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Best vegetable seeds in the UK

Updated: 16 October 2026

You already know the crop, and you want the best vegetable seeds for that job rather than the highest star line on amazon.co.uk. This page says who each packet is for, and who should leave it. The checklist is the [vegetable seed buying guide](/hub/herb-seeds/vegetable-seeds/sub/vegetable-seeds-buying-guide). October dates are on [vegetables to sow in autumn](/hub/herb-seeds/vegetable-seeds/sub/vegetable-seeds-autumn-sowing). Prices sit on the [vegetable seeds comparison](/hub/herb-seeds/vegetable-seeds). The Products Compared editorial team updated this page on 16 October 2026 from those listings and the RHS. A purchase through our links may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

You already know the crop, and you want the best vegetable seeds for that job rather than the highest star line on amazon.co.uk. This page says who each packet is for, and who should leave it.

Our top picks

Mr Fothergill's Mr Fothergill's Broad Bean Aguadulce

Best overall

Mr Fothergill's Mr Fothergill's Broad Bean Aguadulce
7.3/10about £3.49
View offer
Mr Fothergill's Mr Fothergill's Cauliflower All The Year Round

Rank 2

Mr Fothergill's Mr Fothergill's Cauliflower All The Year Round
9.2/10about £2.09
View offer
Just Seed Just Seed Lettuce Winter Density

Best value

Just Seed Just Seed Lettuce Winter Density
7.6/10about £3.10
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What best can mean here
  2. 2.Cauliflower All The Year Round
  3. 3.Winter Density and Aguadulce
  4. 4.The tomato packet and the potato packet
  5. 5.Which packet for which person

What best can mean here

Best means the packet whose variety, month and site match the crop you are about to sow. It does not mean one sleeve that stocks a whole plot. Kings Seeds lists an allotment collection at £52.90, against £70.80 if those packets were bought singly. That is a different purchase from a £2.09 packet of one variety. The stars are amazon.co.uk averages, not a germination test. All The Year Round is 4.4 from 995 reviews, the only large sample here.

Cauliflower All The Year Round

Mr Fothergill’s All The Year Round, at £2.09 for a stated average of about 200 seeds, suits someone who will sow more than once and can give each plant about 60 cm. The RHS describes a long season if you sow in succession. The supplier’s page says to transplant about 60 cm apart. Skip it where you need clubroot resistance. The RHS entry does not call this variety resistant. Skip it on a tiny bed, because two plants at 60 cm already take a wide strip.
Mr Fothergill's Mr Fothergill's Broad Bean Aguadulce

Testsieger

Mr Fothergill's Mr Fothergill's Broad Bean Aguadulce
7.3/10about £3.49
View offer

Winter Density and Aguadulce

Just Seed’s Winter Density, at £3.10 for a stated 500 seeds, is the winter lettuce if you want a named variety from a UK supplier and you will read the date. On that stated count the price is under 1p a seed when the envelope is full. Skip it if you need a certified-organic mark. Organic Registration AP23164 and Defra Registered 7291 are company numbers. Mr Fothergill’s Aguadulce, at £3.49 for 45 seeds, is the autumn bean where the site is mild or sheltered and the soil drains. The plant type says broad bean. The title still says flower seeds.

The tomato packet and the potato packet

The Generic Black Cherry, at £2.99, is only a spare sowing if you already grow cordon tomatoes. The RHS describes it as an indeterminate cordon, hardiness H1C, and the listing disagrees with itself on the count. Named tomato listings are on the tomato seeds comparison. Skip this bag for a first tomato crop. The mixed potato listing, at £8.99, names no variety. Skip it if you wanted tubers you can chit.

Which packet for which person

Choose the cauliflower if you will sow in succession and clubroot is not in the bed. Choose Winter Density if you will check the expiry date. Choose Aguadulce if you have read past the flower-seed title and the plot can take an autumn bean. Leave the potato mix. On a cold, exposed allotment, start with the lettuce under a cloche rather than a November bean.

Common questions

Which packet is for a summer cauliflower, and who should skip it?
Mr Fothergill’s All The Year Round suits a summer or autumn curd if you sow in succession and plant at about 60 cm. Skip it if you need clubroot resistance, if the bed cannot take that spacing, or if you would rather learn on lettuce or beans first.
Is 4.4 from 995 reviews a test result?
It is the amazon.co.uk average for that cauliflower packet, from 995 reviews, as listed on 15 October 2026. It is not a laboratory germination score. Stored texts both praise emergence and report failures, sometimes after cold weather. Use it as a large sample of shoppers, and still read the date on the packet before you sow.
Who is Winter Density for?
It is for a winter lettuce where you want a named variety from a UK supplier and you can read the date on the sleeve. The listing states 500 seeds at £3.10. Skip it if a short count or a same-month expiry would leave you short of plants, and skip it if you need a certified-organic mark rather than a company registration number.
Is Aguadulce the autumn bean or a flower?
It is a broad bean. The plant type says so, and the listing marks it as an autumn and winter sowing variety, at £3.49 for 45 seeds. The title says flower seeds, which is the wrong shelf. It suits a mild or sheltered, well-drained site, which is the RHS limit for an autumn sowing.
Is the Generic Black Cherry packet a safe way to buy that variety?
The variety itself is an indeterminate cordon for a greenhouse or a warm outdoor spot. This listing is brand Generic, the title and the unit count disagree, and one review found no instructions. Buy it only if you already grow cordon tomatoes. A labelled packet from a seed house is the cleaner way to get Black Cherry.
Why is the potato packet the wrong choice even before the stars?
The title says mixed potato vegetable seeds, no variety is named, and the three stored reviews say the contents were not seed potatoes. At £8.99 it is the dearest listing here, from only eight ratings. If you wanted seed potatoes, leave this packet.

Related pages

F1 or open-pollinated

Vegetable seeds

Vegetables to sow in autumn UK: hardy October sowing

What to look for on a vegetable seed packet in the UK

How to sow vegetable seeds UK: trays, depth and frost

Sources

Public UK sources named for this comparison. Updated October 2026.

  1. Seed Marketing Regulations 2011 (retrieved October 2026)
  2. Explanatory memorandum to the Seed Marketing Regulations 2011 (retrieved October 2026)
  3. GOV.UK, apply to have seeds certified for marketing in England and Wales (retrieved October 2026)
  4. Defra plant health portal, plant varieties and seeds FAQ (retrieved October 2026)
  5. RHS, F1 hybrids (retrieved October 2026)
  6. RHS, lettuce (retrieved October 2026)
  7. GOV.UK, Seed Potato Classification Scheme (retrieved October 2026)
  8. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 11 (retrieved October 2026)