GardenDesk

What is your favorite seed company?

All month we have been seeing posts about the stacks of seed catalogs that appear in gardeners' mailboxes. I love reading about people's excitement for seed catalogs.

Just for the record, here is my new 2008 seed catalog collection:

I'm curious, what effect do all of these catalogs have on gardeners decisions as to where to buy their seeds? So what better way to find out then to ask some gardeners?

Do you buy your seeds from a catalog or catalogs, from the web or from your local store? If you buy from a seed company's catalog or website, which companies are your favorites and why? If you have an answer for me you can comment on this post or you can write a post of your own. If you do write a post about it, let me know and I will link to it.

Just in case I don't get many answers (or any), I’ll now let you know what my favorites are and why.

This year's top six! I have ordered from five of these in the past and this year I will order from a new one.

The company I ordered from for years is Park Seeds. I'm not sure why it was my first favorite. I guess I had success with their seeds and just kept ordering from them without trying any others.

Johnny's Selected Seeds is another favorite because they have many organic selections. I originally learned of them from Eliot Coleman.

Totally Tomatoes is a fun company because they are, well - totally tomatoes! I didn't know there were soooo many different varieties of tomatoes!

The catalog I order from the most is not even a seed catalog. Gardens Alive sells organic fertilizers and many great organic gardening supplements and supplies. I also like them because I used to work at their retail store.

Now for my all-time favorite, Pinetree Garden Seeds. Why are they my favorite? I'll admit it, - they're my favorite because I'm cheap! Pinetree has always offered the least expensive seeds, period. The seeds I've gotten from them have always produced very well. Their catalog is not very pretty or fancy. I actually appreciate that because they do seem to pass along the savings to their customers. I will always get the bulk of my seeds from Pine tree even while sampling other companies.

Now for the new catalog that impresses me; Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. They have many rare varieties and they are all heirloom seeds! Last year I began growing more heirloom tomatoes and I want to expand to include more heirloom vegetables this year. Not only do their selections look great, their catalog is beautiful! It is full of pictures and interesting designs. Simply paging through the catalog is a real treat.

Well there you have it. If you would like to write a comment or a post about your favorite seed catalog, yours doesn't have to be as long as mine. I tend to get carried away sometimes. Seriously, I really do want to hear about where you buy from and why. I'm sure I've been missing some great companies. I'll link to your posts in one of my future posts.

Have fun perusing through those catalogs and longing for Spring planting!

I have too many seeds...but want more!

I recently went through all of my seed packets from previous years. Look at this mess!

Even though it looks like I have a lot of seeds, a gardener never has enough! Actually my "seed tool box" was in desperate need of a good cleaning. I had many packets from as far back as 1998. I decided too... gulp... throw some out. That is really hard to do as a gardener. I threw out only seeds that I sow directly in the garden. Things like corn, beans, pumpkins and squash had to go. I kept old seeds for crops like lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and cucumbers. The difference here is that I plant these indoors under florescent light. I will just plant double of these to compensate for a possible poor germination rate. I can not afford poor germination when it comes to the crops that are planted directly in the soil.

Another good reason to get rid of some old seed is to make room for new seed! I have placed orders with Park Seed and Pinetree Garden Seed already, and plan to get some things from Johnny's Selected Seeds and probably more from Pinetree.

Pinetree has always been my favorite seed company because they offer good quality seeds at about half the price of most other companies! I like Park and Johnny's because they both offer many unique varieties. I am getting some crazy tomato and corn cultivars! I will tell you more about that in future posts.

As for now, it is time to dig out my florescent shop lights and seed starting supplies and take over the corner of my basement family room once again. As soon as my new seeds come in the mail it will be time to get my fingers dirty and plant some lettuce and onions! I can hardly wait!