I grew plenty of plants from seed last year- was v.dissapointed. All the cosmos only started to flower at end of September? So may buy small plants and grow on.
Maureen, Spring is good weather for us, but it can be short lived, and summer is usually colder and wetter even than Eng/Scot/Wales. The winds are very strong, and the dark days are longer in North too, so the season is cut off at both ends. Some seeds really aren’t worth planting because of this. Tomatoes never, ever ripen for example, and are poor things. Also altitude for all but mountainous tufts. Are any of these things stacked against you getting seeds to flowering point? If they are not, it's probably the soil conditions that are poor - or maybe there are a lot of pests because you are in a built up area? Then you might be able to do plants from seed (which is only really a big advantage because of the costs being prohibitive) if you feed the plants Or if you got a proper summer it might be a different story, but things don't seem to be going that way in most places.
I've cut down on containers this year so in theory I should have less to sow...but...
All the annuals are run of the mill, things I've sown before if not every year but in the still-to-sow perennial pile I have doronicum, primula vialii and nonea lutea which I haven't tried before
Does anybody else buy the same seeds more than once, forgetting they've already been bought, and then seeing the same thing looking irresistible again a month or two later, and now I've 3 packets of wild rocket already???
I sowed a pack of honesty a while ago and then while prepping my seeds recently found another 10g packet. Also bought 500 snapdragon floral showers to accompany my unopened pack of 100.
Have also unknowingly (and sometimes knowingly) done this with plants
Thank you Victoria, I'm not alone! My husband kindly said that it's a sign that I am consistent in my likes and dislikes, and that I know what I want in life. I rather think it might be that I simply don't remember what I have already bought. It is partly, also, that I am too disorganised to keep the seed packets in some sort of rational order.
On your second point, yes actually, if I come to think about it, I might, possibly, have ordered Hellebore plants more than once last year. There are certainly quite - quite a lot of them now, and I certainly didn't order all those in one go... I wonder if it is just our favourite plants and flowers that we are prone to ordering more than once? That would indeed imply that darker forces were at work in our subconscious minds - greedy ones maybe???
I'm a bit absent minded with regards the seeds... I think it doesn't really matter anyway because I'll swap the surplus on the seed swap thread...
With plants I'll buy if they are a bargain or if they are on the rescue shelf, even if I could make more from the plants I already have and for free. Bit irrational p'raps
I am a bit obsessive with my seeds I have a wood box/case to keep them in, I organize them A - Z then I make a sowing plan per month so I dont have to sort through and look at every pack of seeds. After I empty a pack of seeds I save the pack and buy some more at the beginning of next season. A bit over the top but it keeps me busy and saves time when I am seed sowing
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Maureen, Spring is good weather for us, but it can be short lived, and summer is usually colder and wetter even than Eng/Scot/Wales. The winds are very strong, and the dark days are longer in North too, so the season is cut off at both ends. Some seeds really aren’t worth planting because of this. Tomatoes never, ever ripen for example, and are poor things. Also altitude for all but mountainous tufts. Are any of these things stacked against you getting seeds to flowering point? If they are not, it's probably the soil conditions that are poor - or maybe there are a lot of pests because you are in a built up area? Then you might be able to do plants from seed (which is only really a big advantage because of the costs being prohibitive) if you feed the plants
Or if you got a proper summer it might be a different story, but things don't seem to be going that way in most places. 
I've cut down on containers this year so in theory I should have less to sow...but...
All the annuals are run of the mill, things I've sown before if not every year but in the still-to-sow perennial pile I have doronicum, primula vialii and nonea lutea which I haven't tried before
Hi Hosta, I would like to have another go this year, they were lovely last year.
they are only annuals here, I think mine have disappeared now.
i have a collection of different things here for you, just waiting for you to come home
Must go through all seeds I have
Does anybody else buy the same seeds more than once, forgetting they've already been bought, and then seeing the same thing looking irresistible again a month or two later, and now I've 3 packets of wild rocket already???
Yes Dinah
I sowed a pack of honesty a while ago and then while prepping my seeds recently found another 10g packet. Also bought 500 snapdragon floral showers to accompany my unopened pack of 100.
Have also unknowingly (and sometimes knowingly) done this with plants
Thank you Victoria, I'm not alone! My husband kindly said that it's a sign that I am consistent in my likes and dislikes, and that I know what I want in life. I rather think it might be that I simply don't remember what I have already bought. It is partly, also, that I am too disorganised to keep the seed packets in some sort of rational order.
On your second point, yes actually, if I come to think about it, I might, possibly, have ordered Hellebore plants more than once last year. There are certainly quite - quite a lot of them now, and I certainly didn't order all those in one go... I wonder if it is just our favourite plants and flowers that we are prone to ordering more than once? That would indeed imply that darker forces were at work in our subconscious minds - greedy ones maybe???
I'm a bit absent minded with regards the seeds...
I think it doesn't really matter anyway because I'll swap the surplus on the seed swap thread...
With plants I'll buy if they are a bargain or if they are on the rescue shelf, even if I could make more from the plants I already have and for free. Bit irrational p'raps
I am a bit obsessive with my seeds
I have a wood box/case to keep them in, I organize them A - Z then I make a sowing plan per month so I dont have to sort through and look at every pack of seeds. After I empty a pack of seeds I save the pack and buy some more at the beginning of next season. A bit over the top but it keeps me busy and saves time when I am seed sowing 