Grow Your Own Magazine

I am a newbie at gardening, and was wondering if there is a difference between the seeds in the UK, as opposed to the US? Does it really matter which are used if the climate zone is similar, or if a grower has a greenhouse to their advantage? Thanks in advance to any who can answer this one for me.

Also, if there are seeds that someone wants, and has a hard time getting hold of, I will be happy to try and find them and help in any way I can.

Hello and welcome to the vine River.

In response to your query, I guess that if as you suggest the climate zones are similar, then plants should be similar. I have a friend in CA and I think the only really big difference in our growing is that she knows she will get oranges and lemons to ripen on trees in the garden where I am not sure that I would! I have lived in CA and GA but not sure what the climate is like in Kentucky (not convinced I could find it on a map either )

I suppose this would be a good chance to compare growing notes so if you want some UK seed let us know - sure between all us grapes we could supply most things. What sort of things are you going to grow?

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Hi, this is my first post and I am certainly not an expert, but aren't there DEFRA rules and regs about what would essentially be exporting/importing non-native species?

For example, if someone sent me some broad beans and I planted them not noticing that they had small holes in them, isn't there a chance of me introducing a non-native pest into the UK?

Wouldn't surprise me if the same applies to the US, and I do know that the Australians are quite touchy about anyone taking things like fruit into the country. The Australian and New Zealand flatworms were introduced accidently here and are causing a bit of a ruckus at the moment too!

Hello and welcome to the vine Doctor!

I swapped seeds with someone in Canada and similar concerns were voiced in the thread which you can read in Seed Swap - titled Newbie from Canada - thread started by Manicorganic - sorry, I can't get the thread title to paste as a link.

The upshot is basically, American seed is controlled much the same way ours is and so long as you send full packets of seed and declare on the customs form that it is flower or veg seeds there is little or no problem. I got seeds from Canada and sent poppy seeds to Manicorganic.

__________________
Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Wow, for a change it seems some sort of common sense has prevailed!
Thanks for the confirmation, shirl!

Now, off to read that other thread....

I'm a resident of the USA too and would me more than happy to try and secure seeds for someone if you have any biggies on your want list from the USA..I will build a list of seeds that I have but would gladly do some searching for one that I don't own if someone is really dying for a particular seed...

Ruth

Hi River and DirtDobber, Not looking for anything in particular but are you interested in any English seeds?

The seed tin is in the geenhouse, but I have sealed packs of both veg and flower seeds, from memory the boring ones like lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, maybe snapdragons - I know there are more. I'll try to remember to type up the list tomorrow.

Terry

I'm so new to this site and your English gardening that I wouldn't know what to ask for but truthfully, later on I might just be....for now...seed hog that I am, I will be glad to share or search out anything that any of you might want to try...I just love gardening and it will be fun getting to know some of your practices via the Grapevine...Don't hesitate to ask....

Hi DirtDobber - welcome to the vine.

Don't suppose our practices differ so much - dig out the stones and weeds, put in the seeds, water, keep the invaders off and wait. Oh, forgot one thing - worry about whether we did it right!

I would love some seeds to grow pumpkins like the one I bought a couple years ago in Atlanta - it was a small pumpkin according to Publix but would qualify as super-giant here!

__________________
Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Hi shirlthegirl43....any clues as to what it was? There are a number of common pumpkins in the small size range...one of the most popular is the CT field pumpkin and the Jack O Lantern...there is also one called the sugar baby...If you got it at the supermarket like Publix though, it could have been imported from anywhere...we get lots of produce from Mexico/South America...even Peru...I swear we were in the middle of Strawberry season here in TX and we grow some great berries and all you could find in the markets were Calif berries that were of course picked early for shipment...not ripe and juicy like Texas Berries...

Are there any interesting squash out there? I've browsed a few American seed sites, and found some very interesting squash on them, but just wondering if there are any other interesting variesties of squash/gourds? I've heard of orange pattison squash seeds coming from America - not sure whether it's true or not! Not really interested in getting any seeds though - just curious about the varieties!

Take care

Pete