Where can I buy cheap veg seeds and fruit trees?

[WishingForGreenFingers]

A few years ago I decided to start gardening seriously, bought loads of seeds, pots etc... then Covid happened and I never got the chance to start my DC are older now so I have a bit more time on my hands, but going through all my seed packets, they're all a good couple of years out of date!

I'm going to plant some of them anyway more in hope than expectation but wondered if anyone could recommend somewhere to buy veg seeds cheaply? I bought most of mine from Wilkos but their online store doesn't seem to stock as many as they did in store, and I don't want to spend £££ in case I'm as rubbish at gardening as I ever was...

We don't have any space to plant in, everything will be in pots - the DC would also like some little fruit trees to grow in bigger pots, if anyone could point me to a decent supplier of those too. I'd really like some cut & come again salads for summer, plus growing tomatoes, peas, chilli peppers (anything easy really!) - flowers would be good too but the veg are more useful! I've even been to a couple of supermarkets today to try to buy growing herbs (mint, rosemary etc) only to find that everything is out of stock, so maybe I'm already behind the times with this one

Any suggestions gratefully received!

B&M

For seeds I found Premier Seeds Direct to be really cheap, during the pandemic it was £1 for basically all packs I think its up to £1.50 now. They have a store on Amazon but it's slughtly more expensive than their own website which adds up if you're buy a lot if packs. The packaging is very basic so you'll need to look up instructions online but great value.

For trees I'vgahad good luck with Aldi and Lidl actually but also for a wider choice I would recommend Chris Bowers and Sons online. Brilliant selection, good prices and everything we've had was very healthy!

Second B&M

The tomato seeds are very likely to be fine- get them in ASAP though!

I like Lidl seeds, great price and I've had good success with them.

B and m have seeds in, 3for 2 offer. Might also have some fruit trees?? Aldi and lidl have a big lot of garden plants. Have seen shrubs/, plants in home bargains too. Is there an allotment near you?? They might sell surplus plants? good luck and happy growing x

If you have a One Beyond in your town. They have a good selection of cheap vegetable seeds.

B&M definitely have fruit trees, at least all the ones near me do. We have a plum, pear and apple tree we planted from them last year, all doing great. We got apples the first year, might be a few more years before we get pears and plums but they have lovely blossom on them at the moment.

Some seeds last forever (they germinated peas found in the pyramids), others are more fussy. If you are new to gardening by the time you've bought compost etc it might be cheaper and much less risky to just buy one or two plants rather than fresh seeds + compost and have all the risks of growing on.

But if you want to trial your seeds then just sprinkle a few on damp kitchen paper, cover them with a bit more damp kitchen paper, and leave them somewhere warm for a few days without letting them dry out. If they germinate that's great, if not you can buy fresh seeds.

Thank you to everyone for your help!! We have a small B&M in town, I'll have a look there for seed packets - there's a B&M Garden Centre about 15 miles away from us as well, I haven't been there before but will give it a try for fruit trees.

@LadyGardenersQuestionTime (excellent username BTW!) - great tip about the germination too, I'll bear that in mind!

Try a magazine in the gardening section. They often have 10 packs of seeds and cost around £6.99.

What seeds do you already have?
Definitely try your old seeds first. I've hatched some 10+ year old courgette seeds before. Squashes, tomatoes, chillies, peas, corn, cosmos, calendula are likely to be fine in my experience. Maybe 30-50% germination rather than 80-100% if you're unlucky.

I've also bought from Premier Seeds Direct before, I'd also recommend Simply Seed. They're about half price or less compared to the big brands. The seed packs in Poundland are generally tiny, and they're not usually named varieties, just generic 'tomato' or 'chilli'.