Not enough seeds for my land

[caribumamba]

I am sort of in an in between between commercial large scale farmers and allotment gardeners. I don't want tonnes of seed but I bought what I thought was a lot of seeds from chilterns but they space I covered has not make much of a dent in my 90x60ft approx growing area. I have more land wild that I can allot to grow but not going to yet until I make this area productive reliably.

You only get 20 or 30 seeds per pack.

What could I grow that will be cheap to buy kilos and grow fast?
Grains are good for this and they are growing well.

I want to grow on a larger scale than a back garden but also not the scale of the commercial level. I am trying to figure out what stuff I can grow but also pointless growing stuff where I will have a glut and it goes to waste. but I am thinking of things that I can dry and keep - put a few different kind of peas in but as above the little packs didn't get far.

I think I will try growing from supermarket/health food store packets in the kilos and give less of a care about the varitiers, more about getting the land covered before the weeds take hold and the land goes wild again!

I am thinking I will grow surplus to sell at some point once I find crops that do well. Heritage grains as of particular interest to me and so far they are doing well on my heavy clay soil. Spelt coming along nicely as well as a couple of other lesser known wheat types.

So I guess my question is what is good to grow at scale, cheap seeds and can be dried? Oats are another I have just put down on a small patch to test. Also meant to be great for poorer soils.

[Mark Rand]

No help on the vatieties, but try https://www.wholesale.molesseeds.co.uk/ They sell reasonable to large quantities of seeds at lower prices than the retail suppliers, but are quite happy selling to individuals. I've also found that their seed quality is normally better than the retail sellers.

No connection, just a customer.

[caribumamba]

No help on the vatieties, but try https://www.wholesale.molesseeds.co.uk/ They sell reasonable to large quantities of seeds at lower prices than the retail suppliers, but are quite happy selling to individuals.

No connection, just a customer.

I think I should just watch what commercial farmers plant but just not buy as many! because the philosophy is very different gardening at scale vs backyard gardening. I can do the backyard style for veges on a smaller plot and a couple of other crops at larger scale.

I just mean that trying to do garden plot planting at scale was not working! trying to cover a larger area with loads of variety - also head work trying to keep tabs on everything I am planting.

[mothhawk]

What about winter squash? They will cover a lot of ground, keep the weeds down, and keep over winter. You can use seeds from store bought squash for cheapness. They may be F1 and not end up looking like the parent squash, but they will still be edible and keep well. No need to dry the seeds, just scoop out and sow. Then you can eat the rest.

[mothhawk]

I'm interested to know how you will harvest and use the grains, caribu.

[JoaoLeaftide]

Winter squash is a good shout for covering ground fast. Courgettes would do similar and are even easier to get going from seed bought in bulk. For cheap volume seed, dried beans from a supermarket often germinate fine and you can get a kilo for next to nothing.

[caribumamba]

What about winter squash? They will cover a lot of ground, keep the weeds down, and keep over winter. You can use seeds from store bought squash for cheapness. They may be F1 and not end up looking like the parent squash, but they will still be edible and keep well. No need to dry the seeds, just scoop out and sow. Then you can eat the rest.

Oh yes good shout as JoaoLeaftide says. I have several rows left of the main patch which want covering with something, I did read earlier you guys recommend it for different reasons in another post of mine and had forgotten about it.

[caribumamba]

I'm interested to know how you will harvest and use the grains, caribu.

Same way humans have done it for thousands of years? There are plenty of videos of doing it on a small scale. You can look up Maximus Ironthumper for how he did it but he references another video which he learned it from, forgot the link but that is more in depth and he got much better yields. I don't use youtube anymore to get the link but I just checked on my hard drive and here is the name of the video: 'From seed to loaf (part 1 of 2) allotment scale production of bread making wheat [ntWjA5BEsiE].mp4'

Lots of people are naysayers stating that wheat is 'too much work' but looks perfectly doable from that video and read several others who say the same. I have not tried yet as I lost my crop last year due to sheep coming on my land but this year's ones are ripening, with the ears there and just have to mature.

[Penellype]

If I was working on your scale I would set aside an area of the plot to grow crops specifically for seed to keep for next year. This will save you large amounts of money on seeds and once you get the hang of how much an area produces you should be able to be self sufficient in seeds for some crops. Peas and beans, onions and leeks, squashes, courgettes, melons etc, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and brassica salads are all things I have had success with from saved seed and you can save potatoes for next year as long as they are not diseased. Some varieties may not breed true, but by saving home grown seed you are automatically selecting for things that grow well under your conditions.

There are many crops I haven't tried saving seed from because I don't grow them, but I would think grains are a good candidate.

[Nicos]

My first thought was commercial pumpkins for Halloween either selling direct to the public or small businesses.
My second thought was quinoa for selling on the seeds….or maybe flax? ( stems can be used for making cordage too- so no waste)
I have about an acre we’ve turned into a wildlife/ grassland for butterflies etc but those thoughts were alternatives.

[ChingfordHarry]

On the squash front, I'd go for butternut - not because it's a wonderful eating squash (it's good, but there are better), but because it's prolific and covers the ground well. I wouldn't bother buying the seeds but just buy a squash from your local veg supplier.

It's getting a little late to sow squashes this year (but if we have a warm Autumn you should be able to get away with it) - sometimes you get sprouting seeds in bought squashes, and that'll give you a head start.

I'm a huge fan of field beans for both ground cover and for the edible crop - mostly amateurs grow them as a green manure in the UK, but the pros grow them in bulk and sell the seeds to the Middle East (mostly Egypt) where they are a regular part of the diet - fouls mesdames. If only I had more space to grow them in! The downside to them (and many other crops) is that it's not the right time of year to sow - field beans typically go in to the ground in October.

[Andraste]

I second the suggestion to consider saving some of your own seed - helps to cut down on cost as well as (in theory) producing a strain that will do well in your conditions.

There's some helpful basic information about saving your own seed to be found here https://realseeds.co.uk/ & here https://thenas.org.uk/Seed-Saving

I can't think of anything other than wheat and oats in terms of grains to suggest for the sort of area you'd like to use.

How much of what sort of veg etc. you might grow is essentially going to be largely dependent on how much of it you will use yourself & how much you want to sell (& whether due to commitment, regulations, profitability etc. are considerations also) as well as the initial seed cost, how prolific that sort of veg etc. is and so on.

If I were in your fortunate position of essentially having 2 'full plots' to work with, I'd be thinking about all the lovely things I'd like that I don't currently have room for. There would of course be an initial outlay for some things that you might not want or be able to afford - but I'd be dreaming of a small 'orchard', a polytunnel for all the things that need more warmth than I can give them outside, an IBC rather than water butts, a shady place to sit for a break, a nice big designated compost area with room to have a decent size 4-stage process (new stuff, turned/composting, nearly done, ready for use), a decent sized Asparagus bed, the nice big winter squash that have already been suggested, more flowers to attract pollinators/predators/diversity & for cut flowers, a good size bug hotel/wood pile for wildlife, more space for more comfrey, a proper wildlife pond, more perennial veg space..... I could create my fantasy plot list all day

[ChingfordHarry]

I think I should just watch what commercial farmers plant but just not buy as many!

Commercial farmers probably have different priorities.

If you look at one commonly grown crop for example - I've never heard anyone say that the tomatoes they buy that have been grown by farmers are just so much tastier than the ones they grow. Part of growing your own is to grow things that are in some way "better" than what you can buy (tastier, fresher, unobtainable commercially, put your own adjective here!).

[Mark Rand]

^^^^
And not harvested until they are actually ripe!

[caribumamba]

a small 'orchard'

I do have an orchard. You can check my other posts on that. I chose the sunniest spot for them. It is all sunny, being south facing, but this section gets most sun for longest with least impediments from other trees and such through the day.

You speak of all the stuf you fantasise about planting but you must remember that the more you plant is the more work it is to tend. I struggle to keep up with just this 90x30 - if the size keeps changins it is because I forget hehe. My plan is to make this very productive with more regularity before making any more of it plantable. I planted quite a lot of different seeds for example already and not many of them seems to have sprouted so I have a long ways to go before I make this one productive.

It isn't the soil that is the problem because last year there was some very good producers, such as peas on the same soil, but a large plot this year just has not produced anything except weeds after some weeks.

I am not very strict though about indoors and outdoors and when to plant so probably has something to do with it. My general rule of thumb is chuck them in the ground and if they grow I will make note for future to sow them again. Apart from the grains though, which had been in all through winter, as winter types, I did wait until after last frost or near abouts.