where do you get your seeds?

[ChickenGrass]

I Had a look at the websites,
And I noticed the Irish company dosnt have a big selection.
I suppose that's why the shops here don't sell their seeds.
The English company has a bigger selection but still not as much,
As much as the big companies.
I might try a few seeds from them next year.

 

[dickiebird]

A lot of my seeds come from swaps on the internet.
The ones I do purchase come from a local feed store, they sell them by the scoop. I get enough okra and bean seed to grow 10 thirty ft rows of each for less than $1.50 total.
They must have over 100 different seed drawers total, with some seeds, like carrot having 5 or 6 different variety available.

THANX RICH

 

[PhilaGardener]

I Had a look at the websites,
And I noticed the Irish company dosnt have a big selection.
I suppose that's why the shops here don't sell their seeds.
The English company has a bigger selection but still not as much,
As much as the big companies.
I might try a few seeds from them next year.

These are small family operations, not big corporations. I prefer to do business with the former not the latter. What they do offer is often special and unusual, and they help preserve genetic diversity and old time varieties.

If you want larger Irish seed companies with better selection, then you have to help them grow!

 

[ChickenGrass]

These are small family operations, not big corporations. I prefer to do business with the former not the latter. What they do offer is often special and unusual, and they help preserve genetic diversity and old time varieties.

If you want larger Irish seed companies with better selection, then you have to help them grow!

I totally agree with you that they help preserve,
The genetic diversity.
I don't know think there is any F1 variety in there!

 

[ChickenGrass]

Hi all,
I was also wondering if you grow dahlia from seeds,
Will the form a tuber?
Thanks,
Fionn.

 

[digitS']

Fionn,

Yes they do form a tuber. I have been able to grow standard size dahlias from seed and have them back after winter storage. However, I was unable to get the border dahlia tubers through the winter.

They just were not large enough to sustain themselves through 6+ months in storage. You may not have to keep them nearly so long and they may do better.

Steve

 

[ChickenGrass]

Thank you for your reply Steve.
I hope to get a pack of pompom dahlias.
If the tubers they make don't store through the winter
I can always plant some more!
Thank you again,
Fionn.

 

[Ridgerunner]

To avoid those long storage times Steve has to put up with, could you plant them in a container and grow them in a controlled environment that first year so the tubers get big enough to get through your winter. I'd wait until they went dormant before I tried to grow them inside. After the first season the tubers should be big enough to make it through your winters on their own.

Just a thought, I haven't done dahlias.

 

[ChickenGrass]

Hi ridge runner.
I will be putting them all into pots as it's easier to look after.
Instead of me disturbing the tubers next autumn,
Could I just bring the pots into the polytunnel over winter?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I haven't done it so I'm obviously guessing, but the purpose would be to get the small tubers (assuming they are small) growing before they ran out of stored energy. If it is warm enough in that tunnel for them to grow in late winter/early spring before you can take them outside, I'd think it would work.