Which outfit do you all order your seeds from (those who don't have saved ones from years past)? When do you do it? Do you order one big bunch or scatter it out over months and different companies? I have always had Territorial near, so usually get a few packs here and there as needed, and will probably still do that somewhat, but I'd like to get a little better price on the things I plant lots of.
usually my seed orders are quite spread out. they have to be as i couldn't bear to spend in a lump sum what i no doubt actually spend. a very economical way to go for ordinary vegetable seed that has worked quite well is to buy seeds from local stores after the "garden season" ends, usually at half price or even substantially less. i've had no trouble saving these until the following year--they've always germinated just fine. but then i'm not squeamish about storing seed period: i handle them carefully and routinely use seed five years old or more with fairly good results. (but that was in new mexico, where humidity is low). when i plant my seeds i try to avoid planting an excessive number, which means that a packet of, say, tomato seed may have enough to grow for several seasons. to me, that's one way of increasing the diversity of my seed collection, which, incidently, runs to over 500 varieties at present. as to companies, i haven't really found a bad one. but some of my favorites are: pinetree seeds, seeds of change, gurney's, plants of the southwest, ande even burpees, northrup king and the other "bargain" seeds in my local stores.
Cara; I only order specialty seeds. The common things (squash, beans, lettuce, tomato, pepper, corn, melons, canteloupe, cukes, carrots, turnip, etc) I buy in bulk from the local produce or seed houses. Many garden stores, feed stores, etc have bulk seed and sell them by the dipperful for as little as fifty cents per dipper. A dipper will usually be several times as many seeds as come in a packet. If I only intend to grow a half dozen plants I buy the plants instead of the seed--eggplant and hot pepper for example I can usually buy for about $.25 to $.50 per plant. A dipper full of carrot seed for $.50 will have a thousand or more seeds in it. A dipper full of squash seed will be enough for two or three years for a family. On the other hand, the seeds that the locals don't stock I order from Gurneys or one of the other big seed houses. Things like daikon, parat radishes, brandywine tomatos, Atlantic Giant pumpkin. That can get expensive, so I try to find what I want locally. A few years back I had been working in the garden and had a shoebox full of seed, plus more in a Walmart bag sitting on the floor in our pantry. Wife's old biddy friends were over for tea, and afterward some of them helped her clean up the kitchen. Dammitalltohell, the old biddies tossed my shoebox and bag in the garbage and I did not know it until the stuff was hauled away and I went looking for my seeds. They probably tossed $50 worth of seed away. I had to start over. I now keep my seed in a plastic fishing tackle box. Ox
I generally order from one company each year, simply because I don't like paying for shipping. I'm ordering from Pinetree this year. I never heard of them 'til recently, on this forum. Their prices are wonderful!! I plan on sending in my order sometime in the next week or so. If you haven't seen their catalog, I highly recommend requesting one on their website.
I order or have ordered from Jung's, Stokes, Nichol's and I go way back, Schumway, Burpee, Johny's, Seymours, Totally Tomatoes, and Park's. This year I will order from Parks, Stokes, Horizon Herbs, and two wholesalers if I can come up with their minimums. Has anybody ordered from Eon Seeds?
Oxankle, that's really stinky. I have a couple half gallon plastic jars full of seeds and when we moved...I packed them! Didn't want anyone to think those crappy old jars full of fingerprinted up envelopes were garbage. I will get that catalog from Pinetree...if for nothing else, the info. Nichols is near us too, but neither Nichols nor Territorial has seed in bulk. It would be very nice if they did.
I too have ordered from Pine Tree and I have been very pleased with both their prices and services. I will order from them again this year. I have also ordered from Henry Fields, Gurneys, Stokes and a few others I can't remember at the moment (senior!!!). I ordered tomato seed from Totally tomatoes last year and even though I ordered early enough the seed did not arrive until it was too late to start tomato plants here. I called and complained but it didn't do any good. All they said was they had my order and it would be shipped out "soon". Just for the heck of it, I decided to start a few of the tomato seeds even though it was late and I was very disappointed in the germination. I will not order from them again.
Barb, I was very disappointed with the service from that group last year also. I don't know exactly who did the buying out but Shumway, Totally Tomatoes, Seymour's Selected Seeds and Vermont Bean and Seed are all under the same umbrella there in Wisconsin. Shumway use to be the all time favorite with us because they carried a full line of open pollinated seeds. Their line is greatly diminished now and the service was lousy two years in a row. I confess to ordering from Seymour's this year, they had some flower seeds that I just couldn't resist and I did receive them in a great turn around time but than we are talking an order that was placed two days after I received the catalog. That is rather a record for me but this year I intend to have a rather large flower garden and I like to get things started early. (now that there are just the two of us I can play a little in the flowers ) This year I did the bulk of my ordering from Pinetree, Morgan and Thompson, and Parks. Actually........all veggie seed I ordered was from Pinetree but I don't order much veggies as we seed save.
I'll throw some up-to-the-minute number at those who are fans of what used to be two great companies, Gurney's and Henry Fields. Both now belong to Gardens Alive! Gurney's: 26-15-42 Henry Fields: 65-23-70 Then the numbers for the group in Randolph. Jung's: 58-16-34 Seymour's: 4-5-8 Shumway's: 14-7-20 Totally Tomatoes: 17-5-13 Vermont Bean Seed: 7-3-10 What are the numbers? Positive-Neutral-Negative according to Garden Watchdog reports. Martin
Good to see you Martin. Speaking of Gurney's, do you know if they are going to send out their 20.00 coupon again this year? BTW I can understand the poor rating's for Shumway's, but I have always had good luck with Totally Tomatoes and Vermont Bean Seed.
I've tried many of the common suppliers, but prefer Johnny's. The reasons I prefer them are 1) consistently outstanding quality plants coming out of the ground 2) excellent growing information. I like to grow the unusual and new; things you don't find at the market. I have gardened for 20+ years. I don't consider myself an expert or a master, rather a novice. I learned why I have had difficulty with certain plants when I got my first Johnny's catalog. The catalog has is like a college text book. On the downside, their prices are HIGH. Although I may spend an extra $20 on seeds each year, the results are worth it to me. I buy around 30-50 seed packets each year. Since my garden is small, and I plant intensive in boxes, I rarely use an entire packet of seed in a single season. Johnny's sells small packets in addition to the regular size. This works better for me because I don't end up with so many old seeds.
I used Fedco seeds in maine last year and was happy with the avail selection and the pricing. They also have trees and supplies organic and not so organic.
We got some seeds from Ace Hardware when they were ten for a dollar. Some we got from the internet(forums); some from friends. The main order was from Pinetree as their shipping costs were cheaper. Also used a $20 coupon from Henry Fields. We had good luck with germination. Mainly we would wait until hot days and warm nights to plant. We are in AZ so there is no hurry to plant.
I order from TWiley seed out of South Carolina. They arent too big on the heir loom varieties I'm afraid, but they know their seed and they know what works in my area of NC. They cater to the commercial growers but also will sell to home gardners. I sell my excess produce and I have learned from experience good seed is worth the price. I ahve rarely experienced crop failure or lack of plant vigor when using seed they have sold me. I try to order once in late winter for my spring and summer crops and once in late summer for my fall- winter crops. It saves the postage fees if I do it like that.
I have bought from Seeds of Change, The Seed savers Exchange ( can't say I was to happy with their seeds last year),Territorial and there is another one I really like, but can't remember the name for the life of me right now. Sigh ~ ~
