UK Seed companies - Who are your favourites?

Hi everyone,

Just curious who your favourite seed companies are. I’m especially interested in companies stocking the rarer and less mainstream varieties.

My fave ones are:

realseeds.co.uk - they only sell open pollinated varieties and send seed saving instructions out with your seeds.

Pennard plants - very reasonably priced and a decent selection of more unusual varieties as well as some more common ones.

Premier seeds - I buy from them through Amazon. V cheap seeds, but all grow just fine for me. They don’t come in fancy packets with instructions, so better for the more experienced gardener who knows when to sow things, although it does give some info in the Amazon listing.

Plants of distinction - they do have some lovely varieties, but a bit on the pricy side. Worth it for varieties I can’t get elsewhere.

I buy quite a few off Ebay like you mentioned premier seeds is on there:
But also Seedkay Hort Supplies

But probably my favourite is Elfskin edibles I think this person might be a bit of a permie and they have such a range of interesting items for sale like cinnamon vine, sweet lupins, carlin peas etc. https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/elfskinsedibles
This is a cinnamon vine:

Will have to check them out, thanks for the tip off. I’m pretty sure realseeds do Cinnamon vines too, but Carlin peas are a new one for me, no clue what they are.

Heather Gardener wrote:Will have to check them out, thanks for the tip off. I’m pretty sure realseeds do Cinnamon vines too, but Carlin peas are a new one for me, no clue what they are.

Definitely worth taking a look, the annual 'sweet lupin' I haven't grown yet but is mentioned in Ken Fern's book Plants for a Future and is surprisingly hard to get.

I like Real seeds and Pennard plants too. I get quite a bit from Chiltern Seeds and Thomas Etty and I've also been using Brown Envelope seeds too this year. I usually add a few on my plant order from the Agroforestry Research Trust too.
I'm also a member of the Hardy Plant Society and they have a Seed List where for £5 you can choose a selection of plants to try - mostly ornamental garden plants, but there are usually a few vegetables, and many garden plants (like Hosta) are also interesting edibles. I try and send a few of my saved seeds in, since you then get to choose more from the list! I stopped being a member of the Heritage Seed library, since you had to be a member of Garden Organic as well and that just seemed to be becoming more of a campaigning organisation and less useful to me, and a bit expensive. Pity, because I did like to choose interesting seeds from them and that side of it was definitely worthwhile.

Ooo thanks Nancy, Thomas Etty looks interesting! Agree, Chiltern seeds has some interesting varieties. I love their seed catalogues. I’ve taken them on holiday with me before now to read on my sunlounger 😊

Carlin peas are also known as black peas, pigeon peas, maple peas and goodness knows how many other names. They are traditionally eaten in the north-east of England on Carlin Sunday, the 5th Sunday in lent. There is a rhyme for the Sundays in lent which goes: tid, mid, miseray, carlin, palm, paste egg day. The latter has various spellings depending on where you live but is Easter day. I have never tried growing them but regularly eat them.

Ara Murray wrote:Carlin peas are also known as black peas, pigeon peas, maple peas and goodness knows how many other names. They are traditionally eaten in the north-east of England on Carlin Sunday, the 5th Sunday in lent. There is a rhyme for the Sundays in lent which goes: tid, mid, miseray, carlin, palm, paste egg day. The latter has various spellings depending on where you live but is Easter day. I have never tried growing them but regularly eat them.

Oh cool, thanks Ara. You’d think I’d have known about them, living in Yorkshire!

Found a nice little video of someone's visit to Brown Envelope seeds with some ploughing using horses:

Just realised I can't count! Carlin Sunday is the fourth Sunday in Lent!

Found a new seed supplier that may be interesting: Vital seeds Based in Devon - all open pollinated and organically grown. Has anyone tried them yet? Reasonable postage for no minimum value, free for bigger purchases. I may get one or two vegetables to add to my land race starters. They had a rather nice calendar and cards last year, but they seem to be out of stock of that now.

vital seeds calendar 2022

Plant resources...

I’ve successfully used where I’ve marked with a * but don't let that stop you exploring everyone else.

*In the UK, for seeds go to http://www.realseeds.co.uk/ or similar, unlike most seeds you buy (like f1 variants) Real Seeds all come good so you can seed save and resow or swap them, they even tell you how.

Chiltern Seeds info@chilternseeds.co.uk  www.chilternseeds.co.uk  

Forestart enquiries@forestart.co.uk  www.forestart.co.uk  

Highland Seedlings on the Black Isle https://highlandseedlings.com/about-us/

Scotia Seeds Mavisbank, Angus https://www.scotiaseeds.co.uk/

Emorsgate Seeds for wild flowers etc https://wildseed.co.uk/

Organic Seed Potatoes https://www.potatohouse.co.uk/

Bulk meadow / wildflower https://www.wildflower.co.uk/wildflower-se

Various seeds sourced from many places, based in Cornwall https://www.openpollinated.co.uk


For plants there are many:

*Martin Crawford (not necessarily hardy for the North) here https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/

The Fruitful Forest Garden at https://echoearthcare.com/nursery/ by Carole Egner in Aberdour, KY3 0RN
07908 092298 carole@echoearthcare.com this nursery was founded by *Graham Bell as Red Shed Nursery and nurtured later by Kate Everett to be reborn as The Fruitful Forest Garden.

*Alison Tinsdale for perennial veg at https://backyardlarder.co.UK

*Mandy Barber at https://www.incrediblevegetables.co.uk

Fred and Ronja at Vital Seeds in Devon (organic seeds) https://vitalseeds.co.uk/

Sue Beesley at Blue Bell Cottage https://www.bluebellcottage.co.uk/

Ken Muir: fruit a speciality  https://www.kenmuir.co.uk

Kore Wild Fruit Nursery in Wales https://www.korewildfruitnursery.co.uk/

Pomona: great range of plants info@pomonafruits.co.uk  http://www.pomonafruits.co.uk

Victoriana: grapes, kiwi https://www.victoriananursery.co.uk

Mark Diacono Otter Farm, perennials, vegetables, fruit, green manures, herbs and spices
https://www.otterfarm.co.uk/

*Poyntzfield Herb Nursery: on the Black Isle, an amazing catalogue of herbs, well worth a visit https://www.poyntzfieldherbs.co.uk

Don, Margaret and Hamish Davidson at Abriachan Garden Nurseries on Loch Ness, some rare and interesting plants some from the Falklands
https://lochnessgarden.com/catalogue/htmcatalogue/Plant%20Collections.htm

*KiloWhiskyTree - Trees & woodland garden plants and mushrooms in Caithness.
https://kilowhiskytree.substack.com/about

The Cottage Herbery: herbs and other perennials https://www.thecottageherbery.co.uk/

Rare and unusual from this N Wales nursery https://jurassicplants.co.uk/pages/our-story


Earthed Up in Derbyshire - plants/seeds perennial vegetables, fruit, herbs and a small range of wildflowers.
https://earthedup.com/our-plants/

Buckingham Nursery: hedging, shuttlecock ferns, elaeagnus https://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

Plants with Purpose & Appletreeman - Andrew Lear
www.plantsandapples.com
https://www.plants-with-purpose.uk/

*Ian Sturrock and Sons for fruit, if you think you can't grow apples, try his Bardsey apple (see pic on Bardsey island NW Wales) https://iansturrockandsons.co.uk/

Orange Pippin: brilliant range that they source from Frank Matthews trees@orangepippin.com https://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/

Adam’s Apples sales@adamsappletrees.co.uk  trees@orangepippin.com  

Alba Trees sales@albatrees.co.uk  www.albatrees.co.uk  

Blackmoor Nurseries  sales@blackmoor.co.uk  https://www.blackmoor.co.uk/  

British Hardwood Tree Nursery www.britishhardwood.co.uk

Buckingham Nurseries  enquiries@hedging.co.uk www.buckingham-nurseries.co.uk

Burncoose Nurseries  www.burncoose.co.uk

Cool Temperate Phil Corbett www.cooltemperate.co.uk  

Cross Common Nursery info@crosscommonnursery.co.uk www.crosscommonnursery.co.uk

Crug Farm Plants mailorder@crug-farm.co.uk www.mailorder.crug-farm.co.uk  

Deacons Nursery info@deaconsnurseryfruits.co.uk www.deaconsnurseryfruits.co.uk

Frank P Matthews Ltd https://www.frankpmatthews.com/

G V Bale Graham Bale gvbale@balesfield.co.uk  www.balesfield.co.uk

Keepers Nursery https://www.keepers-nursery.co.uk/

Mallet Court Nursery malletcourtnursery@btinternet.com  www.malletcourt.co.uk

Perrie Hale Forest Nursery sales@perriehale.co.uk www.perriehale.co.uk

Reads Nursery plants@readsnursery.co.uk  http://www.readsnurseries.co.uk/

Sunnybank Vine Nursery  sarah@sunnybankvines.co.uk http://www.sunnybankvines.co.uk/

The Citrus Centre Amanda and Chris Dennis https://citruscentre.co.uk/

Tom the Apple Man https://www.tomtheappleman.co.uk/

Trees Please Nursery sales@treesplease.co.uk https://www.treesplease.co.uk

Walcot Organic Nursery enquiries@walcotnursery.co.uk https://walcotnursery.co.uk/

Welsh Fruit Stocks https://www.welshfruitstocks.co.uk

Walnut Tree Company Alexander Hunt awjhunt@btconnect.com https://www.walnuttrees.co.uk

Taynuilt Trees - Specialist growers of native trees and shrubs in Argyll in the Scottish West Highlands. https://www.taynuilttrees.co.uk/ peter@taynuilttrees.co.uk

Elsoms Trees, near Haddington, East Lothian.  Family run. Grows native trees and shrubs in cells https://elsomstrees.com/

Carbon Off-set Tree Planting
Many tree planting set-ups use carbon off-setting to fund free tree planting.  You need to understand that carbon off-setting is a means by which polluters can carry on polluting by getting you to plant trees.

Finding affordable and ethical ways to plant trees is something of a struggle for many, especially with the affordable aspect.

It's a bit like investing upfront in a fossil fuel burning digger for beneficial earthworks, a one-off cost (£s and CO2) that is determined by folks to be a good investment in the longer term.

TCV's, I Dig Tree's https://www.tcv.org.uk/communities/i-dig-trees/
Gone West https://gonewest.com/

Homemade Seed Packets

How to make free Homemade Seed Packets from Junk Mail without using Scissors or Glue. Click this link https://www.tinyurl.com/SeedTemplate ​for an easy and free Template printout. How to use it here https://youtu.be/I183eqdMoqw

There's a different way here called a Samurai Seed Saver Improvised Seed Packet http://openpollinated.blogspot.com/?m=1

The Brifka packs diamond dealers make to transport their gems in Hatton Garden would do the job too https://youtu.be/VILMMFu-rk4

https://turkeysong.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/origami-seed-pocket/ just in too!

Wow Steve - quite a list there. Some new ones for me - I think some of those Welsh suppliers could be useful for me - thanks.

I'm trying another new seed supplier this year :Seeds of Scotland
Looks like a relatively new start up, based on the East coast, with their heart in the right place. I was looking for Bere barley (got 0 harvest last year!) but they have a few other open pollinated plant varieties that look interesting. I couldn't resist their diverse runner bean from PNW for example!

'Milky Fork' runner bean: image from seeds of Scotland

What a list Steve, thank you!

These are maybe not technically companies, but you can get some interesting seed from them (and send some back when you save seeds!)

https://seedsaving.network/

A work in progress, at least the website. When they're open in the spring it works fine. I've saved some seed for them this year.

https://www.incredibleseedlibrary.com/

I've not used this one myself, I only discovered them when the season was in full swing and they were sold out of most of the things that would interest me.

Marieke De Jong wrote:
These are maybe not technically companies, but you can get some interesting seed from them (and send some back when you save seeds!)

I've registered with both - thanks Marieke!

https://www.growildnursery.co.uk/. Just emailed a newsletter to say their seedlist is mostly full again with fresh seeds.
Not sure if they are already on Steve's list, but it seemed worth a mention since they have special seeds and limited stocks.

M.

unfortunately most of these are available to ireland  anymore , and the few sites that do post seed onto ireland have very high postal costs , then on our side we have to pay a customs tax plus our postoffices  postal service notification officework charge of 3.50 ----a 5 euros pack of seeds can suddenly cost you nearly 14 euro