The North Wind Did Blow....

Which way is North?

And we did get snow, sleet, hail and rain. Here on the North Norfolk coast when the north wind blows it is clean and very fresh as it comes directly from the North Pole (well the Arctic). That's about 3000 miles according to my measurements on Google Earth! There are trees sculpted by the wind to verify this.

Having had such an icy blast has curtailed any thoughts of work in the garden or allotment. So instead I visited a couple of local garden centres instead. Mostly on reconnaissance to check the prices of things like canes, fleece, polythene and netting a necessary job when working on a tight budget. Seeds were on offer with 20% off. With the high price of seeds that was most fortunate!

Wind sculptures

In an earlier blog I mentioned getting some different varieties of vegetables such as red broad beans and purple carrots. Well I was so shocked by the prices that my plans rapidly changed. I bought just one brand in one shop so I have since looked on line to compare prices of various brands and vegetables. Then I had fun with a spreadsheet! The results were interesting. I chose twenty three different vegetables and herbs, usual allotment or garden standards; - various legumes, brassicas, roots and tomatoes, varieties which were sold by all suppliers or in a few cases the nearest equivalent. I chose to compare Suttons, Thompson & Morgan, Fothergills and DT Brown. The most expensive was Fothergills at £45.75 for everything (followed by T&M then Suttons) and DT Brown cheapest at £34.67, the only one to come in under £40. However you get 7618 seeds from Fothergills as opposed to 7483 at Browns, the lowest amount was 7268 from Suttons. The amount of seeds in a packet varies, but the biggest variation is in beans and peas; with Broad Beans (Bunyards) going from 30 in a pack with T&M up to 65 in a cheaper pack from Browns. A variation of 25 to 30 seems normal in packs of beans. It was harder to compare peas (Hurst Green Shaft) because one company sold theirs by weight but the others ranged from 250 to 400 per pack. The most expensive Beans (Cobra) were £3.65 for 70 from Suttons, only £2.39 from Browns for the same quantity. Best value for money are T&M Nantes Carrots £1.99 for 2000. At the other extreme the worst value for money are squash seeds; Pumpkins come in at £3.69 for 8 seeds from T&M that's a whopping 46p each seed. If you prefer Butternut squash go to Brown's; ten seeds cost a mere £1.89 – or you could by a squash in the supermarket have some delicious meals and keep the seeds (that is my option!). I haven't considered retailers own brands because they don't necessarily have the same number of varieties as dedicated seed companies. Everyone knows it pays to shop around and that new varieties tend to cost more initially but this unscientific bit of reasearch really highlights the need to be wary. I didn't need many seeds this year but in future I will compare prices more thoroughly, although I think I know where I will be buying seeds next time.

A change of plan

Having paid out for the seeds there is then the problem of what to plant them in – proper seed compost or ordinary multi-purpose (without added food or water retaining granules). I usually have some multi-purpose around so I always use that, picking out any lumps or woody bits. I usually have success, any failures are usually because of something I did or didn't do. A fellow allotment holder spent a lot of money on proper seed compost last year, watered everything and waited for life. Results were poor, many of those which germinated succumbed to damp off and had to be replanted or replaced with ready grown plants. The compost developed a crust on top, a problem which can be alleviated by watering from below – standing the seed trays in a gravel tray is one possibility but then the seeds will be standing in water which would lead to death too!

There is an alternative to buying seeds and that is to buy plants instead (the costs of which I haven't done a spread sheet for!). Interestingly they are always in plugs filled with ordinary compost not seed compost. In some cases this may prove worthwhile if you don't need or want to grow large amounts or your seeds have succumbed to damp off. The drawback is that the plants may then fall prey to slugs, snails or pigeons and it will be too late to buy anything else. 

I suppose the final possibility is to allow some vegetables to run to seed and gather these, keeping costs down to a minimum.....