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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] seed sources
  • Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:14:47 -0400


On Jul 22, 2008, at 6:06 PM, sarah wiederkehr wrote:

just out of curiosity, what are people's favorite seed companies(for bulk seed) and why?
I am still working on this one!

--
Sarah E Wiederkehr
Manager, Full Circle Farm
Sunnyvale, CA


Fedco, Johnny's, and E&R get most of my order; I also ordered this year from Burpee, Fisher's, High Mowing, Irish Eyes/Garden City, Nichols, Seed Savers', Territorial, Turtle Tree. I really like Fisher's in Montana, but they only have small quantities of most things, so don't really fit your "bulk seed" description. Cover crop seed was from Lakeview Organic.

This list reflects my location; most of these carry a lot of cool climate, short season seed, and some of them don't have anything but. (My guess is that a preferred list for a California grower would be significantly different.) It also reflects my need for untreated seed and for organic seed when possible. I also have a preference for smaller and/or independent companies who do their own trials and produce some of their own seed, though not everybody listed is in that category; and I grow a number of unusual varieties, generally because they produce best flavor for me here.

Unlike some on this list, I have been pleased with Fedco. Everybody makes occasional errors, and has an occasional batch of bad seed, and I weigh company response to errors as well as frequency of errors in deciding who I prefer to deal with. Everyone on the list above has done fairly well for me, though High Mowing and Irish Eyes / Garden City have been erratic lately. Johnny's gets less of my order than they used to partly because of price, and partly because they frequently drop varieties that have worked out well for me, so I go looking for those elsewhere. Johnny's is however one of the best places to go if I need something in a hurry (a situation I try to avoid). I expect some of the additional cost goes into their ability to provide rapid service.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



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