What Seed Catalogs Do You Use?

It will be time to start ordering seeds before you know it. Last year, we ordered most of our seeds from Pine Tree Seeds of Maine. What companies do you order seeds from? Do you buy/get a physical catalog or do you do it online? We'd like to expand our list of resources.

Tags: Catalogs, Planning, Seeds

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Katie Quinn-Jacobs on December 4, 2010 at 10:43am

We use Fedco and have rely on both the online service to order and the catalog as a how-to resource. Also, Seeds of Change and Johnny's.

Permalink Reply by Krys Cail on December 6, 2010 at 8:03pm

Hm... I think we had an IthaCan discussion about this last year. I scarf up free seed where I can, including CCE's amazing seed exchange cabinet. And the plants themselves... and, well, my son just gave me some amaranth seed and my mom some zinnias. I also like Fedco, Johnny's, High Mowing Seeds, and Harris. Although Fedco's catalog is not great. I try to get cool catalogs that I would never buy from (too expensive, not organic, etc.) just to look at the photos and read about weird varieties.

Permalink Reply by Mark Norton on January 31, 2011 at 10:03am

We ended up doing most of our seed order with Johnny's and tubers from Fedco. Johnny's has the new Late Blight Resistant tomatoes bred at Cornell. We've ordered some.

As usual, we've adjusted the kinds of plants we bought. We cut back on the variety of squashes - some of them just didn't do well. One big experiment this year is with edamame soybeans. We both like edamame and are looking forward to picking it fresh and boiling them up with salt. We're also going to try Daikon Radishes this year. My permaculture books mention them as a way to improve the soil, but I like the way they taste. The Japanese pickle them, too. Also new are grape tomatoes. Never tried growing them, but they sure do taste good.

The seeds have already arrived. I was impressed with how fast the order came. I expect we'll be setting up our grow lights in a few weeks and start the seedling process. Starting seeds indoors gets me to thinking about Springtime and fresh greens (etc). This will be a challenging year for us, garden-wise, because we're building our house starting in the Spring. I suspect that there will be many days where we have to make a choice: work on the house or work on the garden. We're prepared to accept an impact to the garden, since the house is (hopefully) a one time thing.

Permalink Reply by Joey Diana Gates on February 14, 2011 at 5:13pm

I do both because it is easier to search on line but, like to sit with the catalogs in my lap and easily cross reference them.

I like:

Forest Farm

Tripplebrook

Richter's

Burnt Ridge Nursery

Cummins

All are great sources of permaculture plants.

Permalink Reply by Mark Norton on February 16, 2011 at 11:05am

We added Miller's Nursery to our seed catalog list. They have the advantage of being local.

Permalink Reply by Marcia Morrison on February 20, 2011 at 6:28pm

Why aren't you ordering from Pine Tree this year? Just wondering...

Permalink Reply by Mark Norton on March 6, 2011 at 11:41am

A couple of reasons. Johnny's had the blight resistant tomatoes bred at Cornell and we really wanted them. Some of the Pine Tree seeds didn't seem to yield as well as they ought to have. I guess the biggest reason was just to try out another recommended supplier. While it is certainly simpler to place a single large order with a single supplier, I suspect we'll be doing multiple orders in the future. Heck, we're up to three already (Johnny's, Fedco, and Millers).

Permalink Reply by crowjoy on March 5, 2011 at 11:14am

I finally ordered! Whoo! (I love that moment, where everything is as pretty and easy as the book says, ahhh.)

I ordered veg seeds from Seed Savers again... Vermont Bean Seed didn't thrill me last year and I support the Seed Saver's cause. For something new though I ordered potato seed and onion sets (and sweet potato slips!) from The Maine Potato Lady. She had all the varieties I was looking for, including All Blue which was sold out at other sites.

Now, can we see the ground sometime soon?

Permalink Reply by Alison F on March 6, 2011 at 11:37am

I'm looking at Fedco, Millers, and Johnny's right now -- but I'm wondering if I'll ever be a successful gardener. I use a trial and error approach, with a tendency towards the errors!

Permalink Reply by Mark Norton on March 6, 2011 at 11:46am

Chin up, Alison! We learn as much from mistakes as from successes. For example, we are cutting back on squash varieties this year (4 down from 6). Yield on some of them were very limited, so we are concentrating on the ones that we like and will grow well (got rid of Carnival and Yellow Summer, kept Hubbard, Zucchini, Delicata, and Butternut).

Melons didn't do all that well last year. We got several baby watermelons, but didn't really eat them, so this year we are focused on cantaloupes (which are fantastic) and got rid of the watermelons.

We like to try new things every year. This year is Edamame (a kind of soy bean) and Daikon radish (excellent for pickling).

What are you going to plant this year?

Permalink Reply by crowjoy on March 6, 2011 at 12:06pm

Mark, what variety of cantaloupes? I'm going to purchase starts and hope to find decent ones, but have no idea what to look for.

Permalink Reply by Mark Norton on March 6, 2011 at 6:57pm

Ambrosia, from Pinetree Seeds was planted last year.