Best site to order seeds from?

[MOFISHIN]

Where do you order seeds? I'm already shopping around for next year.

 

[Chuck]

For beans and peas I go to Wilhites. For tomatoes and peppers TomatoGrowers. Pinetree is also good and for fun stuff I go to Rare Seeds

 

[marlingardener]

Chuck, I hate to disagree with such an accomplished gardener, but in my opinion, based on this year's order, Pinetree has gone downhill. I placed an order using their website, which has been changed and is less user-friendly, and when I received my order the packets contained fewer seeds although they were slightly more expensive. I had terrible germination, to the extent that I went to our local hardware store and bought packets of Livingston seeds to replace the Pinetree seeds that didn't germinate, or were so spotty that I didn't have confidence in getting a harvest. I've used Pinetree for years, but won't be ordering from them again.
I'll take a look at Wilhites and Rare Seeds. I get a TomatoGrowers catalog and have drooling fits over it every year!

 

[Chuck]

Chuck, I hate to disagree with such an accomplished gardener, but in my opinion, based on this year's order, Pinetree has gone downhill. I placed an order using their website, which has been changed and is less user-friendly, and when I received my order the packets contained fewer seeds although they were slightly more expensive. I had terrible germination, to the extent that I went to our local hardware store and bought packets of Livingston seeds to replace the Pinetree seeds that didn't germinate, or were so spotty that I didn't have confidence in getting a harvest. I've used Pinetree for years, but won't be ordering from them again.
I'll take a look at Wilhites and Rare Seeds. I get a TomatoGrowers catalog and have drooling fits over it every year!

I was wondering about that. I was shorted a few seeds but I never use all of them anyway. They are so cheap for 25 seeds. What's the avg. price? About $1.25? But this year only about 50% germinated so that doubles the price. I thought maybe it was my fault for not maintaining correct soil temps. But if you are having the same problem............screw them

 

[marlingardener]

Chuck, like you I thought the poor germination might be my fault, although I did nothing different from previous years when I had an abundance of starts, and direct seeded vegetables did well. I checked with friends who order from Pinetree, and all three had problems this year.
In a perverse way it is reassuring to know that you had germination problems, too. If you got 50% germination, I was darned lucky to get anything at all!

 

[Chuck]

Chuck, like you I thought the poor germination might be my fault, although I did nothing different from previous years when I had an abundance of starts, and direct seeded vegetables did well. I checked with friends who order from Pinetree, and all three had problems this year.
In a perverse way it is reassuring to know that you had germination problems, too. If you got 50% germination, I was darned lucky to get anything at all!

Two varieties of tomato stands out in my mind. I bought two packets of tomatos called Taxi and Nebraska Wedding and not a single one came up. But I did buy from them a variety called Triple Crop Climbing, a potato leaf variety that had 100% germination and which I will plant again. It did outstanding. It's a large but ugly tomato that seems to be resistant to early blight and is quite early. I planted 13 varieties, some of which I got from Pinetree and the rest from TomatoGrowers. The only ones I got from Pinetree were the really oddball sounding names and they were the ones which either didn't germinate or produce worth a damn. I do a lot of experimenting

 

[Tillie]

I like Swallowtail Seeds for variety and choice and excellent speedy service.
The Thyme Garden in Oregon for low-growing thymes and other herbs. Richters Seeds in Ontario Canada for herbs.