Monday, November 23, 2009

1st Seed Catalog

After a long day at work I came home to find my first seed catalog waiting for me:
Seeds of Change is a USDA certified organic seed company based in New Mexico. A number of home gardeners & farmers have cited Seeds of Change as an excellent jumping off point to the world of seed catalogs.
I chatted up a few farmers recently at the end of season markets around Boston and was advised that looking at a variety of seed catalogs would give me a good idea about special or heirloom variety of veggies I may want to grow, but my best bet would be finding a reputable and well known seed company based in the same region that I am. If a reputable source in my area has success on their farms with varieties that I'm interested in, chances of my success go up due to similar (not the exact same) climates. The name which came up most often from the farmers was Johnny's Seeds of Winslow, ME. I won't be ordering all of my seeds from Johnny's but for starters a good number will be coming from them.

5 comments:

Dan said...

I agree that finding a local seed house is best, particular from a time perspective. I use William Dam here in Canada for the bulk of my ordering, they are well priced and offer a good selection. Pine Tree Garden Seed are very reasonably price but shipping is really slow at times, they are close to you in Maine. Other places that I order from are The Seed Savers Exchange (non-profit) and Baker Creek Seeds, both excellent heirloom seed sources and in the USA. By the way, I replied to your e-mail tonight, sorry for my late reply.

Fred said...

Dan, thanks for the tips! I've been looking at Seed Savers Exchange, but I will definitely take a look at Baker Creek & Pine Tree Garden!

Susan said...

Hi Fred,
My two favorites are Seed Savers (it's an inspiring place to visit if you are ever in this neck of the woods) and Territorial Seeds. Last summer I discovered Wood Prairie Farm in Maine, which specializes in organic heritage potatoes. Their little catalog has beautiful artwork and all the potatoes we ordered were awesome. I love seed catalog season! Even better: Chick catalogs!(for when you start raising urban chickens.)

The Cheap Vegetable Gardener said...

Got my first seed catalog today, though with all my seed saving I may not need to purchase too many, though probably should consider some exchanging.

Flowers said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.