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Heirloom Seeds...

Traditionally we've always just gone up to Wal-mart or Home Depot to buy seeds (generally Burpee), but the more I read about some of Monsanto's (who bought out Burpee) questionable practices, the more I'm interested in just getting back to the basics.

I've been looking around the Baker Creek website, and am curious whether anyone around here has ordered from them. They have a great rating from "Garden Watchdog". If you've ordered from them, what varieties did you grow, how did they do?

Besides Baker Creek, can you suggest any other reputable and cost effective companies I can take a look at? Thank you!

Tags: baker, creek, heirloom, seeds

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Permalink Reply by Carrie Seal-Stahl on November 3, 2008 at 11:33pm

Oh, I hear you! My husband laughs at me combing over the catalogs in the dead of winter. I am not a fan of cold and snow, I have to have something to keep me sane til I can get outside in the sunshine :) I'm one of those people who draws out a whole big illustrated chart, and am sure every seedling is organized in just such a way LOL

Fostermamas said:

I also use SSE and Seeds of Change, order their catalogs now so you can plot all winter! My favorite part of gardening is dreaming of next year's garden.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on November 19, 2008 at 3:16pm

I got a catalog from Johnny's Seeds. Are they part of the Monsanto thing?

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Permalink Reply by Carrie Seal-Stahl on November 19, 2008 at 4:34pm

Here is a post I found from a Johnny's employee:

Johnny's carries a few varieties produced by Seminis Seed, which is now owned by Monsanto. I want to make this distinction because many seed companies had a relationship with Seminis before they were purchased. A part of Johnny's mission is to provide customers with quality, unique varieties. If customers demand varieties that only Seminis carries, we will provide those. However, as Johnny's finds varieties that are in all ways suitable to replace a Seminis variety, Johnny's replaces it with a variety from another vendor. We are slowly phasing out Seminis varieties, without harming customer demand for certain varieties.

If anyone has further questions about this, please feel free to call us toll-free at 1-877-564-6697 and we'd be happy to talk to you about it further.

Sincerely,
Johnny's Selected Seeds

SOURCE: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/84/

Pat said:

I got a catalog from Johnny's Seeds. Are they part of the Monsanto thing?

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Permalink Reply by Katherine Mann on November 27, 2008 at 9:43am

Try Fedco in Maine and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in Virginia. Those are my two favorites. Their prices rock. Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa and Seeds of Change also have heirlooms, but they're a little pricier. I've never heard of Baker Creek, but I'll check it out.

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Permalink Reply by Cornelia on December 1, 2008 at 11:35am

Homegrown Evolution just posted about a new tool on Mother Earth News' web site.

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Permalink Reply by Carrie Seal-Stahl on December 1, 2008 at 1:51pm

Oh awesome! Thanks for the link! I've saved it in favorites. This is sure going to make the job of finding my dad some "Greasy Bean" seeds a whole lot easier :)

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Permalink Reply by jackie siddons on March 17, 2009 at 11:57pm

Yes, I have and I recommend them. There are others that are similar in nature. I prefer to deal with smaller, organic, heirloom companies to any of the big ones. Try not to buy anything that is not organic and even better than that would be open-pollinated seeds.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Hooghkirk Lawrence on April 10, 2009 at 7:23pm

Wild Garden Seeds, High Mowing Seeds, Seed Saver's Exchange, and of course, Baker Creek

Each of these seed companies has been wonderful. We grow for our CSA customers, and the varieties and germination rates we've experienced from all of these companies have been excellent.

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Permalink Reply by Tina on February 22, 2010 at 10:37am

I have just ordered seeds from Bakers Creek, they arrived very quickly. I can't wait to try them out. I live near their "farm"(?) in Mansfield, MO and I hope to visit it with my grandaughter this Spring.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Boroyan on February 24, 2010 at 11:53am

I bought all my seeds from High Mowing Organic Seeds.
They are out of Wolcott, Vermont. Great selection and they
put their own blends together too. USDA certified.
www.highmowingseeds.com

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Permalink Reply by Deborah Niemann-Boehle on March 6, 2010 at 1:36pm

I've ordered from Baker's Creek, Heirloom Seeds, and Seed Savers, and have been very happy with all of them. Heirloom Seeds was pretty slow to ship last year (took a month), but otherwise excellent. The germination of the seeds from these companies is much better than what you buy at Wal-Mart, and you generally get more seeds per packet. Some of those packets in stores are not for real gardeners, especially bean packets.

Deborah
Antiquity Oaks

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Permalink Reply by Kimberly Ann on March 16, 2010 at 5:57pm

I ordered recently from Baker Creek and the seeds arrived quickly. This is my first year growing anything from them but their customer service, their catalog and their general attitude is so impressive that I have very high hopes for the seed quality. I've also purchased and used seed potatoes from IrishEyes and their product is very good. Renee's Garden is a good source for seeds as well.