"Chookie" wrote in message
news:ehrebeniuk-B9DCB5.22152716022008@news...

i got some from diggers with the same result (in fact, i'm a tad
disenchanted with diggers all around, but that's another story). bear in
mind their nursery is located in a virtual plant heaven - where most of
us
live, it's not, really :-)

I'm a bit disenchanted with Diggers too. I know part of the problem is
climatic -- Diggers is in a Mediterranean climate and I am not -- but I've
had
some really poor performers that should have been OK, including spuds and
garlic.

me too, with ornamentals etc that should have been ok. they do have a return
policy, but who ever bothers to do that?

And I do get a bit annoyed when half the catalogue is taken up with
Diggers staff ranting about various Causes... even if I happen to agree
with
them.

me too. i don't mind the rants - what i mind is where they act contrary to
their rants. imo you can't rant about monsanto then advocate using roundup
before sowing wildflower seeds. you can't rant about f1 hybrids & then sell
f1 hybrids. (i actually don't have a problem with f1 hybrids anyway!)

mainly my gripes are pragmatic though. 4 out of 5 orders last year just went
missing. this spring i had a couple of seeds sprout which shouldn't have
been in the packet at all. etc.


potatoes are rather a mystery to me, & they caused me some outright panic
last year (but i talked myself down ;-) i hope more experience will help
with this ;-)

Why bother growing spuds? They take up a lot of space for a long period
in
the vegie patch but are pretty cheap to buy. Very good if you are trying
to
improve your soil, but I don't think I'd bother otherwise.

well, i AM trying to improve the soil & the taties do seem to really help!
beyond that though - a freshly-dug potato is a magnificent thing (i've never
got to the point of trying to store any ;-). and lastly, they are pretty
low-maintenance, so if they sit in the beds (i have pretty large beds!) for
a while it doesn't really bother me. i decided if the crop's not that big
it's not a big deal because i didn't have to put much work in.

it's things like parsnips which have me disenchanted. they take a VERRRRRY
long time, possibly to get just about nothing from them.

i completely take your point though. however, i also grow onions even though
they're the same - cheap & easy to get anywhere, without taking up room in
your garden. but again, onions are so easy i just think "why not?"
kylie