I’m sharing list of British suppliers of vegetable seeds, sprouting seeds, green manure seeds and herb seeds. Most suppliers listed have very wide ranges of other seeds and plants too, including wildflower seeds and meadow mixes, plug plants and seedlings, seed potatoes, onion sets and fruit plants.
Some will export if you spot a treasure you can’t easily get at home. Please check the websites for details.
Chiltern Seeds
www.chilternseeds.co.uk
One of my favourite seed suppliers, who publish a hand-illustrated catalogue of vegetables, herbs and edible flower seeds each December, the VegBook, to complement their main seed catalogue.
Dobies of Devon
www.dobies.co.uk
Good value range of seeds, including mini-vegetables. Useful What to Plant by Month feature online.
DT Brown
www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk
Vegetable seeds, green manures, garlic cloves and onion sets, plugs plants, etc
Edwin Tucker
www.edwintucker.com
Have supplied seeds since 1831. Also garlic cloves and seed potatoes, including organic options.
Franchi Seeds
www.seedsofitaly.com
Another old company, dating back to 1783. The range includes Eden Project seeds, alpine veg, edible flowers and mushroom seeds. Despite the website name, they are based in Harrow and can no longer supply the EU.
Heritage Seed Library
www.gardenorganic.org.uk/hsl
Heritage seeds for organic gardeners. Members can choose six varieties of seeds each year and help conserve heritage varieties by volunteering to become a Seed Guardian.
Jekka’s Seeds
www.jekkasherbfarm.com
Organic herbs plus attractively packaged seed collections that make great gifts.
Kings
www.kingsseeds.com
Kings has been around since 1888. You’ll find Suffolk Herbs offering organic seeds on the same site.
Nicky’s Nursery
www.nickys-nursery.co.uk
Specialist suppliers of chilli seeds, plus 200 varieties of tomatoes, offering seeds in plain packs to keep marketing costs down. Another site with a planting and harvesting calendar.
Plant World Seeds
www.plant-world-seeds.com
3000 varieties of seeds including heritage vegetables and more than 100 varieties of tomatoes. Their website says they can ship inexpensively worldwide, excluding the EU.
Real Seeds
www.realseeds.co.uk
Open-pollinated heirloom and heritage vegetable seeds selected to perform well and taste good for home gardeners. A great choice if you want to save seed to re-sow. Offers unusual tubers.
Sarah Raven
www.sarahraven.com
Vegetables, salads and herb seeds plus edible flowers, seedlings and plant collections, onions and garlic. I love the lifestyle and garden photography on the website, which always inspires me.
Simpsons Seeds
www.simpsonsseeds.co.uk
Vegetable seeds and plants, specializing in chillies and tomatoes. Also offers pick and mix plug plants, including 19 types of chilli peppers.
The Organic Gardening Catalogue
www.organiccatalogue.com
Vintage vegetable seeds, sprouts, green manures, seed potatoes, onion sets and more.
Thompson & Morgan
www.thompson-morgan.com
Needs no introduction from me! Their wide range, which includes micro greens, is backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
W Robinson
www.mammothonion.co.uk
Heritage and mammoth seeds plus onion sets, seed potatoes, asparagus crowns etc. Based in my home county, Lancashire. All the seeds and plants are grown using traditional methods, without using chemical pesticides.
If you have a favourite veggie seed supplier I should add to the list, please let me know.
This post originally dates from my early days of blogging. It was interesting while updating it to see what has changed. A couple of smaller companies previously listed have not survived, despite the boost lockdown gave to home gardening companies. It must be frustrating to many of these companies that post-Brexit, they can no longer supply the EU.
Susan Rushton 