Better buy your garden seeds early.
 

Said on the news today that there maybe a seed shortage due to Europeans ordering a lot from the U.S.

Seems the economy just keeps on tanking so you all might do some serious thinking on this.

Corn
Potatoes
Pinto beans

These 3 items store well and will help you survive so long as you grow plenty to last throughout the next year, even if you don't have much of anything else to eat.

planning on ordering mine this weekend.

I just bought mine, but I may just buy some more.
Where do you get your seeds?

Ordered mine last week on a particularly cold winter day - was much better dreaming about spring than dwelling on the cold

I ordered mine and already have them.

I saved most of mine from last year and previous years but there is always something new or different I "need" when I look at the catalogs. I think I need to quit looking, lol.

That's what I usually do. I buy mine at a local feed cooperative in which I have a lot better luck with, a lot cheaper, and bigger quantity packages. One problem I have is that they pull out the seed potatoes and cabbage/broccoli plants way too early and are sold out by the time they need to be transplanted into the ground. By then I can't find any. Thus the reason why I'm building a small green house to get my own plants started in.

Along those same lines, it's irritating that the local feed stores don't recognize more than one season. I don't mind buying extra seed in the spring for my succession crops, but as you noted, try finding seed potatoes in early July. My srping potatoes are out of the ground mid-August to early September. Way too early for the root cellar. Same with onion sets. I need to count back from mid-October in my area, and plant accordingly to get them in just before first frost. Tough to do with certain plants.

already got em!

Buying Seeds Early
 

Ok guys I just ordered some of our seeds for this year. However, Heirloom Seeds is not taking orders at this time. I normally order from Seed Savers and Heirloom seeds. Can anyone tell me, who else sells Heirloom seeds that are reliable?

Thanks & God Bless

SustainableSeedCo.com

good service, some cheap trial packages too.

I get mine from Baker Creek
They're all open pollinated heirloom seeds

Oldcountryboy, I can only hope that the Europeans will order up all the Lima Beans so that we can purge those nasty tasting things from our country.

Glad I got mine all ordered (and some of them have even arrived!).

Although now that I've seen Forerunner's pics of his bloody butcher corn I might just have to put in another order. . . been thinking of trying bloody butcher for a few years and just hadn't done it yet. Maybe the time is now :)

This is what I am hearing from others; I guess I better get with it and go and get my seeds tomorrow. There is a nursery that has heirlooms seeds; but it is an 1 1/2 drive away...guess I better get scooting and hope the weather stays good; they have had lots of snow up in their area.

I don't know about this.....I don't start potatoes from seeds. But at least we can be happy that something the old USA is producing is being bought! I have seen no indication that seeds are in short demand this year.

I ordered in December, kind of part of my Christmas present and they have already arrived a few weeks ago. I also pick up packets here and there, the local Menards had Burpee seeds for 40 percent off two weeks ago and then last week, they were on sale for 20 percent. I bought some at the 40 percent, but just goes to show, you gotta watch all the time I guess.
I love that bloody butcher corn, such a deep red burgandy color. It always does well for me.
jd

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35184731...consumer_news/

Another article today on seed shortage - carrots, onions, and cucumbers seem to be in short supply..better order NOW for spring unless you have heirlooms.

I'm curious to hear what Martin has to say about this.

I have a small mail order heirloom seed company. I grow much of it here but I do buy a bit from wholesalers to plump out my selections. Except for one type of carrot, I'm not hearing of any shortages from the wholesalers I use. Canadian or American.

My seed order from Jung came in 1/26/09. I had never ordered from Jung, so I was pleased that I received everything that I ordered. Also, for those wondering how long it took, my order date was January 8. In addition, Jung sent two packs of free seeds which in my order was “Jung’s Garden Splendor Annual Flower mix”, and “Jung’s Sweet Repeat Leaf Lettuce Mix”.

Now to my order

Gretel Hybrid Eggplant
I had good results with these last year

Fanfare Hybrid Cucumber
Eureka Hybrid Cucumber
My cucumbers did terrible last year due to disease. So I thought I would try
These two due to their multiple disease resistance

Legend Tomato
Juliet Hybrid Tomato
Like many I lost most of my tomatoes to Late Blight. So I ordered 2 of the few varieties that are reported to have some resistance to Late Blight.


Mr. Stripey Tomato
This heirloom did well last year. It did not get late blight until September, and
By then had produced a number of nice tomatoes. I noticed on the internet that others had similar results.

Tyee Hybrid Spinach
I have not grow spinach (except in a Mesclun mix) before, so I thought
I would give this one a try.

I have also bought some Burpee seeds at several local stores. These include: Burpee's Butterbush- These have done well for the past 2 years.
Cherry Belle Radish- Another success
Green Gem Hybrid Squash- will give this a try
Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard- this has done well for several years

I am looking forward to growing veggies again.

I just sent in an order to Seed Savers and they had some items on back order. Thankfully I ordered from Heirloom Seeds early in Jan. and they have arrived.

Last year when I tried to order right before planting season, they were out. This time I ordered early and seeds came in a few weeks ago. We order from Baker creek as they are very close to us.

Our family dollar store still has their normal sized stock of Page Seed stock. Only thing thats decreasing is the number of packs per dollar. 20 years ago it was 20/$1, then the price was 10/$1 a few years later, 4 years ago it became 5/$1 and this year its 4/$1

I remember when $3 could get you $1000 with good weather , good yield and a good market in addition to stocking the pantry. Now $5 will stock the pantry and maybe put $500 to $1000 in the gardening kitty if the weather and markets are good.

Seed Savers Exchange! Already got ours plus we saved seeds from last year too.

Thanks for the warning about the shortage of some garden seeds. I have all my garden seed catalogs but have been so busy with my bottle babies that I have not had time to even look at any of them. I will sit down and get my order in asap. I don't grow potatoes in my garden and I like the short carrots. I save my own bean seeds as I love Rattlesnake pole beans and they are heirloom.

All my seed sources, both wholesale and retail, say they have no problems getting seed stocks and don't anticipate having problems.

These are not heirlooms, though.

Please remember that the media thrive on bad news and exaggeration.

Well, I'll tell you, Baker Creek's printed catalog is nothing but seed porn. It's beautiful with photos and random inspirational quotes.

I sent in a trail online order today. Just a $20 one for stuff I can't usually find.

I'll see how they do this year.

I think I'll probably send an order in to Johnny's Select Seeds in a day or two. I'm still doing inventory of what I have left.

Rose and others have given me some good ideas for companion planting, etc. that I'm going to give a try.

Martin just shakes his head in wonder about how many people will be swayed into thinking that there's going to be as shortage based upon what a few unknown "experts" have predicted. (Two "experts" today couldn't even agree on an early spring or not!) Someone gets an order for carrot seed from someone in Europe and it extrapolates to a major US shortage? One guy can't get Straight Eight cucumbers and that means a major shortage in cukes this year? Nobody who means anything in the seed company business seems concerned. Martin says: "Order early and order a lot to keep the company owners and employees happy!"

Martin

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/finan.../D9DJ8KGO7.htm

There's your original culprit. Pretty sparse info, in my opinion, but if Anderson Cooper gets ahold of it, look out....... I searched for a "read more" icon, but, that's all there is.

Personally, I'm good to go, it's too much fun to sit here in the dark days of January and drool over the catalog pics without doing something about it. Now I'm after some good prices on straw, a few tools, hoses, seed potatoes, yard project materials, bulk landscape mulch, clover seed, fishing license, spark plugs for the 9n............. Who's got time to wait?

response to "seed shortage"
 

I highly doubt there will be a seed shortage. This is a news hype thing. I received dozens of seed catalogs with inventory to sell, and every hardware store, garden supply center, big grocery stores, Wal Mart, Menards, K Mart, Fleet Supply stores, etc. etc. has racks of garden seeds for sale - right now! The nearest town to me is 17 miles away and the hardware store there - a True Value - has seeds out already. The farm supply house in town has tons of seeds (literally) - corn, edible beans, etc. - for sale. You can't believe everything you hear on the news. They like to report "the sky is falling" type news for impact! By the way, many seed catalogs have heirloom seeds for sale, too, so there's no need to buy from expensive sources just to get heirloom seeds. I usually stick to open pollinated type seeds, and save a lot of my own seeds. I don't usually plant hybrid seeds, except for cukes, which I get from Menards or True Value at 50% off at the end of the season and then save them for next year. One year the drug store in town had seeds 10 pkgs for a dollar! I bought squash, cukes, herbs, flowers, carrots - and saved them to plant the following year. Everything came up just fine. So really - there are seeds everywhere - I'm not gonna panic!

They said that last year too and they will probably say it next year!

my seed order arrived safely yesterday, thank god, i still need to order some spring wheat

If everyone is stocking up on seeds then does that mean that there is going to be a canning supply shortage as well?

I hear you on that blufford, makes you wonder just how desperately hungry a person has to get in order to cook up a batch of em.

Well Callie, we don't actually start taters from actual seeds, and you probably know that.:hrm: But I just kind of throwed in the little survival topic of growing taters, corn, and pinto beans for those who are out of work and might have to survive this next coming year on what they grow.

I hope all this is just a big hype. Probably someone trying to increase their seed sales. However, last year my favorite seed source, a local feed coop store, was running out of things fast. If you didn't walk in the first day or two after they recieved their order, then you might be out of luck finding anything. Never before had I ever had that problem at the feed store and I've been getting all my seeds there for 20 years or so.

That's something else that was in short supply last summer as well. With all the extra gardening taking place the stores were running short on canning supplies. So we all need to buy anytime we can between now and canning season.

Well they are plowing in all those frozen veggies in florida, so more people may need to start gardens this year.

What's killing me are these 50% off coupons, and take 25.00 of your order. I already have all my seeds! Has anyone noticed how much Onion plants are up in price?

I get a kick out of these panic threads.

I just placed my last (6th) seed order last night and have not encountered any significant problems. I have received everything from the other 5 vendors except for the live plants/trees... which I would expect not to ship this early.

I did have a couple of specific varieties that were not available from one supplier that I ended up getting from another. Not a big deal.

Mike

I don't think that this is a panic thread but more of a "heads up". For those of us that live in remote areas and only have access to stores that have limited supplies of seeds to begin with it is a good idea to buy early. Last year our local place that usually stocks seeds didn't get them in until June which is way too late if you are going to start seeds indoors. I saved some seeds from last year to start this year on things like tomatoes and squash but will still have to buy the rest of it.