pepper plants
• Runner bean plants
• Tomato plants