I am interested in knowing what veggie or combination veggie/flower seed companies are the best, and worst. I have been gardening for over 20 years, some small and some almost commercial size, but always a veggie garden.
This is my take:
Burpee has quality seeds and a few things I desire. They were never cheap but once were affordable. Now, ouch, $5 a pack?! Seems like they are catering to the hoitie toitie connosseur gardeners who don't care about price, and the seed company no longer cares about the small orderer on a budget. The seeds I ordered way back germinated well, in fact I still get almost 100% on pepper seeds I am still using from 2000!
Park has been in the top 3 in my book forever, well since about 20 years ago at least, when I started mail-ordering seeds. They actually seemed more pricey back then, and lately seemed to offer the best combination of value and quality and reasonable shipping rates around. This year, I tried to order from them, and never got an order confirmation. I tried sending a message on their complaint page and it was frozen. I tried the next day, and it went through, and I sent at least 2 e-mails to them as well. All this over like 3 days, and after a full business day had passed since my weekend order. They have yet to respond! I went onto Dave's Garden and it seems lately they have gone way downhill but I want people here to confirm or refute this.
Stoke's had the best germination rates and wonder hybrids of anyone, but the germination had slipped a bit the last I used them 5 or 6 years ago. Seeds can be pricey in the packets, but larger quantities are quite reasonable and the reason why I don't need to order from them often. They recently hiked their S/H to an outrageous $6.95 or was it $8.95?
Harrris and Gurney were good way back when, haven't ordered there in at least 12 years.
There are a whole host of eco-friendly, heirloom and other small companies lately and I can't keep up. A lot of them seem to have outrageous S/H rates and mediocre open-pollinated strains (not all OP's are mediocre) for high prices.
I tried "Totally Tomatoes" this year, they get mixed reviews but the seeds all arrived fairly promptly and we will see how they germinate.
oh yeah (edit) and Pinetree is my favorite of late, really reasonable and for the last 2 years I have been using them, good to great germination and vigor and excellent prices on seeds and S/H. Johnny's is a little pricey but has a few things I want and have by far the best customer service, willing to do whatever in their power to help you out. I may overlook the price a bit more and order more from them in the future as they are that nice!
How about you? Which have you had good or bad luck with?
This is my take:
Burpee has quality seeds and a few things I desire. They were never cheap but once were affordable. Now, ouch, $5 a pack?! Seems like they are catering to the hoitie toitie connosseur gardeners who don't care about price, and the seed company no longer cares about the small orderer on a budget. The seeds I ordered way back germinated well, in fact I still get almost 100% on pepper seeds I am still using from 2000!
Park has been in the top 3 in my book forever, well since about 20 years ago at least, when I started mail-ordering seeds. They actually seemed more pricey back then, and lately seemed to offer the best combination of value and quality and reasonable shipping rates around. This year, I tried to order from them, and never got an order confirmation. I tried sending a message on their complaint page and it was frozen. I tried the next day, and it went through, and I sent at least 2 e-mails to them as well. All this over like 3 days, and after a full business day had passed since my weekend order. They have yet to respond! I went onto Dave's Garden and it seems lately they have gone way downhill but I want people here to confirm or refute this.
Stoke's had the best germination rates and wonder hybrids of anyone, but the germination had slipped a bit the last I used them 5 or 6 years ago. Seeds can be pricey in the packets, but larger quantities are quite reasonable and the reason why I don't need to order from them often. They recently hiked their S/H to an outrageous $6.95 or was it $8.95?
Harrris and Gurney were good way back when, haven't ordered there in at least 12 years.
There are a whole host of eco-friendly, heirloom and other small companies lately and I can't keep up. A lot of them seem to have outrageous S/H rates and mediocre open-pollinated strains (not all OP's are mediocre) for high prices.
I tried "Totally Tomatoes" this year, they get mixed reviews but the seeds all arrived fairly promptly and we will see how they germinate.
oh yeah (edit) and Pinetree is my favorite of late, really reasonable and for the last 2 years I have been using them, good to great germination and vigor and excellent prices on seeds and S/H. Johnny's is a little pricey but has a few things I want and have by far the best customer service, willing to do whatever in their power to help you out. I may overlook the price a bit more and order more from them in the future as they are that nice!
How about you? Which have you had good or bad luck with?
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