Hey, i'm new on this forum. Would it be impolite to ask for lavender seeds
sent via mail? Does teak and rosewood grow in America? How about giant pumpkin
and watermelon seeds? Wow! Grex has some very cool forums!

11 responses total.

You can probably find the distribution of teak and rosewood on the internet.
If they grow anywhere here, it would be Florida, and I have never heard of
them growing there, where it occasionally freezes.  Lavender is sold here as
a plant, not seeds.  Giant pumpkin seeds are sold by seed companies and if
you have a way to send them payment they can probably send you seeds, assuming
India allows them to be imported.  A friend of mine from the Netherlands
wanted giant pumpkin seeds which she grew and entered into a contest.  

I am growing out some seeds from an Indian food store - moth beans and green
and black channa (chickpea).  Next spring I would be willing to trade you some
seeds from here for seeds from there that don't need a very long season.  Do
you have skinny eggplants?  You can ask an American seed company to send you
a catalog.  Try Jung's Seeds of Wisconsin.  Or look at online catalogs.

What sorts of beans do you have besides channa, moth, and urad?  We have some
25 year old mung bean seeds that still germinated (50%).

That Jung's seeds company: Do they sell genetically modified stuff? How would
i know? Also, I'd like to harvest seeds - would that be possible?

Thanks for the link Sind! We have string beans, double beans umm..i'm just
starting off gardening - i grew a watermelon once and got 2 small melons
so...very much the neophyte.

I don't have any eggplant though i could send you other seeds..i'll ask dad
etc..

That site seems to have a lot of hybrid stuff..can hybrid's be used to gather
seeds and stuff..

I wanted to try out:
1. Lavender 2. Broccoli 3. Brussel sprout 4. Asparagus 5. Leek 6. Strawberries
7. Plums
I'd be glad to trade seeds with you or buy them off you! I don't want a lot
of seeds..maybe 50..for a kitchen garden..
I've not eaten any of the above so.. :) I mostly like quick growing stuff
so..feel free to recommend stuff! 

I use my friends card to pay for stuff via paypal..thats another
problem..trying to find a online retailer who accepts paypal, anyway i'll
google it but would rather go with a reccomendation.

I suggest looking at the website of Seedsavers (www.sse.org?), which is an
organization of people who save seeds from what they grow and sell them to
each other.  The prices have gotten rather high, I think it is $2/package of
seeds or $3 for large seeds, and you have to be a paying member (about
$25/year) to join.  We do not grow any hybrids, because the seeds do not run
true.

You can get seeds for the broccoli, brussels sprouts, or leeks, but these are
all plants grown primarily in cool climates, where they can tolerate low
temperatures, so if you have a cool season, plant them at the beginning of
it.  They have sulfur compounds which help keep them from freezing.

Asparagus is a perennial plant which goes dormant in the winter and it is sold
as bare roots.  I doubt it would grow without a winter.

Plum trees also go dormant in the winter, as do strawberries.  I don't know
whether they would fruit in India.  Which part of India are you in?

Watermelons need a lot of sun and I think also water and fertilizer.  We once
grew one about the size of an orange, but people around here with full sun
can grow medium-sized ones, and also large pumpkins.

How much land do you have, and when is your growing season?

Is it legal to import seeds to India?  All I have right now is some bean seeds
from commercially grown beans that I got in a store, but they may have been
grown in Mexico - field peas, lima beans (native to the Americas, these are
a pretty speckled red and brown), a Phaseolus vulgaris (common American bean)
that is dark yellow and white blotches, something similar that is speckled
pink and brown called October bean, and some cowpeas (originally from Africa,
came here with the slaves).  Beans are relatively easy to grow and don't need
a really long season, and you can eat them green or as dry seeds (if you get
enough) or simply admire their looks.  I also have some very old Chinese mung
beans that are still sprouting after 25 years (half of them).  Soy beans
(standard commercial ones used for feeding animals or making soy oil or
paint).  I planted and hope to have in the fall:  tepary beans from the
southwest (grown by native Americans - yellow and blue varieties), red cowpeas
from Burkina Faso, yellow ones from Venice, various other cowpeas, native
Michigan lima beans and crowder beans, three colors of runner beans (native
to the Americas) and I forget what else.

Some of these are vines and would need tall trellises to climb on (or tall
sticks or branches).

I also have Cherokee 'Indian' Trail of Tears beans and another black bean
and a couple of other vulgaris beans.

The American beans are all Phaseolus (not sure about tepary) and the Indian,
African and Chinese ones, other than the chickpeas and lentils (do you have
some of those you could send?) and fava beans, are Vicia - cowpeas, crowder
peas, field peas, moth and urad, I think also adzuki and mung.

Hey Sindi! thanks! the url is www.seedsavers.org. Crap! They don't ship to
>India! Grrr!!! $2-$3 is quite cheap~! We have something called Namdaris here
>that sell seeds, but it's bloody expensive; $3 for local seeds, you don't
get
>Blacktail Mountain Watermelon or  Mountain Sweet Yellow Watermelon
>Mountain Sweet Yellow Watermelon :(.
>
>Crap! seedsavers is out to skin me alive!! $100USD is the minimum order and
>i need to send things in triplicate! Wow and 15% handling fee plus shipping
>costs! Jeeze!
>
>We live in Bangalore which has a temperate climate. We have a 6600 sq feet
>plot of land, but the garden space is probably 4500sq feet..
>I think i could fit in 2 full sized apple trees in the back yard..it's a
>110x60 feet plot..with a house..
>
>Wow! You sure are a bean fan! We had peaches growing at one point of time..so
>plum should grow..it's worth a shot in any case..Gardening sure becomes
>interesting when you plant weird stuff; who would have thought that you get
>yellow watermelon!
>
>I'll ask mum and send you some seeds - beans and other weird varities..
>Address?

Don't buy FROM Seedsavers, join as a member and then you can order seeds from
the other members if they are willing to pay the postage to India (and the
$2/packet ought to cover that too).  We get a huge catalog of what the other
members are offering.

How did you get such a large lot in the city?  Mine is 3700 square feet
including a house, and is mostly shaded.  There are much more interesting
things to grow than apples.  Look also at the NAFEX site (fruit explorers).

We've been in Bangalore for a long time now..the land was alloted by the
government to my Grandad who was in the army...he bought it at a low rate..we
live in Defence Colony..so..
Have you checked out www.gardenweb.com; they have a free forum for ppl to
exchange seeds and plants.

No I have not, thanks.  There are often rules against mail plants between
countries but seeds are probably okay.

The gardenweb.com web site is mostly for people within the US. In fact they
say so very clearly all over so i'm fairly certain it's legit..
I found a very nice web site that does ship to India (well i haven't actually
bought anything as yet, but it's very reasonable)
Check out: http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/list/fruit

Thompson-Morgan is one of the most expensive places, I think.  

Huh! nope it's quite cheap for a number of reasons:
1. If you order just one pkt, then you only pay shipping, which is pound 0.99
to India. That's because they have a scheme where the most expensive item in
your basket if free. Isn't technology great! *grin* 2. Shipping is cheap at
pound 0.99 and i tried them with up to 4 pkts of seeds. 3. You can just buy one
pkt or two which is nice.

It's not half as nice as seed saver :( but it's not bad either..
Mind you don't screw things for me by ordering heaps of just 1 pkts..:) that's
unfair!! :)

I only order from Seedsavers now.  Someone in my state offered me all the
seeds I want at a discount price, to be nice.

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