A lot of what we’ve grown has been from seed, rather than seedlings. What has been interesting is that plants from seeds have consistently grown quicker and stronger than seedlings. For example, our sugar snap peas from seeds are gowing incredibly, while the seedlings of snow peas from the local garden store have barely moved (very disappointing).
Dollar-for-dollar, you can’t beat seeds. At $2-4 per packet, that’s the price of a single vegetable from many supermarkets. Packets contain 50-200 seeds, depending on the variety. This may seem a lot (it is!), but it gives plenty to share around with neighbours, or to trade for other seeds.
Most seeds last for 2 years, giving a good chance to get value out of them. I’ve also been lazy: instead of planting in punnets, I’ve sown seeds directly into the ground, with complete success. (No doubt this is due to the warm Sydney climate.)
There are many suppliers of seeds in Australia, mostly organic, including:
- Diggers Club (the source of most of our seeds to this point, but extremely slow to process orders in recent times)
- Greenpatch Organic Seeds (have just received our first order in under 4 working days, will be ordering from them again!)
- Eden Seeds
- The Italian Gardener
- The Lost Seed
- Tasmanian Gourmet Potatoes
Note that a lot of these suppliers concentrate on heirloom seeds, old varieties no longer seen on supermarket shelves. These are great, well adapted to local conditions, and often both tasty and unusual. Seek these out wherever possible!
Where have you been getting your seeds from?
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