Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Seed ordering
The plant and seed catalogs for 2022 are starting to arrive. I just received one from a company I’d never heard of, Seeds N Such. I did a little research and found some mixed reviews. That got me thinking about how we order things and our own expectations.
I prefer to buy locally whenever possible. Many nurseries carry seed packets from companies they’ve already vetted. That’s not to say you shouldn’t order something you’d like to try out of a catalog! After all, I can’t count how many times I’ve sat with coffee or cocoa in hand on a cold winter’s day with the catalogs stacked up nearby and plenty of pages turned over!!
I did a little research for you on some of the companies. If you want native seed, I recommend Prairie Moon Nursery in Winona, Minnesota and Prairie Nursery in Westfield, Wisconsin. There are more but these two have been consistently good with seed and plants. These catalogs are NOT available yet but if you go to their websites you can see a pdf of their 2021 list.
As for non-native but plenty of vegetables, herbs, flowers, fruits and farm seed, Johnny’s Selected Seeds also rates very high. They have been 100% employee owned since 2012. Most people put more effort into what they own and sell to the public!
For heirlooms you can’t be Seed Savers Exchange out of Decorah, Iowa. They’ve been around since 1975 preserving biodiversity in seeds.
Ferry-Morse and Territorial are also highly rated. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try other companies! By all means, experiment.
If you have an issue, notify the company. Most really want to make it right.