Where to buy garden seeds online?

[ender]

We are buying seeds for our garden (yay!) to start this year, having bought started plants last year.

However, finding a good place to get them seems way harder than than it should be. Is there a good place with tons of options that is reliable?

Specifically I want sungold cherry tomato seeds. But also a variety of peppers/tomatoes too.

Any ideas?

[maizefolk]

I've had good luck with Baker Creek (https://www.rareseeds.com/). If you want a lot of a given type of seed, their prices are probably going to be rather high, but for small amounts of lots of different things they seem reasonable and they do have TONS of options.

[ender]

I've had good luck with Baker Creek (https://www.rareseeds.com/). If you want a lot of a given type of seed, their prices are probably going to be rather high, but for small amounts of lots of different things they seem reasonable and they do have TONS of options.

I have actually looked there but they don't have Sungold cherry tomatoes - maybe I have just to accept these will be hard to find and get them somewhere specifically.

[kei te pai]

www.kingsseeds.co.nz sell sungold tomato seed, and many other delicious things!  Not sure what the rules around import of seed to US are, but Kings seeds do ship internationally. If you email them your order rather than order online, they will not charge the 15% sales tax. Happy gardening.

[maizefolk]

Oh yeah, I should have read your post more closely, sorry about that. I think you may be right that it'd make sense to split your order into two (although do check out the place ket te pai linked as I was writing this).

Sungold's are a hybrid which means people needs to grow two different types of tomato and manually make the cross between them each year to produce each new batch of seed. There are fewer places set up to do tomato hybrid seed production than just growing a batch of plants and harvesting the resulting seeds which narrows the set of places you can order from.

[Thegoblinchief]

What climate are you in? Johnny’s should have SunGold, they are what most professional market growers use but also cater to home gardeners. I buy most of mine from FedCo, which has better prices on packet quantities. There’s a number of other good seed houses but they tend to be more climate specific.

Baker Creek is overrated IMO.

[Cranky]

Johnny’s usually has a great selection! I think I got a catalog this year called Totally Tomatoes, which was - surprise! - all tomato seeds.

[Thegoblinchief]

I looked at Johnny’s does have SunGold. FedCo also has it. It’s probably the #1 cherry tomato currently. Very popular. A bit too sweet for my taste personally.

Johnny’s usually has a great selection! I think I got a catalog this year called Totally Tomatoes, which was - surprise! - all tomato seeds.

I get their catalog every year but have never ordered from them nor have I heard anything good or bad about them.

One place never to order from that tends to purchase a lot of mailing addresses is Burgess, they are absolute crap.

[PKate]

We are buying seeds for our garden (yay!) to start this year, having bought started plants last year.

However, finding a good place to get them seems way harder than than it should be. Is there a good place with tons of options that is reliable?

Specifically I want sungold cherry tomato seeds. But also a variety of peppers/tomatoes too.

Any ideas?

Where are you?    I prefer to buy seeds from seed companies in my climate and geographical area.  They tend to carry more locally grown seeds and they also tend to carry seeds that work where I am.  Since I am in Northern New England I buy my seeds from companies in Maine, Vermont and New York.   

Fedco is out of Maine and that is where I get my Sungold tomato seeds.   They are an easy company to work with,  have high quality seeds and great information on where they source seeds, how they are grown, and growing tips. 

https://www.fedcoseeds.com

[Thegoblinchief]

Yeah, I love the sourcing key FedCo provides. I first heard about them via this forum a few years ago, I believe it was from @MayDay

They, and especially Johnny’s, despite both being in Maine do provide a lot of stuff that grows all throughout the country though. Just like Territorial started as a PNW-focused seed house but has also expanded to sell to all major climate areas in the US.

[PKate]

I get a lot of my heirloom varieties from Hudson Valley Seed Library and Frutition Seeds.  They tend to do the best in odd weather years but I get the bulk of my seeds from Fedco.  I also put a small order into Territorial Seeds for purple and red carrots.   

[kimmarg]

We are buying seeds for our garden (yay!) to start this year, having bought started plants last year.

However, finding a good place to get them seems way harder than than it should be. Is there a good place with tons of options that is reliable?

Specifically I want sungold cherry tomato seeds. But also a variety of peppers/tomatoes too.

Any ideas?

Johnnys Selected Seeds is my go to. www.johnnyseeds.com  Not the cheapest but very reputable, good quality seeds with high germination rates and a wide selection.

[ender]

Thanks everyone!

[Missy B]

For Canadians:
Salt Spring Seeds
https://www.saltspringseeds.com/
huge collection of heritage seeds, including some for which they are the only commercial grower. The owner started the business in part to prevent the extinction of certain heritage varieties.

They can't ship to the States anymore, unfortunately. They do ship 'everywhere else' according to their site, so if you're in Europe or Australia and see seeds you just have to have, you're in luck.

[Tom Bri]

I have bought online for specialty seeds, but in general I go to Menards or Walmart and buy off their 25 cent/pack racks. The seeds sprout and grow just as well as the much more expensive seeds.

[Gone_Hiking]

Tomato Growers Supply (http://www.tomatogrowers.com/) has a great selection of tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers, good for those gardeners who are looking for something specific.  Some heirlooms and many modern varieties.  I've had very good luck with them in the past and I'll be hitting them again later this year.

[Urchina]

+1 for Baker Creek Heirlooms. They specialize in non-hybrid, non-GMO seeds, are working to save locally adapted species from extinction, and have good information about growing habits on their website. I've ordered seed from them for years and have always been happy. We have an odd combo of coastal fog but very dry summers (still in a drought, going on year 8 I think) that can make it hard to find good tomatoes and melons (need drought-tolerant species that don't need a lot of heat and have disease resistance due to the summer fog) and they've really come through year after year. Also, usually have some newly developed stabilized crosses that are really fun to try!

[Tom Bri]

+1 for Baker Creek Heirlooms. They specialize in non-hybrid, non-GMO seeds, are working to save locally adapted species from extinction, and have good information about growing habits on their website. I've ordered seed from them for years and have always been happy. We have an odd combo of coastal fog but very dry summers (still in a drought, going on year 8 I think) that can make it hard to find good tomatoes and melons (need drought-tolerant species that don't need a lot of heat and have disease resistance due to the summer fog) and they've really come through year after year. Also, usually have some newly developed stabilized crosses that are really fun to try!

How do you distinguish between a hybrid variety and a 'stabilized cross'? By that do you mean a hybrid that after some generations of cross breeding now breeds true?

[Gone_Hiking]

How do you distinguish between a hybrid variety and a 'stabilized cross'? By that do you mean a hybrid that after some generations of cross breeding now breeds true?

It's easy to tell by name.  Hybrid names are usually followed by F1 or F2.  For example, tomato "Mortgage Lifter" is a stabilized cross.  Tomato "Celebrity F1" on the other hand, is a hybrid.  F1 hybrid is the result of initial cross between two different parental lines.  Seeds borne by fruit of F1 hybrid will yield segregating progeny, F2.  By F3 generation, stabilization starts.  Most stable lines are F10 - F15 for commercial varieties, much higher than that for heirlooms.

[Trifle]

My two go-to sources for seeds are Johnny's and Seed Savers Exchange:  https://www.seedsavers.org/visit. 

Both are excellent.  Seed Savers has a great selection of heirloom varieties, and the seed I've bought from them is absolutely top notch.   

[Acastus]

The best answer is choose a seed supply house with similar or colder climate than you have. As a resident of the Northeast, I have to say I love Johnny's Selected Seeds. They are located in Maine. They have a wide selection, develop new varieties all the time, have many organic seeds available, and you can use their catalog as a reference for planting and harvesting details. Most important, their seed sprouts every time. They cater to the small commercial farmer, think farmers market, so you can also get seeds in bulk.

[RetiredAt63]

Canadians also have lots of good seed companies.  Everything from the biggies (Stokes) to medium (Vesey's) to smaller (Linderberg, William Dam, Richter's).  I will be ordering from William Dam this year, they have the Cosmos and wax beans I want.