Need to find seeds to plant

[runfox]

Well I usually buy my seeds from the display at Home Depot, but I went out today to find them all gone, The salesman at Home depot said the seed supplier picked up all the seeds, the "Spring seeds", and will be coming back with their "fall seeds".Well I just tilled in a load of mulch with manure in my garden and I'm ready to plant with no seeds.

I want to get my winter garden started, here in Florida, I am looking forward to the cold weather stuff, strawberries and all.

Do you all have any favorite on line seed suppliers? I guess Ill have to order and wait, I have never bought seeds on line.

[soil]

not to be harsh but lesson learned, collect your own seed from now on and use the stores as "backup". your garden will be much better anyways and acclimatized plants that you selected for taste or whatever traits you like/need.

[gumbo2176]

You can try www.johnnyseeds.com or Evergreen Seeds. I've ordered from Evergreen and they have a large variety of stuff with a lot of it being Asian varieties. They shipped to me inside of a week.

Are there no nurseries where you live? The nurseries around my area all carry seeds. Also, you live in Fla. so I don't believe it is crucial that you get things in the ground right away since you have a long growing season.

Living in N.O. allows me to wait for most cool weather crops until mid-late Sept. If I were to put lettuce seeds, bitter greens etc. in right now, they'd likely burn off before they got established since we are still reaching 95+ for daily temps.

[TWC015]

For online seeds, I like Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Fedco Co-op, and Pine Tree seeds.

However, I would first look at a locally owned plant nursery or feed type store. Around here, these places sell bwi bulk seeds very cheaply, much cheaper than what you would find online. The downside is there is not much variety and not all of them carry what you want.

I can get most seeds for 75 cents at one of my favorite stores and this comes with very generous amounts, also much more than online places.

Also, I disagree on seed saving of some open pollinated crops to use. In my case, it is not practical to do this with most crops since I grow multiple types of the same species and I want to know what my plants are. I'm not going to isolate plants and bag blossoms etc. The only plants I save seed from are the self-pollinating ones.

[applestar]

Don't worry, give yourself a few seasons and you'll have left over seeds saved from year to year like me. This spring, I even opened a 10+ year old souvenir packet of hot pepper seeds to plant, thinking I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't grow. I sowed extra. Well, most, though not all of them sprouted! I'm having an excess of hot and spicy pepper harvest right now....

Because I like to try unusual varieties and look for open pollinated, heirloom, and/or organic seeds, I do most of my seed shopping on-line. In addition to Johnny's and Pinetree -- both located in Maine -- mentioned above, I also like Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. They're located in Virginia.

[runfox]

Well thanks for all the input , I appreciate it. I am still new to all this, My summer garden I planted in May was my first.
Soil, I can understand the benefits of collecting your own seed, but have no idea how to.

I have a few more local places to check out, ordering on line looks more expensive right now. I checked out Burpee seeds and all their packs are 200+ seeds. I don't need that many, nor do I want to pay $5.00 a pack.

I hadn't thought about local nursery's, Ill check into that too.

I'm not to much in a hurry as I just prepped the soil, have the time off from work, and now is a good time for me, I'll be busy later till sept, so I wanted to get it done now. I thought if I get the seeds in the ground now while its still warm they would be coming up as plants as it starts to cool off, and we are getting daily rains which surely helps.

[cynthia_h]

Check out any local nursery(ies) which are independently owned/operated; not Big Box & Bros., etc. The independents will have staff who actually are gardeners and will know what to plant now in your area. Because they aren't slaved to a central distribution point, they'll probably have seeds of the "best to plant now" veggies, etc. *in stock*! (Wow, what a concept.... )

Give it a shot tomorrow. There are bound to be a couple within decent driving distance. At least, I hope so.... Failing that, call your Extension Service for a list of plants and then contact the seed vendors recommended above for the seeds.

I hope you have great success on your second planting!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[jal_ut]

Look in the yellow pages for Farm Supply stores. Call to see if they have seeds. Many do. Nurseries and garden stores may have seeds too. If you find you need to buy mail order, do a Google search for the variety and you will usually come up with several places you can order seed. Many companies have it set up now so you can order online and pay with pay pal or a credit card. Good Luck!

[stella1751]

Two or three years ago, at about this time of year or earlier, I went to K-Mart for something else and saw a half-price sale on all their Burpee seeds. I stocked up on pea, bean, and radish seeds and bought some interesting watermelon seeds I'll probably try next year

That might not be the case in Florida, though.

[garden5]

Another one is Reimere seeds (online only). Some people have reported having trouble with them (and I will admit that I got tomatoes instead of eggplant seed ) but they do have a great selection and there are many good reviews of them as well.