growing potatoes and onions from seed

 Living out in Austria as I do, all I can seem to get my hands on are a
couple of varieties of seed potatoes (unimpressive varieties) and onion
sets of "Stuttgarter Riese" and some generic red sort. So I'm really spoilt
for choice. Not. The variety of vegetables is so poor here that even yellow
tomatoes are treated with suspicion. :-(

I understand there are disease concerns with potatoes being transferred to
and from mainland Europe, I don't want to be responsible for a potato
blight outbreak! That means I can't really get seed potatoes sent out to
me.
I was wondering if it would be feasible to grow potatoes from seed. I'm
sure I could get seed from some specialist growers in the UK. I'm not
really looking for any weird or rare varieties, anything other then
"floury" would do. The same goes for onions - Can anybody tell me if I'm
wasting my time, and if not how and when do I start - any hints and tips
would be very helpful.
Thanks.

--
Tim C.

 
I know nothing about potatoes from seed - i have only ever seen it
being disregarded as a practice for home growing.
As for onions, i have my first lot of seeds sprouting at the moment.
Apparently (according to last months KG) a healthy sized onion can be
achieved from a early sowing, if they are kept warm. I guess i will
have to see if this is true later this year. I get the impression tho
that onions from seed are very possible just less reliable/speedy than
sets.
sarah a

 On 25 Feb 2005 03:31:03 -0800, sahara wrote:


Thanks Sahra, I thought they'd be really difficult.

--
Tim C.

 

I have never grown potatoes from seed nor indeed ever seen any seeds other
than tubers but onions I have grown from seed and with good success
although rather labour intensive compared with sets. I'm not sure about
the rules these days but it was not possible to legally send any onion
seeds from UK to Ireland although the seed merchants would happily send
other vegetable seed.


--

Chris Thomas
West Cork
Ireland

 Hi Tim,

I am not sure about potatoes but I had grown onions quite successfully from
seeds.  I got those seeds from cheap chain shops.  However, you can find
there are at least 4 varieties of onion seeds from Thompson & Morgan which
accept international order.  There are more choice from 'the organic
gardening catalogue'.
http://www.thompson-morgan.com/
http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/

You can post your question in the 'guestbook' of T&M, usually you will get
your answer if you enquire about buying suitable seeds from the company.

Hope it can help.
CK