where do you get your seeds?

[ChickenGrass]

Hi all,
I was wondering where all of you buy your seeds.
I get mine from suttons, mr fothergills and carters.
Sometimes I get them from Dt brown but most my seeds are from suttons.
All of these are companies in uk but I order them online and they send them to Ireland for me.
Sometimes they are also in the garden centres here.
Where do you all get your seeds?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Some I save from the garden, though probably not as many as I should. And I get a few volunteers, mostly zinnias and marigolds, sometimes certain herbs.

The bulk of my seeds come from a local Mom 'n Pop Garden center, not one of the big box stores. It has been passed down a generation where the daughter and her husband now run it. I also get some started plants from them. I don't get as much variety selection as ordering online or from a catalogue, but the prices are a fraction of the mail order seeds and I get a lot more seeds per packet. That price advantage is before shipping charges. An example, I can get Yukon Gold, Kennebec, or Detroit Red seed potatoes from them for $0.59 per pound and pick out exactly which potatoes I want. Those are the only three varieties available but if I order through the mail the cost is more like $5.99 per pound and that's before shipping. They are fairly generous wit their seeds too, at least the ones they self=package. One of their inexpensive packs of carrot seeds will plant my spring and fall crop, where I might need to buy two or even three packets of more expensive seeds just for my spring planting online or from a big box store.

I get some started plants from a gentleman that sells organic open-pollinated plants at a local, not national chain, natural food store. He has plant sales around the region and has three different days spread out through spring at this natural food store. I get a special pepper from him, a certain Italian basil I like, plus this is generally where I get a few "different" varieties of spur-of-the-moment plants. He always has something new to try.

For things I can't get locally I go online. I generally buy a few things from Burpee because they have certain things I like, specifically tomato varieties. If I want something specific Burpee doesn't have I do an online search and order from whomever has it. For example, I wanted to grow Celeriac this year so I did some reading on varieties and decided I wanted Bianco del Veneto, Venetian White. The only company that had them that I could find was "Seeds of Italy". So I ordered a packet and have them started, getting ready for transplant later this spring. I don't have loyalty to any specific seed company, I look for who has what I want.

 

[seedcorn]

I buy my sweet corn, green beans, honeydew, peas (bulk seeds) from Rupps in Ohio. Their Aces sweet corn is best I've found. Rest are just very reasonable.

Usually I find $.10-$.25 packets of seeds for radishes, beets, cabbages that I only need a few of. Other things, I just free lance for, so pick up a packet here or there. Butternut, zucchini, okra, normally save seed. Although lost my okra seed so I will buy this year. Had some older Clemson Spineless last year-hate them as they go woody about 2 weeks before temperatures drop. Have to find another variety.

 

[Ridgerunner]

@seedcorn , a few years ago you said you were growing Jade okra. Didn't you like it?

 

[seedcorn]

Yes-I think. Although didn't think enough to go buy more, so maybe not? Lost seed so I am starting over..... Nothing-so far-has been a home run although Inwas saving seed from plants that were pale green and didn't go woody. Physically lost those seeds-still upset with myself over that....

Open to suggestions. Thinking Emerald as it is northern variety bred by Campbell soup company. Also looking into Burmese as pods are suppose to stay edible longer until frost. Just know I do not want Clemson Spineless as they go woody extremely quick.

 

[ninnymary]

My garden is so small that I buy starts from the nursery. I only plant zucchini or pole beans from seed. These I buy from Baker Creek which is a big seed company that carries only organic and heirloom seeds.

Mary

 

[digitS']

... mr fothergills ...
Sometimes they are also in the garden centres here.
Where do you all get your seeds?

Mr Fothergills seeds are in one of the local garden centers. I never developed the habit of shopping at any of them for anything that I absolutely wanted. They are doing much better in recent years but having a choice of only one variety but from a half dozen companies was aggravating.

Lots of people must look at the Shumway's catalog and think that it's very old-fashioned. I first saw that thing in the 1960's! I thought that I could get some things from them but might want something a little more unusual. They must have a wider selection now but they are owned by Jung's. Once again, I have a long time relationship with that company so I wasn't too offended when they bought up others, especially since the selection didn't change a lot.

Most years, my other orders are from Harris, Stokes and Johnny's. Osborne has been good choice for onion seed and I try to "pad" that order with some essentials. Because of that, I can eliminate one of the 4 (Jung's, Harris, Stokes and Johnny's) and because of seed saved from previous years. I look on that savings as an excuse to buy some seed from Fedco, Kitazawa and Tomato Growers !

Something I'm not too happy about is that Jung's had egardenersplace.com until last year. One could order from nearly all of those catalogs that they bought years ago. Now, that url takes you to the Jung's website, meaning that you may have to place separate orders to Shumway's, Totally Tomatoes, etc.

Steve

 

[ChickenGrass]

There sure is a lot of different,
Seed companies.
Most of the seed companies you have all mentioned,
I have never heard of.
I have to say suttons and mr.fothergills are my favorite seed.
But I ordered all of my seeds from suttons this year,
Because there website seems more modern.
What do you think
Suttons;
http://www.suttons.co.uk/
Mr.fothergills;
http://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/
I did buy a few packs,
Of mr.Fothergills seeds today in homebase.
They had huge selections of seeds from Mr.Fothergills,
Including flowers and veg.
I also have some seeds left over from last year too from other companies.
Fionn.

 

[PhilaGardener]

Have you checked out http://www.brownenvelopeseeds.com/ in West Cork?

I also recommend http://www.realseeds.co.uk/ - they are real seed folks!

Unfortunately, neither will ship to me in the US but they have a great selection of heirloom varieties I would love to grow.

 

[ChickenGrass]

Thanks for the links!
I have never tried the company in cork.
I am only around 2 hours from west cork,
And I never heard of them!
I will also look the the other company.
There isn't any big seed companies in Ireland,
That's why most seeds people use are from uk.