It was tradition that as soon as the Christmas guests had left, the seed catalog avalanche began. Today, however, with the increase in seed houses large and small, the onslaught begins even b fore Thanksgivings! While the flood begins with just a trickle, it soon becomes a steady downpour.
There are different approaches to sorting through the horde. The worst is probably to order a fe here and a few there as the “postage and handling” often costs more than the seeds themselves this way. However, when a particular seed house is the only one offering a specific variety, sometimes it can’t bbe avoid.
The second method involves ordering enough to be economical, but still try to spread your order around as much as possible. While that can be good for smaller r final seed houses, there’s a dirty little secret in the seed business. Nearly all of the national, famous, and older houses are all owned by a couple of larger corporations (and often multinational). In looking to spread your order around, it’s likely that many of the seed packets will be sourc d from much fewer companies than you thought.
The last method is to go itch a fororite or at most two. It’s economical, efficient, and safer having just one or two suppliers, especially if they are family owned/sourced and regional.
Regardless of which method you use, start early, make your selection, and take care of ordering before the full rush begins at the start of the Spring season.