Buying Seeds
 

Today we started buying garden seeds for the 2017 garden. I want to look up information on them. Just wondering what seed varieties you all already have or are buying to grow this year? So far, we bought:

Mustard - Florida Broad Leaf
Okra - Emerald
Spinach - Bloomsdale

Kale-Dwarf Siberian Kale
Watermelon-Orangelo Watermelon
Squash-Red Kuri Squash
Squash-Chirimen
Squash-kikuza
Eggplant-Thai purple ribbed eggplant
Eggplant-Rosita
Eggplant-Halap Kirisi
Mustard-mizuna
Mustard-Osaka Purple Mustard
Melon-bitter melon (Chinese type)
Eggplant-ao daimaru
Fava Bean-Aquadulce

Excluding tomato and peppers.

Baker Creek Seeds:
Radish Pink Beauty
Lettuce Rocky Top Mix
Melon Green Skin
Swiss Chard Rainbow
Purple Teepee Bean
Dragon Tongue Bean
Holy Basil
Hale's Best 45 melon
Sugar Baby

From Johnny's:
Machiaw Eggplant
Diva Cucumber

Cilantro
Older Kale seed

Going to get bulk mustard greens from a feed and seed this spring, but will
not plant it until fall.

Sounds really good. If I were to add tomato and pepper seeds, I would still be typing for the next hour :)

[QUOTE=AlittleSalt;620925]Sounds really good. If I were to add tomato and pepper seeds, I would still be typing for the next hour :)[/QUOTE]

I'd have to agree with you there. I don't know how I ended up with so many varieties :D

I recently bought Early Jersey Cabbage, Rainbow Lacinato Kale, and Boltardy and Crosby Egyptian Beets from Hudson Valley.

The cabbage and beets are new crops for me and I'm mainly growing them for my husband. They will be fall crops which will go in after my garlic is harvested.

I'm going to buy some Magda kousa F1 squash this year, because they're so good and I want to share them with a friend.
Except for some impulse purchases last summer when I had cash on hand in the store, I haven't bought a seed for years. Between the MMM bonuses and Nicky's swap I had many things to grow, and I grew and saved seed to swap from many more things which kept me going.
Saving and swapping seed has been a huge experience for me. Every kind of seed has it's own requirement and shucking techniques... very time intensive but totally worth it for the learning and also of course, any time you have more time than money.
I can't believe how expensive seed has become! Holy cow. :?!?: Seed saving is a must know for hard times.

[QUOTE=bower;620949]I'm going to buy some Magda kousa F1 squash this year, because they're so good and I want to share them with a friend.
Except for some impulse purchases last summer when I had cash on hand in the store, I haven't bought a seed for years. Between the MMM bonuses and Nicky's swap I had many things to grow, and I grew and saved seed to swap from many more things which kept me going.
Saving and swapping seed has been a huge experience for me. Every kind of seed has it's own requirement and shucking techniques... very time intensive but totally worth it for the learning and also of course, any time you have more time than money.
I can't believe how expensive seed has become! Holy cow. :?!?: Seed saving is a must know for hard times.[/QUOTE]

I agree and seed saving was becoming a lost art but I am seeing a revival and that is wonderful. I save some seed, trade some seed, buy some seeds and enjoy the local seedy Saturday events too.
I remember very well tables and tables of drying seeds in my grandmother's basement every winter. She saved most of her own seed from year to year from OP vegetables and she didn't do it Fancy. Just cleaned and spread out to dry on newspaper or seed heads placed into paper bags until they were dry like dill or lettuce and then shaken to release the seeds but catch them in the bag at the same time.
My grandma never fermented tomato seeds. She just squeezed seeds into newsprint, spread them out and let them dry stuck irrevocably to that paper. Then she would just cut that up with scissors and plant those seeds paper and all.
What I wouldn't give for a piece of my grandmas newspaper stuck with dried tomato seeds....
Long gone I'm afraid but I like to think I have some of her green thumb. She was an amazing gardener all 4 foot 10 of her.
KarenO

I started saving seeds back in 2011. The first were black eyed peas and top crop bush beans. I joined Tomatoville in 2014 and have saved all kinds of seeds since. Until late 2015, I had never heard of a runner bean. Now I have several different varieties saved from last year's plants. Of course, countless tomato and pepper seeds too.

My wife saves flower seeds. She has enough morning glory seeds to plant out a square mile.

AND THEN ... I saved some emerald velvet okra seeds that were accidentally crossed with Clemson spineless that grew out some okra not fit for the compost pile :lol: It was that bad.

Buying seeds for me is like window shopping is for others. I try to stick with buying Ferry~Morse ($1.44 per pack), American Seed (5 packs for a dollar), and from the local feed and seed stores. I have gone-in with our two adult children/men and purchased from Baker Creek and Kitazawa.

Red Russian kale
White Russian kale
Hot Portugal pepper
Parsley
Basil
Pink wave petunia
Irish poet tassel flower
Rugosa Friulana Squash
Dixie queen watermelon
Peanut pumpkin
Meraviglia Di Venezia Bean
Landreth Stringless Bush Bean

Waiting for southern states to get their pea seeds in stock.

I am forgetting something...hmmm.

[QUOTE=AlittleSalt;620965]... Until late 2015, I had never heard of a runner bean. Now I have several different varieties saved from last year's plants...[/QUOTE]

Another tidbit regarding runner beans - arguably, they are one of the most promiscuous. They cross easily and readily, so you should only grow one variety if you're going to save seed. That is unless you own acres and acres and can spread them out. :)

[QUOTE=rdback;621291]Another tidbit regarding runner beans - arguably, they are one of the most promiscuous. They cross easily and readily, so you should only grow one variety if you're going to save seed. That is unless you own acres and acres and can spread them out. :)[/QUOTE]

Hmm, promiscuous. The two that produced best for us were Insuk's Wang Kong (IWK) and Painted Lady. The IWK produced twice as much, and had pretty red flowers. The Painted Lady had red and white flowers. I could plant them 100' apart. I wonder if that would be far enough to keep them from crossing?

If I need to just plant one variety, it would be the IWK.

We added some more seeds to the pile yesterday:

Cilantro
Radish - Early Scarlet Globe
Radish - Sparkler White Tip
Squash - Yellow Summer Crookneck
Squash - Black Beauty (Zucchini)

It was too late to go to the feed store. That's where we will buy pole beans in bulk. I want to find some with the round stringless pods.

[QUOTE=AlittleSalt;621296]... I could plant them 100' apart. I wonder if that would be far enough to keep them from crossing? [/QUOTE]

That would certainly help. I've read the recommended distance for the home grower is 75' - 150' apart. To insure purity, 1/8 - 1/4 mile is recommended.

I also think it has to do with what else the bees have available to "wipe" their feet on. If you've got beans planted, then 25 feet of yummy flowers, then more beans, I think the chances of crossing between the two go way down.

Just my 2c. Hope you have a great season!

I placed some 100 Granadero F1 seeds, a package of Sunshine F1 winter squash for a total of $25.80 at Johnny's, but the shipping cost is $9 for that, which is so high for my small order, it will go up more if my order exceeds $30, so it is sitting in my cart, I have to think about that. Those will be grown and donated, so I'll have to find the seeds one way or another somewhere. Then I got a reminder in my email about not forgetting to checkout... I'm thinking about it :)

Park seeds ship for $2.99. and these are for fun for myself mostly except for the beans. They are actually offering free shipping if you don't use your 10% discount. But Park seeds arrive slow for me in the past, 3 weeks plus.

05218-PK-P1 Toy Choy Hybrid Pak Choi Seeds 1
05456-PK-P1 Space Hybrid Spinach Seeds 1
02236-PK-P1 Park's Picks Purple Zinnia Seeds 1
51095-PK-P1 Marvelette Blue Calamint Seeds 1
51904-PK-P1 Tuscany® Lavender Picotee Verbena Seeds
51460-PK-P1 Bergamo Bee Balm Seeds 1
01805-PK-P Evolution Salvia Seeds 1
Arizona Sun Blanket Flower Seeds 1
Diva Cucumber Seeds 1
beans (P) Pkt of 200 seeds 1
05609-PK-P1 Carmen Hybrid Pepper Seeds

Copy and Paste, sorry for the format.