Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
 

Wanted to give these guys a shout-out... Ordered a few cover crop varieties, weeks back. Shipping, packaging, and product, came as expected. They even piggy backed an extra pack of seed. Will shop again.

-Jimmy

I too just bought from them as i have in the past. What i bought was the Nara Melon. The seeds sell out quick so im glad i got them when i did. I like the weird fruits and veggies of the world and cant wait to plant them in the spring.

[QUOTE=heirloomtomaguy;509499]I too just bought from them as i have in the past. What i bought was the Nara Melon. The seeds sell out quick so im glad i got them when i did. I like the weird fruits and veggies of the world and cant wait to plant them in the spring.[/QUOTE]
This is my thinking as well. There is nothing nicer than growing weird and unusual tasty things from all over.

I bought some difficult to find items from them this past Spring. Very happy with my purchases, especially the Paul Robeson tomatoes, they were the highlight of my garden.

Baker Creek is one of my favorite seed vendors. They carry lots of neat varieties. Also very helpful are the user reviews, and geography info for growing feedback.

It has been years since I have seen their catalog.
Are they still putting the little tidbits of stuff on each page I had rather not see?

They do have a lot of crazy stuff I liked the tiger melon.:lol:
Worth

I bought and grew tigger melon. It had the best aroma when we sunk our teeth into it it was so so. Lets just say i put a scoop of mango sherbet on it to make it better. It was not bad just a bit on the bland side.

Their catalog is a good read. Very good selection and exotics too. The packages are generous, and they grow true to type. Shipping is very reasonable, and your order arrives quickly. From my interactions with them I get the impression that it's a well-run company.

[QUOTE=heirloomtomaguy;509604]I bought and grew tigger melon. It had the best aroma when we sunk our teeth into it it was so so. Lets just say i put a scoop of mango sherbet on it to make it better. It was not bad just a bit on the bland side.[/QUOTE]

The ones I had were neglected and grown out in the hot sun in clay soil.
Sugary sweet.
Worth

I'm having slow or no germination with the few varieties I bought from Baker Creek this year! Mitoyo eggplant took 3.5 weeks to germinate at 50%. Zavory habanero 0% so far. Queen of Malinalco 25% but the seedling does not look like it will survive. Meanwhile, my own saved seeds (pepper and tomato) from 1-3 years ago are germinating at 80-100% in the same mix on the same heat mat, and most other commercial eggplant seeds are also germinating faster and at better rates! Is anyone else having problems with Baker Creek seeds this year?

One of their bonus packs is now a favorite pepper. Ajvarski

Oh dear! ALL my eggplants are taking forever to germinate this year, and 3 of them were from BC, although I grew their Mitoyo last year and they obviously germinated. Maybe they are old seed? In contrast, my own saved peppers have all come up. I grew their Ajvarski last year and think it's great!

Linda

I’m not growing eggplant from Baker Creek this year, instead I’m growing Thai long green from SSE. The peppers I’m growing from Baker Creek is Rezha 3 of 4 germinated, Criolla de cocina pepper 6 of 6 germinated, Dieghito pepper 2 of 3 germinated.

3 Myoto and one Casper eggplant have germinated now :).

Linda

I love BC for the interesting varieties they've brought us and will continue to buy things from them I can't find other places, but as they've grown I have seen a little loss of quality control in terms of germination and a few seeds that didn't grow true. From what I understand they have many smaller growers providing seed, so some may just not be doing as good a job on proper seed storage or keeping their seed straight. A friend of mine grew 4 kinds of peppers from BC last year and 2 of them were not true. For instance, the poblano turned out to be a rather poorly growing small bell pepper.

[QUOTE=Nematode;754533]One of their bonus packs is now a favorite pepper. Ajvarski[/QUOTE]

I've been growing Ajvarski for years now. A great pepper for sure!

All my seeds from BC have been amazing. I have had over 95% germination, will continue to use them for along time to come.

Just a heads up that Baker Creek invited Cliven Bundy to speak at their Spring Planting Festival a few years back, and when people understandably got upset, they doubled down, tried to claim they didn't understand that he was problematic, and then canceled his appearance while blaming the people who objected to him for making the atmosphere potentially unsafe.

In case you don't remember, Bundy not only engaged in illegal occupation of government land, but he's on record saying that Black people were better off as slaves and is actively engaged in anti-Indigenous activism in the name of "land rights".

[B]I know everyone is different when it comes to taking politics into account in consumer decisions, but I thought I'd put this out there so you can make your own decision.[/B]

Personally, I was already hesitant about Baker Creek because of their insistence on perpetuating certain fake variety information (Carolyn had a lot to say about this when she was with us) although I like the convenience of ordering from their site when it comes to varieties I knew were legit, but the Cliven Bundy incident was the final straw for me. I haven't ordered from them since and have yet to encounter a variety of veg I want to grow that can't be sourced from someone else.

[url]https://www.rootsimple.com/2019/05/baker-creek-invites-then-un-invites-cliven-bundy-to-speak/[/url]

Even though I live within a 90 minute drive of Bakers Creek, I have never made the trip, though I will make the trip and check it out.

As far as the above controversy, I don't believe everything I hear or read in today's cancel culture and everyone who doesn't believe the same as others must be a racist. I plan on buying some stuff at Bakers Creek when I visit.

3 varieties of eggplants from BC refused to germinate this year, and now I see that they were darned slow last year too. Those seeds were from 2018 though, so I guess I really do need some new ones.

Apart from that, I love shopping at BC, their free shipping and bonus seed packets :).

Linda

It has been many years since I vowed to stop purchasing from BC. It was a combination of wrong varieties problems, poor germination, sour taste from iDig and objectionable politics. Last I knew the catalog was nice to look at but have not seen one for quite a while. Good there are choices for everyone.

[QUOTE=zendog;754565]I love BC for the interesting varieties they've brought us and will continue to buy things from them I can't find other places, but as they've grown I have seen a little loss of quality control in terms of germination and a few seeds that didn't grow true. From what I understand they have many smaller growers providing seed, so some may just not be doing as good a job on proper seed storage or keeping their seed straight. A friend of mine grew 4 kinds of peppers from BC last year and 2 of them were not true. For instance, the poblano turned out to be a rather poorly growing small bell pepper.[/QUOTE]

This pretty much lines up with my experience too. Great variety but roll of the dice as to true to type and germination rates. I prefer to use other vendors that have better track record.

I never bought there because I'm from europe, but they introduced a ton of quality OP eggplant varieties, and still are, they are pretty much the only ones that are still struggling to make this great vegetable popular outside of Asia/East Europe. Not sure about other species, but for sure many other vendors just copy what they introduced and becomes popular there.

Some points about seed quality may legitimately describe how it was.

But my experience is that Baker Creek's seed quality/seed correctness and customer service has caught up with it's growth.

I really think "I stopped ordering X years ago because of seed quality" comments are out of date and not particularly relevant.

However, because they use smaller growers for some of their varieties, particularly more unique ones, issues of seed quality will always be there to a small extent. I think it is the price you pay for variety.

And FYI, I get no royalties from Baker Creek, nor do I sell seed to them.

One thing I think is really great about Baker Creek is that they have very large numbers of people reviewing the varieties they sell. And the reviewers, in general, seem to take their reviews quite seriously.

I know of no other place to read such extensive and helpful reviews of the varieties that they sell. It is really my go-to place if I want to see reviews of OP vegetables.

I've only ordered peppers from BC. Great seed count, excellent germination & fair postage. All good for me.