To think a lot of people are buying stuff they have no idea what to do with.

[Hurricane10]

I've just been looking for vegetable seeds online. All the sites I've looked either have delays or are not currently taking orders.

I've been GYO for years, I had an allotment till a couple of years ago when I gave it up cos I changed jobs and couldn't get to it so often. I still grow as much as I can in containers at home.

Now my Broad beans are coming on nicely, my onion sets are sprouting and I will be planting potatoes in buckets next week but I wanted some squash and brassica seeds.

I suspect that many people ordering GYO stuff have no clue what they're doing, just like I suspect many of the people buying flour have never made a loaf in their life and the seeds, if sown, will never bear fruit as they think you just need to stick the seed in some compost and harvest a crop a few weeks later.

I noticed tomato seeds are all out of stock, unless you're in the far south it's too late to sow tomatoes and get a crop before September.

Wilko may have some seeds in store, you could always pop some in when you are shopping for essentials in there.

Asda also sell them but they may have been blocked off in there

eBay also have seeds at normal price

Our local garden centre was fully stocked with seeds last weekend. Op why don't you phone one and ask if they will deliver?

People have definitely panic bought seeds , Lidl have a seed carousel and it was empty of vegetable seeds, plenty of flowers left .
One person bought 30 packets of broccoli seeds .
I wonder if they own a field .....

Looks like there are quite a lot of seeds on eBay so you should be able to get something even if its not the exact variety you want

We got seeds from the M&S little garden. My lettuce is already coming up with a little greenery and we only planted it last week.
My df used to have an allotment many moons ago, we started growing strawberries last year and had a lovely crop of them.
I’m kicking myself now as didn’t take the offer up of chickens.
Where my family originate from, they’re quite self sufficient. So I’m going to take a leaf out of their books. I’m back to baking and cooking from scratch, now I have the time.

I buy flour and have never made a loaf. I make Yorkshire pudding, sauces, cakes. I always have SR and Plain in the cupboard.

I won’t fight you for seeds though, once grew my own chillis in the conservatory, it looked like a jungle and I was eating them from the freezer for two years.

I've had a small plot in a community garden for a couple of years.
I usually buy seedlings, but the nurseries aren't close by and are probably closed, I have more time on my hands to have a go at trying to grow from seeds.
What gives OP a monopoly on the right to buy seeds?

I used to grow stuff before but only just got a garden big enough to again. My dc got seeds from Father Christmas. We live in the balmy south. Is it acceptable for us to grow some vegetables? I accept that 30 broccoli seeds is excessive but lots of people have more time on their hands than usual. It is now part of the dc's routine to water the plants, they are having fun and watching them grow. I appreciate that it is frustrating for you this year but we all have to start somewhere.

I purchased many more seeds than usual. I just figure it's something to do while cooped up, that I wouldn't normally have time for. I suspect that's what most people are doing.

@DysonFury - holiday trip to Lidl? you extravagant thing, living the dream!

I think I understand what you are saying (and the fuelled by alcohol bit!) but as the Government have said we all have a role I’m tgis . People who are experienced in growing veg have a role to play in helping those who are new.

Yes there will be failures but there will be successes. Plus the mental health benefits of growing things are well documented and this is just as important as the practical side.

I am far from expert but have had an allotment for a number of years, if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask and I will try to answer and I’m sure others on here (and the OP once it is the morning after the night before!) will too.

Hello OP - sorry to ask a different question but you said you were a new grower just a few years ago. I’d love to try and grow my own veg but am pretty clueless. I’ve just moved and have some outside space.

Do you have any advice about a few easy to grow first time veg or herbs and any tips?

From the sample of people I know it's more a case of people who have always been quite keen gardeners, and have previously grown veg now having a lot more time on their hands and in need of a project so have taken it up again, as they've wanted to for ages.

Tbh you sound like all those posters who think that everyone else is being selfish and emptying supermarkets and they're the only person in this world who deserves food and is being reasonable. They aren't quite intelligent enough to grasp the fact that society has undergone a seismic shift and everyone is affected.

The likelihood is most of the issue is a combination of perfectly reasonable increased demand/refocusing of the demand to online sources and reduced supply (the suppliers will also be affected by staff shortages due to people needing to isolate/look after their kids etc).

Sorry but I think yabu

I started learning about GYO last year, had some lovely peppers, lettuce and peas, my corn wasnt good and my tomatoes were edible. I'm at it again this year

I'm loving seeing people getting involved with growing and including their children, it may spark a real interest.

Even if nothing grows or they end up with something barely edible they're (and this still includes me I'm learning) not doing anyone any harm and not sitting around on iPads

I have grown some sort of vegetables (really not very many) in containers for a couple of years now and I really did not have much success last year (all my tomatoes and cucumbers died) but even then I successfully grew small amounts of herbs and onions and garlic and lots of green beans !!

It is not too late to plant tomatoes this year in the south here. I just sowed them yesterday. In fact I tried to leave it late because I don't have a greenhouse and last year my tomatoes and cucumbers got really big on my window sill before the frosts passed and I could put them out which I though might be why they all succumbed to some sort of blight ( that along with a very very very wet June) .

Anyway I will be planing some of the seeds left from last year but for me I have had more success with things you can sow straight in the ground when the time is right like lettuce, green beans , chard, spinach etc so I am pretty much sticking to those with just another very limited attempt at some tomatoes and cucumbers that grow outside.

I have bought no seeds whatsoever and am using stuff left from last year

I think its worth remembering that this is the time of year when people ordinarily buy seeds anyway, but that also those who do are no longer going into garden centres and are doing so online instead.

@SudokuQueen
But it will be funny to see the ones trying to bake bread with plain flour and wondering why it failed. You'd think people could read recipes from the Internet but they really can't be trusted with that. I mean, so far they can't be trusted to know to wash their hands after touching bins, so I wouldn't trust them with a recipe.

Of course you can use plain flour if you don't have bread flour, the consistency isn't quite the same as a Warburton's but it's perfectly fine. Do you think the first people to come up with bread had specific bread flour? Or do you just like to take the opportunity to be nasty and mock people who might not be as knowledge as you clearly (but wrongly) think you are?

Slattern this might sound like a silly question but what vegetables do you like?

@slattern2020 in my not very experienced experience, you really can’t go far wrong with courgettes. We planted ours last week and unfortunately all four have come up, so I’m fully expecting a glint come August (woefully remembers the year of one thousand courgette).

A glint? A glut.

Gardening and growing plants including fruit and veg is known to have a positive effect on mental health, something which a lot of people really need support with at the moment. It's also a fun and educational.activity to do with children. It doesn't matter if not everything germinates or bears fruit, it's all a learning experience either way.

I'm sure you have reconsidered now it's the morning after, but...

Come on, growing veg is not that hard. And if you can't get seeds you can have a bash at growing a lot of things (including tomatoes) from food waste.

We are one of many families that don't normally buy veg seeds but did this year, because we have time to do it! We had a veg bed in the past, stopped because we didn't have time, now we've got the opportunity to get it going again.

There's going to be millions of families like us. It's not like it's that unusual to have grown a few plants before but not have done it for a while. We're all expecting to be at home for the foreseeable.

Hopefully it will take some pressure off the food market.

I’ve started a www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/3864718-2020-new-Gardeners-thread?msgid=95119770#951197702020 New Gardeners’ thread where i’m hoping that the many very knowledgeable gardeners on here who know a lot more than me can help answer questions people have,

Have started with a few household things that are useful at the seed sowing stage :

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/3864718-2020-new-Gardeners-thread

I suspect large Indian /Pakistani / Bangladeshi families may have started to buy western types of flour too as the traditional atta we use is being sold out. They don’t make quite the same rotis or parathas but would do in a pinch.

Also to echo zebras, I've been baking for years, I made bread with plain flour yesterday. It's fine.

People get very stuck on the idea that baking is an exact science and if you don't do it exactly the right way it will be inedible. It's just not true! You don't even need yeast for bread really, you can make a flat bread, substitute other things or make a sour dough starter with a bit of thought.

I hope that all that not on the shelves flour isn't getting wasted, but if it is and you are a regular baker I'm going to bet that like me you'll find something else that will do (unopened tub of coconut flour anyone??)

It's the same for gardening. We can find other ways.