Seed and Plant Catalogs

I remember not long ago the excitement of starting the new year meant the start of catalog season. They began to dribble in just as the Christmas decorations were being packed away for another year. But then something changed. The catalogs starting arrive around Christmas, then early December, Thanksgiving, and now, even Halloween! Of course this didn’t include the bulb catalogs that dropped in late in the Summer and well before planting time. It seems the battle for consumer dollars has shifted earlier and earlier.

Fortunately, for a gardener the onslaught of catalogs is a welcome sight – as long as they arrive in ones or twos! Now, all Fall and well into Winter the catalogs with their picture perfect crops helped soften the snow falling in the garden. The well worn catalogs with folded corners, paper slips marking nearly every page, and Xs and Os highlight the must have seeds.

Unfortunately, one of the realities has become comparison shopping – not of the seed price ( but that’s always a good idea), but of the shipping and handling costs. If one, like me, can’t resist the exclusive varieties every seller touts, those as/H charges add up fast. Even with discriminating shopping, it isn’t impossible for the fees to tower above the purchase prices.

So what’s the solution? Well there are a few ideas that can lesson the blow. First is to buy two years or more of most seeds. They’ll store for several years before the germination rate falls to “not worth it levels”. This fits along with saving no hybrid seeds from your own crops when practical – but it always isn’t practical. Carrots, for example don’t seed until the second growing season. Saving seeds also means careful growing and often a limited variety of related crops.
A second idea is to note which companies are just resellers and which are seed providers. There really are just a few big seed providers that make available their seed vaults to groups of smaller seed resellers. The clue here is often in the photographs. It’s not unusual for the same photo to be found in five or six different catalogs because the photo, as well as the seeds are all coming from the same source. Often the price of the seeds will vary a bit so comparing the price ( including those pesky S/H fees) can save a few dollars overall.
Lastly seed buying unlike good compost, should not be spread around. Find one or two companies that offer the best pricing for what’s needed and stick to them. While you might think that sharing your dollars is a good idea, it generally ends up in pockets of those big seed providers.
If you really need just a few seeds or are looking for something specific, try Seed Savers Exchange or a local nursery for packets. At least some of the dollars get back to the farmers who worked to provide the seeds in the first place.

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