I love Fedco, they have beautiful hand drawn catalogs. We’ve ordered lots of flowers from them. I believe they have two catalogs one for seeds and supplies and another one for trees, shrubs and perennials. Vermont Bean is another one that we’ve ordered from. Some new ones that we received that we didn’t know about are Pinetree garden seeds & accessories and John Scheepers. If you just want flower bulbs & perennials at wholesale I’ve ordered from K. Van Bourgondien. I just love their flower selection. Happy gardening everyone 💕
I’m trying Fedco this year for the first time and have heard really good things about them. Specific to the catalog it feels like the Farmer’s Almanac, a coloring book for adult gardeners, and a seed catalog, all wrapped in one package. They provide a lot of information on the actual growing of the plants, climate, comparisons of different varieties, their farmers, etc. And as they’re out of Maine, their target demographic skews more Northern than most other companies, which is a nice change (based on my location, anyway). My order is due to arrive tomorrow and I’m super excited! Fruition and Bentley are also good for those in the Great Lakes region of the US.
Last year I had a horrible experience with MIGardner seeds. I had excellent results with their seeds in 2020 and 2021, so they were my main seed source last year. I had a lot of different MIGardener seed packets with poor germination rates, some with zero germination on their 2022 seeds. In contrast, I had excellent germination from seeds obtained from all other sources, including about three dozen specialty hot pepper varieties, which are notoriously slow and difficult to germinate. I wrote to MIGardener’s customer service, advised that I had been a loyal MIGardner fan and referred them to many friends and family as well, but I asked for new seeds or a refund on the number of their seeds that had been bad in 2022. They did not respond to that email, nor did they respond to the next two additional emails I sent to their customer service department. I even posted comments asking for a customer service on their UA-cam videos because I know their owner, Luke, does read through those comments. They never responded. I did a search for online reviews from other MIGardener customers and found a lot of people that had the exact same problem last year, that they had bad seeds, and MIGardner categorically refuses to respond to customer inquiries. I personally will never do business with MIGardner again, and, I highly recommend avoiding them. Seeds are not like other consumer products which can be replaced sometimes within the hour if a particular product is found to be unsatisfactory. Sometimes it can take up to a month for seeds to germinate/not germinate, and by the time a gardener figures out that he or she got a bad batch of seeds, it may make growing that variety unproductive or impossible that season. I would be willing to forgive a company for having some substandard products if they stood behind them, and made things right with the customer, but when a business hides its head in the sand and won’t even respond to customer communications, it is one to avoid.
I am not in America, and I am soooooo envious of you over there!! What an amazing selection to choose from! Can’t wait to see what you grow next spring. Thank you for another great video, you’re wonderful.
Jill many thanks for the complete information on seed catalogs. Also the webinar on books was very helpful resulting in three new resources. In the past I have been pleased with Parks Seeds. Your approach to gardening is greatly appreciated and admired. Walter Ray Davis Jr
What a helpful walkthrough! Thank you for sharing your preferred choices for seeds. I live in the natural state too, so your experience here is very helpful. Happy Spring to you Jill🌻
I too like and have ordered from Baker Creek a number of times. It is especially handy if one remembers that there were a couple seed varieties one forgot from the last order, that they will fill a small order for just a few packets without charging as much or more than the cost of the seeds for shipping. The only seeds I have had from them that were not productive, were for Japanese wasabi radishes, which did not germinate; however, I believe that was a free packet they threw in with my order, so I cannot complain too much. One thing I would warn people about with Baker Creek: They are very fond of using ultra colorful photographs of produce that may not actually resemble the real life plants and vegetables you’ll grow from their seeds, much like how the close-up photos of a fast food hamburger on a TV ad likely show a number of ingredients/components on the alleged burger that are not even food products. I especially would warn people not to go for the darker, multicolor tomatoes, that looks so beautiful in their catalogs, particularly Brad‘s Atomic Grape. Every single one of the darker, multicolor tomatoes I have grown have been substandard in multiple ways, including plant health, productivity, and taste. Sometimes, as with the photos of the Brads Atomic Grape tomato, they will include photos of both unripe and ripe produce together to create a more colorful marketing photo. While that unripe pepper might be fully edible, the same is not the case with a product like a tomato.
Great video! I didn't realize the catalogs had as much education in them as they do, thank you for sharing that! I really like Botanical Interests and Wilhite here in Texas is pretty good too.
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I love Baker and SeedSavers as well. All of the ones are great, love the suggestion of small catalogs from certain climates. We are changing climates soon so looking through those will help us learn new skills. Thanks again, happy planting! 😊
This year I ordered from Pinetree Garden Seeds and Baker Creek. Pinetree had some seeds (Pineapple Ground Cherry and Kakai Pumpkin) that I have been searching for and I also ordered seed potatoes, asparagus crowns, strawberries, Ramps, and some seed starting supplies. They have shipped everything except the live plants.
Thanks for the information, Jill. I dislike seed packets that have minimal information on them. I use Botanical Interests out of Colorado as well as Southern Exposure and True Leaf. Botanical Interests catalogue is pure artwork, absolutely beautiful. The seed packets are, as well. They include a lot of info for growing including a drawing of what the seedling looks like. No more pulling seedlings instead of weeds!
Black Friday is an awesome time to place orders since a lot of retailers offer free shipping. I was able to get pretty much everything I needed from Harris, Seeds’n’Such and Burpee. By the way I hate Burpee’s price model ($6+shipping on their website while the same seeds are $1.99 at Home Depot), but I needed Brandy Boy and a few other things only they carry, so ended up giving them my $.
One other Missouri seed company I like a lot is Morgan County Seeds. They cater more to commercial growers, or at least people who are planting enough quantity to sell at a farmers market, and have very good quantity and bulk seed pricing. But for most vegetables, they also have single packet prices that are cheaper than many other seed sources for small quantities for home gardeners. I have not ordered a tremendous variety of seeds from them because they tend to have more utilitarian/garden-variety (Forgive the pun), seeds, and I tend to be a bit of a sucker for more rare and unique varieties of seeds. However, every single type of seed I have bought from them has had nearly perfect germination rates, the highest on average from any seed source I have tried. Morgan County Seeds are definitely more old-school than most of the other seed companies. They have only a couple of pages of color photos in their catalog with the rest being black and white and often, just a product listing in a chart for a particular variety. One odd negative about this company is that this past year they added a number of hot pepper varieties, and for some reason their prices for a single packet of those are literally 2 to 4 times the price available from most other seed sources - $12-$14 per packet for the super hot varieties.
This year I purchased seeds from Etsy (the highest germination rate sellers). I could regret it but I was really focused on people in my zone, that have grown well nearby. We will see how it goes
Have you ordered anything from Park Seed company? I see great things about their bio domes and whopper tomatoes but haven’t ordered from them yet. Thanks
They have an Amazon storefront! Make sure the seller is JPPA - it’s their parent company. I needed just one packet of seeds that they offered (Algarve beans) and buying through Amazon got me free shipping.
True Leaf aka Mountain Valley drives me nuts because there is practically no info on their packets. In addition to those mentioned in the vid, I have had good luck with Park Seed.
Did you now that Those company m as y be selling there seed on Amazon . And frankly in these time you taking a chance every way. But Thank for this information.
Hi Ann, I'm not an affiliate for any of these seed companies except True Leaf Market. My affiliate link for them is: journeywithjill.net/trueleafmarket thank you for asking.
I love Fedco, they have beautiful hand drawn catalogs. We’ve ordered lots of flowers from them. I believe they have two catalogs one for seeds and supplies and another one for trees, shrubs and perennials. Vermont Bean is another one that we’ve ordered from. Some new ones that we received that we didn’t know about are Pinetree garden seeds & accessories and John Scheepers. If you just want flower bulbs & perennials at wholesale I’ve ordered from K. Van Bourgondien. I just love their flower selection. Happy gardening everyone 💕
I’m trying Fedco this year for the first time and have heard really good things about them. Specific to the catalog it feels like the Farmer’s Almanac, a coloring book for adult gardeners, and a seed catalog, all wrapped in one package. They provide a lot of information on the actual growing of the plants, climate, comparisons of different varieties, their farmers, etc. And as they’re out of Maine, their target demographic skews more Northern than most other companies, which is a nice change (based on my location, anyway). My order is due to arrive tomorrow and I’m super excited!
Fruition and Bentley are also good for those in the Great Lakes region of the US.
Had not heard of White Harvest Seeds. I am checking out their web site now. Thanks! Very informative. Posted to social media sites!
Excellent video/info! Thank you so much
Last year I had a horrible experience with MIGardner seeds. I had excellent results with their seeds in 2020 and 2021, so they were my main seed source last year. I had a lot of different MIGardener seed packets with poor germination rates, some with zero germination on their 2022 seeds. In contrast, I had excellent germination from seeds obtained from all other sources, including about three dozen specialty hot pepper varieties, which are notoriously slow and difficult to germinate.
I wrote to MIGardener’s customer service, advised that I had been a loyal MIGardner fan and referred them to many friends and family as well, but I asked for new seeds or a refund on the number of their seeds that had been bad in 2022. They did not respond to that email, nor did they respond to the next two additional emails I sent to their customer service department. I even posted comments asking for a customer service on their UA-cam videos because I know their owner, Luke, does read through those comments. They never responded.
I did a search for online reviews from other MIGardener customers and found a lot of people that had the exact same problem last year, that they had bad seeds, and MIGardner categorically refuses to respond to customer inquiries.
I personally will never do business with MIGardner again, and, I highly recommend avoiding them. Seeds are not like other consumer products which can be replaced sometimes within the hour if a particular product is found to be unsatisfactory. Sometimes it can take up to a month for seeds to germinate/not germinate, and by the time a gardener figures out that he or she got a bad batch of seeds, it may make growing that variety unproductive or impossible that season. I would be willing to forgive a company for having some substandard products if they stood behind them, and made things right with the customer, but when a business hides its head in the sand and won’t even respond to customer communications, it is one to avoid.
I am not in America, and I am soooooo envious of you over there!! What an amazing selection to choose from! Can’t wait to see what you grow next spring. Thank you for another great video, you’re wonderful.
Thank You for reminding us here in America how fortunate we are in So Many Things.
Jill many thanks for the complete information on seed catalogs. Also the webinar on books was very helpful resulting in three new resources. In the past I have been pleased with Parks Seeds. Your approach to gardening is greatly appreciated and admired.
Walter Ray Davis Jr
I've been using Johnnie's for many years. Also in NW, so fortunate to be able to get Territorial in local stores.
Hoss Tools and Harris Seed both great companies
What a helpful walkthrough! Thank you for sharing your preferred choices for seeds. I live in the natural state too, so your experience here is very helpful. Happy Spring to you Jill🌻
Thanks i have requested several
I love Seed Saver, and they are local for me. Great company.
This was very helpful. Thanks.
I really like that your videos are informative, accurate, and to the point
I too like and have ordered from Baker Creek a number of times. It is especially handy if one remembers that there were a couple seed varieties one forgot from the last order, that they will fill a small order for just a few packets without charging as much or more than the cost of the seeds for shipping. The only seeds I have had from them that were not productive, were for Japanese wasabi radishes, which did not germinate; however, I believe that was a free packet they threw in with my order, so I cannot complain too much.
One thing I would warn people about with Baker Creek: They are very fond of using ultra colorful photographs of produce that may not actually resemble the real life plants and vegetables you’ll grow from their seeds, much like how the close-up photos of a fast food hamburger on a TV ad likely show a number of ingredients/components on the alleged burger that are not even food products. I especially would warn people not to go for the darker, multicolor tomatoes, that looks so beautiful in their catalogs, particularly Brad‘s Atomic Grape. Every single one of the darker, multicolor tomatoes I have grown have been substandard in multiple ways, including plant health, productivity, and taste.
Sometimes, as with the photos of the Brads Atomic Grape tomato, they will include photos of both unripe and ripe produce together to create a more colorful marketing photo. While that unripe pepper might be fully edible, the same is not the case with a product like a tomato.
Thank you for the very informative information , this information will help me with setting up a raised bed garden.
Great video! I didn't realize the catalogs had as much education in them as they do, thank you for sharing that! I really like Botanical Interests and Wilhite here in Texas is pretty good too.
Victory Seeds and MIgardener are good ones I've used.
Great video and information. Glad I found you!
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I love Baker and SeedSavers as well. All of the ones are great, love the suggestion of small catalogs from certain climates. We are changing climates soon so looking through those will help us learn new skills.
Thanks again, happy planting! 😊
This year I ordered from Pinetree Garden Seeds and Baker Creek. Pinetree had some seeds (Pineapple Ground Cherry and Kakai Pumpkin) that I have been searching for and I also ordered seed potatoes, asparagus crowns, strawberries, Ramps, and some seed starting supplies. They have shipped everything except the live plants.
Thanks for the information, Jill. I dislike seed packets that have minimal information on them. I use Botanical Interests out of Colorado as well as Southern Exposure and True Leaf. Botanical Interests catalogue is pure artwork, absolutely beautiful. The seed packets are, as well. They include a lot of info for growing including a drawing of what the seedling looks like. No more pulling seedlings instead of weeds!
I've heard great things about Botanical Interests! Thanks for sharing!
Black Friday is an awesome time to place orders since a lot of retailers offer free shipping. I was able to get pretty much everything I needed from Harris, Seeds’n’Such and Burpee. By the way I hate Burpee’s price model ($6+shipping on their website while the same seeds are $1.99 at Home Depot), but I needed Brandy Boy and a few other things only they carry, so ended up giving them my $.
I ordered from Willhite Seed. They are from Texas and have a good selection and great pricing
I've had a friend send me seeds from there. They always do well.
I love all these
Seed savers is local to me. We love going to the “farm” for seeds, plants, and classes.
Website links would have been helpful.
Lots of great information! Thank you!!
I have ordered from all of those you mentioned. Got some bad ones on amazon but have had really good luck on ebay
One other Missouri seed company I like a lot is Morgan County Seeds. They cater more to commercial growers, or at least people who are planting enough quantity to sell at a farmers market, and have very good quantity and bulk seed pricing. But for most vegetables, they also have single packet prices that are cheaper than many other seed sources for small quantities for home gardeners.
I have not ordered a tremendous variety of seeds from them because they tend to have more utilitarian/garden-variety (Forgive the pun), seeds, and I tend to be a bit of a sucker for more rare and unique varieties of seeds. However, every single type of seed I have bought from them has had nearly perfect germination rates, the highest on average from any seed source I have tried.
Morgan County Seeds are definitely more old-school than most of the other seed companies. They have only a couple of pages of color photos in their catalog with the rest being black and white and often, just a product listing in a chart for a particular variety. One odd negative about this company is that this past year they added a number of hot pepper varieties, and for some reason their prices for a single packet of those are literally 2 to 4 times the price available from most other seed sources - $12-$14 per packet for the super hot varieties.
J. L. Hudson, Seedsman La Honda Ca. Just to get this name out there. Thanks for very informative video.
This year I purchased seeds from Etsy (the highest germination rate sellers). I could regret it but I was really focused on people in my zone, that have grown well nearby. We will see how it goes
Have you ordered anything from Park Seed company? I see great things about their bio domes and whopper tomatoes but haven’t ordered from them yet. Thanks
Yes, i ordered broccoli last year and they did great.
They have an Amazon storefront! Make sure the seller is JPPA - it’s their parent company. I needed just one packet of seeds that they offered (Algarve beans) and buying through Amazon got me free shipping.
👍
Any feedback on Gurneys?
want to have copy for my reference, but how to get
I've ordered from redemption seeds for the first time this year, don't know yet how they'll do
True Leaf aka Mountain Valley drives me nuts because there is practically no info on their packets. In addition to those mentioned in the vid, I have had good luck with Park Seed.
Hayefield Seeds Pennsburg, PA
Did you now that Those company m as y be selling there seed on Amazon . And frankly in these time you taking a chance every way.
But Thank for this information.
Could you list all the catalogs you mentioned?
Baker Creek
Seed Savers Exchange
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Territorial Seed Company
Johnny's Selected Seeds
White Harvest
We love Seed Savers Exchange and Southern Exposure and carry their seeds in our garden center
I can't find affiliate links
Hi Ann, I'm not an affiliate for any of these seed companies except True Leaf Market. My affiliate link for them is: journeywithjill.net/trueleafmarket
thank you for asking.
Seed savers catalog is not easy to get
Catalog seeds are not that good, total waste of time & money
Lost all interest in what she had to say when Baker Creek was her number one choice..
These catalogs are worthless to waste time on them