I have never planted a garden but I want to. I love mountain rose, their teas and bulk herbs/flowers are great. I have another seed company for your list, he also sells starts and has some great books about gardening, herbal medicine, etc.
Raising hand - spreedsheet gardener here, but we sort of have to. My husband and I raise and give away to our community about 500 tomato plants (~30 varieties), along with peppers, herbs, and a few species of annual flowers each year. We are gearing up in the basement now for seed starting and will raise the pop-up greenhouses in another month or so. It is a passion project. We absolutely love Rareseeds (aka Baker Creek Seeds, yes the ones with the urban telephone book sized catalog complete with photos that could be considered plant porn!) A couple of other fav seed sources are Southern Exposure https://southernexposure.com/ and Territorial Seed https://territorialseed.com/ and specifically for meadow and wildflower seed Ernst Seed https://www.ernstseed.com/. Happy gardening everyone!
Oh man, as I come up for air from the basement seeding flurry today, I realize that I left out one of our absolute fav seed sources - Renee's Garden https://www.reneesgarden.com/
That setup sounds AMAZING! :D I would however strongly suggest staying away from Baker Creek Seeds, they've got a lot of both problematic views and business practices. :( However there are so many other good companies out there!
One more seed company for you Canadians... this one has some very rare Indigenous seed as well. Some VERY rare stuff. Very cool. I'm literally traveling to Toronto to grab some from a friend since they don't ship to the US.
Co-op owned Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (Virginia) )has lots of heirloom vegetable seeds. Looking for zinnia seeds? Select Seeds (Connecticut) has a bunch of old varieties.
the Vermont association of conservation districts have annual tree sales every spring. my wife runs the Orleans County sale. the White river district has the best trees for permaculture/ food resilience
One Green World RULES! :D I also love Sow Exotic for some gorgeous weird varietals (they're admittedly better for warmer climates or greenhouses, but don't let that stop you from checking them out!) https://sowexotic.com/
Gardening was my mother's joyful act of resistance! For a while, we lived a somewhat nomadic life in South Korea after moving back there from England up until a few years ago, when we finally settled in a quiet, rural island out on the west coast of the peninsula, away from the city. At our new, permanent home, my mum was able to plot a small garden while we were working on the front yard the week we moved in. We were so thrilled to find stalks of corn, bright tomatoes and lovely flowers that had shot up in the following months—her garden even attracted a few frogs, too!
I've never seen her so happy and full of life before, I hope to help her out with gardening when I'm able to fly back home from London this summer. I miss her dearly, and I also haven't encountered a single frog in my year and a half in London...
Botanical Interests, based in Colorado, offers USDA Organic seeds, tailored to the specific growing areas and zones. As far as I know, they are still independent...I sure hope they still are!
Bring back "Victory Gardens", everyone! Produce our own food!
Great words for our upcoming Spring Neko. Here is a San Diego company that started over 10 years ago as a backyard operation. The San Diego Seed Company https://sandiegoseedcompany.com/.
If anyone is converting grass to native plants this year, there are almost always local sellers in your area! I remove a little more grass to convert every spring.
For a spreadsheet gal like myself, the hardest part is starting, but you're going to want to go for species, seasonal, vertical, and lateral heterogeneity.
I wish I could say I grew more veggies but I've backed down to Kale, lettuce and herbs for the most part as they seem to be the most successful in my northern New England growing season. But, my favorite seeds story was, last year we had some drainage work put in above our garage to redirect the unfortunately more regular 2-4 inch downpours we tend to get. After that work was done, there is a raised berm of dirt behind the drainage area and my wife and I decided to just plant wildflowers all along it (it's about 40 feet long). After being convinced I planted too early or didn't keep the seeds wet enough, all of a sudden we had the most amazing sprouting of so many beautiful wildflowers - especially poppies and cosmos that grew to 5 feet tall. It gave us so much joy to see them all Summer and also to see the bees, pine siskins, chickadees and titmice enjoying them as well. I can't wait to see how they come back this Spring.
"Gardening has always felt like the most punk rock thing on earth to me and I feel healthier every year I do it."
YES
Eff-off Loblaws and all the other grocery criminals out there. I refuse to give you $7 for a lettuce I can grow on my own! Gardening is pure resistance.
I'll add https://www.westcoastseeds.com/ to the Canadian list, for those of us on the West Coast (obviously). :) Sadly, though, in my little pit of a garden in between my house and a giant hedge that screens the school behind me, vegetables are tough to grow.
Gardening is such an encouraging act of engagement, sharing seeds with friends is the best.
Sadly, I have heard that Baker Creek/RareSeeds has questionable affiliations with the Bundy’s and Joel Salatin. When it comes to permaculture, one has to look carefully for the con fabs and anti science crowd in the shadows.
Reading this as I sit on a ferry heading to Seattle and the annual Flower and Garden Show. It’s an exercise in hopefulness. The smells of spring the flowers in bloom and being surrounded by all the happy gardeners reminding me of all the good people there are in the world
Here are two more seed companies I forgot:
https://snakeriverseeds.com/?syclid=2cc657cb-3297-4e79-afc4-3f2330ec357c
https://mountainroseherbs.com/
I have never planted a garden but I want to. I love mountain rose, their teas and bulk herbs/flowers are great. I have another seed company for your list, he also sells starts and has some great books about gardening, herbal medicine, etc.
https://strictlymedicinalseeds.com/
thank you for sharing and reminding me to do this, not sure if I can this year but it’s now on my mind 💛✨
Raising hand - spreedsheet gardener here, but we sort of have to. My husband and I raise and give away to our community about 500 tomato plants (~30 varieties), along with peppers, herbs, and a few species of annual flowers each year. We are gearing up in the basement now for seed starting and will raise the pop-up greenhouses in another month or so. It is a passion project. We absolutely love Rareseeds (aka Baker Creek Seeds, yes the ones with the urban telephone book sized catalog complete with photos that could be considered plant porn!) A couple of other fav seed sources are Southern Exposure https://southernexposure.com/ and Territorial Seed https://territorialseed.com/ and specifically for meadow and wildflower seed Ernst Seed https://www.ernstseed.com/. Happy gardening everyone!
Oh man, as I come up for air from the basement seeding flurry today, I realize that I left out one of our absolute fav seed sources - Renee's Garden https://www.reneesgarden.com/
That setup sounds AMAZING! :D I would however strongly suggest staying away from Baker Creek Seeds, they've got a lot of both problematic views and business practices. :( However there are so many other good companies out there!
One more seed company for you Canadians... this one has some very rare Indigenous seed as well. Some VERY rare stuff. Very cool. I'm literally traveling to Toronto to grab some from a friend since they don't ship to the US.
https://heritageharvestseed.com/
Great seed company seed suggestions! Thank you, everyone! :)
Co-op owned Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (Virginia) )has lots of heirloom vegetable seeds. Looking for zinnia seeds? Select Seeds (Connecticut) has a bunch of old varieties.
SESE is great!
hahaahaaaa
partner in planting!
don't forget the Maine potato lady.
https://www.mainepotatolady.com/
for everything from coffee to tobacco to curry: https://strictlymedicinalseeds.com/
many tree farms have platings including perennial crops.
locally we have :
https://easthilltreefarm.com/
https://www.perfectcircle.farm/
the Vermont association of conservation districts have annual tree sales every spring. my wife runs the Orleans County sale. the White river district has the best trees for permaculture/ food resilience
https://www.vacd.org/plant-sales/
One green world for berries, seaberry, tea ect
https://onegreenworld.com/
I have bought from all of these providers.
Thanks, my fellow seed nerd! :)
One Green World RULES! :D I also love Sow Exotic for some gorgeous weird varietals (they're admittedly better for warmer climates or greenhouses, but don't let that stop you from checking them out!) https://sowexotic.com/
Gardening was my mother's joyful act of resistance! For a while, we lived a somewhat nomadic life in South Korea after moving back there from England up until a few years ago, when we finally settled in a quiet, rural island out on the west coast of the peninsula, away from the city. At our new, permanent home, my mum was able to plot a small garden while we were working on the front yard the week we moved in. We were so thrilled to find stalks of corn, bright tomatoes and lovely flowers that had shot up in the following months—her garden even attracted a few frogs, too!
I've never seen her so happy and full of life before, I hope to help her out with gardening when I'm able to fly back home from London this summer. I miss her dearly, and I also haven't encountered a single frog in my year and a half in London...
Botanical Interests, based in Colorado, offers USDA Organic seeds, tailored to the specific growing areas and zones. As far as I know, they are still independent...I sure hope they still are!
Bring back "Victory Gardens", everyone! Produce our own food!
botanicalinterests.com
Seconding Botanical Interests! I like their lettuce options, and (snow willing) I think I will set some up soon (zone 5a/b).
Great words for our upcoming Spring Neko. Here is a San Diego company that started over 10 years ago as a backyard operation. The San Diego Seed Company https://sandiegoseedcompany.com/.
https://lejardindugourmet.com/ in Saint Johnsbury VT sells smaller seed packets and all their seeds are non-GMO.
My go to is Snake River Seed Cooperative! (https://snakeriverseeds.com)
If anyone is converting grass to native plants this year, there are almost always local sellers in your area! I remove a little more grass to convert every spring.
For a spreadsheet gal like myself, the hardest part is starting, but you're going to want to go for species, seasonal, vertical, and lateral heterogeneity.
I wish I could say I grew more veggies but I've backed down to Kale, lettuce and herbs for the most part as they seem to be the most successful in my northern New England growing season. But, my favorite seeds story was, last year we had some drainage work put in above our garage to redirect the unfortunately more regular 2-4 inch downpours we tend to get. After that work was done, there is a raised berm of dirt behind the drainage area and my wife and I decided to just plant wildflowers all along it (it's about 40 feet long). After being convinced I planted too early or didn't keep the seeds wet enough, all of a sudden we had the most amazing sprouting of so many beautiful wildflowers - especially poppies and cosmos that grew to 5 feet tall. It gave us so much joy to see them all Summer and also to see the bees, pine siskins, chickadees and titmice enjoying them as well. I can't wait to see how they come back this Spring.
"Gardening has always felt like the most punk rock thing on earth to me and I feel healthier every year I do it."
YES
Eff-off Loblaws and all the other grocery criminals out there. I refuse to give you $7 for a lettuce I can grow on my own! Gardening is pure resistance.
For the Canadians out there, my mom and I love:
https://www.veseys.com/
https://www.incredibleseeds.ca/
https://annapolisseeds.com/
https://www.seedpotatoes.ca/
https://www.halifaxseed.ca/
And we're going to try https://yonderhillfarm.ca/
Nice! Thanks for the Canadian supplement! I would order from them too but none ship to the states.
I'll add https://www.westcoastseeds.com/ to the Canadian list, for those of us on the West Coast (obviously). :) Sadly, though, in my little pit of a garden in between my house and a giant hedge that screens the school behind me, vegetables are tough to grow.
Gardening is such an encouraging act of engagement, sharing seeds with friends is the best.
Sadly, I have heard that Baker Creek/RareSeeds has questionable affiliations with the Bundy’s and Joel Salatin. When it comes to permaculture, one has to look carefully for the con fabs and anti science crowd in the shadows.
Bummer about Johnny’s Seeds + Bayer.
Recommend:
J.L. Hudson: https://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/
Grand Prismatic Seed: https://www.grandprismaticseed.com/
Reading this as I sit on a ferry heading to Seattle and the annual Flower and Garden Show. It’s an exercise in hopefulness. The smells of spring the flowers in bloom and being surrounded by all the happy gardeners reminding me of all the good people there are in the world