Grow Your Own Magazine

I don't know if this is standard practice among the giant supermarkets but most vegetables from my usual Sainsbury are named variety, has been so for a good while. So I'm now wondering if it might be cheaper to get my seeds from their vegetables .

I got their Spanish cherry tomatoes, say it's Lupita, never heard it but interesting to know what it is. I gues the same is applicable for peppers.

I also bought their strawberry (from Morocco ) and it says the variety is Festival, again have not heard of this variety before. I've seen a pack of blueberry, nice large sized berries that was labelled as Duke variety. Could I use seeds from the strawberry and blueberry to grow them?

In the winter squash section, they had Harlequin, Buttercup and Acorn (all from Argentina ) but considering how much I paid just for the seeds, isn't it cheaper to buy these squashes.

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Food for Free

You know what the variety is if it's a named fruit/veg. However, you don't know if it's an F1 or not. You can still use the seeds if it is, but you won't get one like the original. (There's the offchance you'll get an even better one, but probably less good.)

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If a man is in the garden and speaks, and there is no woman to hear him, is he still wrong?

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated January 3rd - Birdwatching.

That's an interesting idea - it might be a really good experiment, but (as I'm sure you know) supermarket veg is often bred to all be ready to harvest at once to make life easier for the farmers.

So, for example, you might not want all your tomatoes and strawberries ready at once - one of the joys of lots of heritage veg is that it has a longer cropping period, so you can pick it for months not weeks.

However, if you want to make jars of strawberry jam and your own sun-dried tomatoes, then varieties that tend to all mature at once might be ideal.

With tricky things like butternut squash, I'd also be tempted to stick to buying seeds that are bred for UK temperatures and sunshine levels or you might go to loads of hard work for very little reward.

We had some supermarket potatoes last year that had sprouted in the cupboard and they were my favourite (Vivaldi) so we bunged them in at the allotment and got a really good crop, but it was probably a bit risky as we could have introduced a virus.

Be very interested to hear how you get on if you do save your seeds!

I save what ever I can seed wise but most of it is a risk but a risk thats worth taking.

Last year I grew some seed saved from Tesco finest pointy peppers and this was the result. Cracking really.

Personally I would try to observe the following

• Only save seed from crops that are grown in the UK or similar regions
• Dont be tempted to grow potatoes from supermarkets, you really run the risk of introducing pests or disease.
• Have a go but dont bank on it feeding you, have a standby.
• If it works, save seed and try again the following year to see if it stays true.

Lastly, save your own seed from open pollinated varieties, most are very easy to get seed from.

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Kindest regards, David.

http://pigletsplots.blogspot.com/
updated - Sunday 19th at 2100hrs

Hey, I bought some peppers like that on Wednesday - might try a few seeds. Nowt to lose!

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If a man is in the garden and speaks, and there is no woman to hear him, is he still wrong?

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated January 3rd - Birdwatching.

I bought some peppers sweet pointy ones from tesco a fews weeks ago and planted some of the seeds and they grew really well but the peppers are from spain, hope they grow as piglets


marion

Don't think there's anyting wrong with being from Spain. It's just that they have the weather down there while it's cold up here now in UK to make it too expensive to grow with added heating cost. Do let us know what the turnout is anyway with piccie esp. if they're good. I've been given Turkish sweet pepper seeds gathered from a holiday trip, should be interesting.

I may save and try to sow the seeds of Lupita cherry tomato just to see how they thrive here.

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Food for Free

I've grown a fig in a pot from seed saved from a supermarket bought one but I haven't had any fruit on it yet so possibly it's not suited to our climate although it has been outside in all weathers for a few years. I think it's worth a try especially if the fruit or veg. has been grown in a similar climate to ours & you aren't going to be too disappointed if it doesn't work.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

I know, imagine growing the blueberry from seeds. Do blueberries have seeds by the way?. That blueberry called Duke variety from Sainsbury was big, woudn't mind growing that myself but they were still £2 something after they were reduced to clear . I have read on Net that someone grew golden raspberry from seeds. I think most berries that thrive in cooler parts of the world are a good bet. Also gooseberries, can they not be grown from seeds, I wouldn't say no to Hinnonmaki Yellow (okay not a fan of goosegog but maybe this one's a winner for taste).

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Food for Free

The whole idea of getting UK grown varieties is that they are suitable for our growing conditions and dont need extra heat etc etc. Varieties from hot places will not enjoy low light levels, low heat levels and the sometimes waterlogged conditions we have in the UK, so do try to get ones that give you a chance of succeeding.

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Kindest regards, David.

http://pigletsplots.blogspot.com/
updated - Sunday 19th at 2100hrs