Sea Spring Seeds

Sea Spring Seeds A vegetable seed company run by gardeners for gardeners. We sell seed of a fantastic range of the very best tasting varieties.

We specialise in chillies and tomaotes. Sea Spring Seeds is a vegetable seed company run by gardeners for gardeners. It is based at Sea Spring Farm, a specialist nursery overlooking the English Channel in West Dorset. The business is owned and managed by us, Michael and Joy Michaud, along side our other enterprises: Sea Spring Plants (selling chilli plug plants), Peppers by Post (growing and selli

ng fresh chillies through the post) and Sea Spring Photos (a photo library for vegetable growing). After working for decades in agriculture and horticulture, we started our own business in 1989, first growing vegetables for local shops and restaurants. We gradually became interested in chillies, eventually establishing Peppers by Post, in 1994 – Britain's first company growing and selling fresh chillies through the post. We then began hunting for new chillies in immigrant shops and allotments, where we found naga morich, a Bangladeshi landrace from which we developed the Dorset Naga, one of the hottest chillies in the world (see http://www.dorsetnaga.com). Since then we have developed several new chilli varieties

Sea Spring seeds now sells a wide range of vegetable seeds, concentrating on selling the best varieties available.

Long-fruited snake gourd grown as a single plant in a 7.5 litre pot. It will be part of our display at the RHS Hyde Hall...
31/07/2026

Long-fruited snake gourd grown as a single plant in a 7.5 litre pot. It will be part of our display at the RHS Hyde Hall Flower Show from 5 to 9th August.

Tomorrow we are off to the Great Dorset Chilli Festival being held near Sturminster Newton. Though we don't have a stall...
31/07/2026

Tomorrow we are off to the Great Dorset Chilli Festival being held near Sturminster Newton. Though we don't have a stall there this year, we will nevertheless be taking part in some of the activities.

At 12 noon Joy will be giving a talk on her Top Ten Tips for Growing Chillies, while later in the day Michael will be judging (along with Matt Simpson of Simpsons Seeds) the chilli growing competition sponsored by Sea Springs Seeds and Simpson Seeds. Earlier in the year, we supplied seeds of Rooster Spur to the competitors, and we have high hopes that they have done well despite the challenges of the hot weather.

Some of our pepper plants can also be found in the display tent, organised by Matt. There will be plenty of different varieties, so do try to track down the display if you are at the festival.

We are growing long-fruited snake gourd for seed production in one of our polytunels. They are heat lovers that originat...
30/07/2026

We are growing long-fruited snake gourd for seed production in one of our polytunels. They are heat lovers that originate in the tropics, and are popular in Asian cooking. They are eaten at about this size, but are much longer when grown to maturity

Had our first sweet corn of the year. Delicious! Variety is Northern Extra Sweet.
29/07/2026

Had our first sweet corn of the year. Delicious! Variety is Northern Extra Sweet.



Determinate or bush tomatoes are generally not pruned or pinched out. Compared to indeterminate types, they are the idea...
28/07/2026

Determinate or bush tomatoes are generally not pruned or pinched out. Compared to indeterminate types, they are the ideal choice for laid-back gardeners who take a more relaxed approach to their craft.

Not only are they relatively easy to manage, but determinate tomatoes are also suitable for specific niches found in the garden. For example, varieties with a more compact growth habit are ideal for growing in pots kept on a greenhouse bench, making it a snap to water, fertilise and harvest.

Likewise, compact varieties are perfect for growing in the confines of a cloche, precluding the need for larger greenhouses and polytunnels. When using cloches, we prefer to grow our plants directly in the ground, where the roots can wander freely.

In both pictures is the yellow-fruited Lemon Sherbet, one of our favourite determinate tomatoes. It is quite tasty, compact and early, and a good choice for tight spots. We used 5 litre pots for growing the plants on a greenhouse bench. The plants under the cloche were grown in a soil-filled bathtub, mulched with black plastic and watered by means of leaky pipe placed underneath the plastic.

Look what single seed must have escaped when we sowed our kohlrabi for the Chelsea Flower Show back in February. Only j...
27/07/2026

Look what single seed must have escaped when we sowed our kohlrabi for the Chelsea Flower Show back in February.

Only just noticed it now!

For years, Hungarian Hot Wax (left) has been one of our favourite chillies, and among its numerous virtues is the abilit...
26/07/2026

For years, Hungarian Hot Wax (left) has been one of our favourite chillies, and among its numerous virtues is the ability to mature quite quickly. When grown side-by-side with Cyclon (right), however, it cannot compete on speed and clearly comes in second place. Nevertheless, Hungarian Hot Wax is still a top choice.

(Plants in the photos were grown from seed sown on 3 March)

This year we trialled seven different varieties of chillies to see which were the earliest to ripen. The varieties were ...
23/07/2026

This year we trialled seven different varieties of chillies to see which were the earliest to ripen. The varieties were selected as they are known to be particularly early.

So the earliest were Hot Juan and Hot Juanita; after that Dawn and Dusk (all varieties we sell). Basket of Fire and Quickfire (which we don't sell) followed. But I can say, as well as being early, all plants were perfect as compact, pretty plant.

19/07/2026

Last week I was at the RHS Badminton Flower Show. I had a 3x3m display of "Container grown vegetables", and was selling seeds and chilli plants. Here is a little video of my time there.

Address

Dorchester
DT29DD

Telephone

+441308897898

Website

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