Where to buy seeds?

[sillybeans]

Where should I go to buy seeds for my vegetable garden in the spring? What do I need to look for...organic, non-GMO...is there anything else I should be looking for?

Thanks!!!

[canadiyank]

I buy from a variety of sources...often just what's at Fred Meyer's, but also Johnny's seeds online, the farm shop in town, I use old seed from packets and just plant more, etc.

What are you planning to grow?

[Zipporah]

Type in heirloom seed suppliers or seed savers networks into google.

[sillybeans]

Thanks!

I really don't know yet what we're going to grow! We're going to be doing square foot gardening (we did it last year too, but I bought the books recently, so we can do it even better this year). We're going to have three square foot gardens (each is 4 ft by 4 ft) and a fourth that's 2 ft by 4 ft, with some vertical growing space. I know that we'll be growing squash. And potatoes. We recently started the Feingold Program, so we currently can't eat some salicylate foods like tomatoes and peppers...but if we're eating them again by spring or summer, I definitely want to grow those too.

[Lady TS]

I :love www.rareseeds.com (Baker's Creek) and have ordered from them for a couple of years now. They are one of the few companies not owned/controlled by Monsanto and other big GMO seed companies.

Seed Saver's Exchange and Seeds of Change are also good. :yes



I think even Johnny's is owned/controlled by the big seed companies now. :-/

[sillybeans]

Thanks! I watched Food, Inc. recently, and the part about Monsanto and the soybeans is what made me realize that all seeds aren't created equal! I really had no idea!

[gpsings]

http://www.seedsavers.org/

And I would be stocking up since that stinking food bill has passed the senate and is expected to pass the house. :(

[sillybeans]

Hmmm...what's that about? Someone posted a link to it, but I didn't really understand what it was going to do...

[Lady TS]

I contacted my senator via email and got an email back saying they voted for it and that it won't effect organic or home gardeners. Not that I believe that. Because it very well will in the long run...:-/

[sillybeans]

I ordered some catalogs! I can't wait to figure out what to grow...from looking online, I already found some melons I want to try!

I wonder when I need to order my seeds? When does everybody usually start growing them (indoors)?

[Macky]

I order primarily from www.veseys.com and www.stokeseeds.com. I've gotten incredible – sometimes 100% – germination rates from both companies (Stokes is a seed grower, too).

You won't find GMO seeds in a catalogue for home gardener, so you don't have to worry about avoiding them. That's something you find at the farm level and there are contracts involved.

The companies above both offer organically-grown seeds as well as conventional. Organic is not always the best option in every growing situation. I buy treated seeds for some crops I plant outside when the soil is technically still too cool for them. Also remember that you can grow a conventional seed (not all are treated) in an organic manner and still reap the health benefits. :)

When you start your seeds depends wholly on the crop as well as your climate and frost-free dates. We can't answer that question without more information from you.

Find out your frost free date for the spring. Everything revolves around that date. Seeds are commonly started 4, 6 or 8 weeks before transplanting out to the garden (count backwards from the frost free date for your area).

Don't mess too much with those recommendations; broccoli, for example, does not like to be confined in a cell pack for more than 4 to 5 weeks, tops. Onions and leeks are started waaaay sooner. I'll be starting mine in late January or early February to get pencil-sized transplants for my frost-free date in mid- to late-May.

Grow what your family wants to eat. We can't help you there! :)

And as far as I'm concerned, any diet that prohibits tomatoes should be flung out the window. :pout

[Lady TS]

And as far as I'm concerned, any diet that prohibits tomatoes should be flung out the window. :pout


Not if you are allergic(though mildly now) and that allergy runs on your side of the family...and your dh can't handle them due to the acid. ;)

It's been quite an adjustment for me to learn to cook mostly w/o tomatoes, as I grew up eating them nearly every day! I would eat them raw like crazy as a kid in the summer. They are quite common in American cuisine, especially in economical recipes, so I really do know where you are coming from. It was one of the hardest things to get used to not cooking with all the time!

[sillybeans]

Haha...yeah, by summer we might be eating tomatoes again. We really need to test them out to see if my son's sensitive to them or not, cause I KNOW I can grow tomatoes! We had SOOO many tomatoes last summer!

I looked up our frost free dates... last frost April 5 and first frost November 1.

[Macky]

I don't think I could handle a tomato allergy in our family. :cry My dad's side of the family gardens and has always been obsessed with tomatoes in particular. If the tomatoes didn't do well, the rest of the garden just didn't matter to my grandpa. I'm a tomato snob... they must have that zingy tomato flavour (sweet toms with no punch are just :yuck) or they don't make it to a second season in my garden.

Kel, I'm moving in with you for your frost-free dates. ;) Our official ones are May 21 to September 10.

[Lady TS]

Kel does have an awesome growing season!

Robin--it definitely is a learning experience and is taking some getting used to. Most of our favorite dishes have tomatoes in them(enchiladas, nachos, spaghetti, pizza, chili, etc.) I've been working on substitutions but the food is really not quite the same, only dh isn't up with chest pain/flutters/panic attack problems and dd and I don't have the lower-gi problems.:shifty I still make something with tomatoes here and there if we are all doing well...