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Home Hearth Cooking Bread Bread Ovens Homemade Alcohol Wild Mushrooms Heritage Turkeys Unrelated to Food Traditional Foodways Kitchen Gardening Culinary History Samburu Eggs How to Contact Me Blog	Online Vegetable Seed Catalogs This select list of online vegetable seed catalogs includes companies in the US, Canada, England, and Italy. I have put this list together for my own use, and to share with my online readers. I use this list of online seed companies when ordering vegetable seeds for my kitchen garden. Amishland Heirloom Seeds This is a fabulous small seed company. In the words of the owner,"I have been searching out family heirloom seed varieties grown for generations by local Amish, Mennonite, and Pennsylvania German farm families." Skiretts are amongst the rare vegetables -- rare, at least in the North American seed trade -- that are sold by Amishland Heirloom Seeds. Heirloom) (Botanic names: yes:) USA Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Jere Gettle founded Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in 1998. His purpose is to promote rare and endangered vegetable varieties. The site currently lists approximately 600 vegetables and herbs and a few flowers. You will find vegetables that were common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including American, French and Italian varieties. The web site is not illustrated and the plant descriptions, though evocative, are minimal. There is a good page on saving your own seed. (Heirloom) (Botanic names: no) USA Burpee Seeds Burpee, the largest American seed company specializing in the home garden needs no introduction to North American gardeners. Burpee has recently begun reintroducing heirloom vegetables that they had dropped from their catalog in the last decades of the previous century. Burpee has wide distribution in retail stores. There are excellent plant descriptions and photographs with each catalog entry. (General) (Botanic names: no) USA Eastern Native Seed Conservancy This is an extraordinary resource for heirloom seeds of the American northeast AND for native American seems. The Eastern Native Seed Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving rare vegetable seeds. Since bringing seeds back into general use is an excellent way of preserving rare seeds, the Eastern Native Seed Conservancy sells seeds. This is an unparalleled resource for Native American seeds -- beans, squash, and corn (maize). This is also an extraordinary resource for heirloom seeds of the European settlers in the northeast. The plant descriptions are thorough, and the history is good. In many cases this is the only source for the seeds offered. (Heirloom, Native American) (Botanic names: yes) USA Evergreen Y. H. Enterprises With 300 varieties of oriental vegetable and herb seeds, this well organized site is a fantastic resource for home gardeners and truck farmers. The plant descriptions are good. The catalog is well illustrated. (Oriental) (Botanic names: no) USA Franchi Sementi This link is to an English company that sells the complete list of seeds from the Franchi Sementi company, an Italian seed company founded in 1783 and still run by the family. If you are interested in Italian cooking, then Italian seeds are for you. I'd like to call you attention to the pumpkin selections. While pumpkins come from North American, we have not done well by them. In America, pumpkins are valued most for carving -- and secondarily for pies. In Europe they are valued as a squash for use in savory dishes, including soups. Italian cuisine uses pumpkin in many contexts, including as a filling for ravioli. The Franchi pumpkin selection reflects the Italian culinary interest in this squash. Minimal plant descriptions. (General and Heirloom) (Botanic names: no) UK Fratelli Ingegnoli This is an Italian seed company located in Milan. The web site is in English and prices are given in US dollars. Typical of Italian seed companies, the chicory selection is excellent. The zucchini section is strong. (General) (Botanic names: no) Italy Garden Medicinals Offers over 175 varieties of medicinal and culinary herb seeds, roots, perennial onions, specialty garlic varieties, and select vegetables and flowers. The link library of over 250 herb-related sites is worth a visit. Irish-Eyes Garden City Seeds Irish-Eyes specializes in potatoes. The list is fabulous, and the information provided on each variety of potato is valuable. In addition to potatoes, you will find a full range of alliums and vegetables. (USA) Johnny's Selected Seeds A top source of European and American vegetable seeds for the home garden and small farm. The web site is exceedingly well organized. (Botanic names: yes) USA Manhattan Farms Manhattan Farms is a Canadian company (British Columbia) with a range of products for the city gardener, including labels for home canning projects. Manhattan Farms packages seeds from five different types of a given plant -- like five tomato varieties, or five pepper varieties -- into a single packet. This is an excellent idea as it promotes planting a vegetable garden that has depth as well as breadth. Native Seeds/SEARCH "Native Seeds/SEARCH is a nonprofit conservation organization based in Tucson, Arizona. NS/S works to conserve, distribute and document the adapted and diverse varieties of agricultural seed, their wild relatives and the role these seeds play in cultures of the American Southwestern and northwest Mexico." The Native Seeds/SEARCH web site is well organized. They sell a wide range of heirloom vegetable seeds --seeds introduced by the Spanish -- and the seeds of wild and domesticated plants used by the Native Americans in the American Southwest and northwest Mexico. There are good plant descriptions and information cultivation. While there are cool weather plants, like fava beans, most of the plants offered thrive on dry summer heat. (Heirloom, Native American) (Botanic names: yes) USA Plimoth Plantation Heirloom Vegetable Seeds Go to the store link on the Plimoth Plantation web site to find the heirloom vegetable seeds. You should also use the search box on the Plimoth site to find general infomration about early Colonial vegetable seeds. Prairie Garden Seeds This company sells a wonderful selection of vegetables, but is notable for its extraordinary selection of cereal grains. This is my primary recommendation as a source of grains for home gardens. If you are a bead baker -- at the least -- read the grain section of this online seed catalog. (Heirloom) (Botanic Names: yes) Canada Redwood City Seed Company Hot peppers and native grasses are specialties of the Redwood City Seed Company. The site includes a page of pepper photographs and an extremely valuable page on growing peppers from seed, as well as advice on pepper culture. If peppers is your thing -- especially hot peppers -- then this specialty seed company is for you. Pepper seeds are offered by individual variety and grouped as collections. (Heirloom) (Botanic Names: yes) USA Renee's Garden Renée Shepherd sold her first seed company (Shepherd's Garden Seeds) to White Flower Farms and started a new one. This is the link to her current seed company. Beautiful drawings and good plant descriptions. Renée sells many European seeds, especially seeds from Italy. USA Richters The medicinal herb collection is strong. The vegetable seed collection is fair. Plant descriptions are good, and since this is a Canadian seed company attention is paid to plant hardiness. (Botanic Names: yes) Canada Robinson's Mammoth Seeds This vegetable seed company, founded in England 1860, specializes in show vegetables, for example, a 5 pound (2 kg) onion. While big may not always mean better, growing large vegetables is both fun, and a horticultural challenge. (UK) Roguelands Heirloom Vegetable Seeds This is a delightful catalog. You will find many seeds that are virtually unobtainable elsewhere, for example a 19th century white tomato from the US. The stories about their offerings are often excellent -- and many suggest something about the world at large. For example, they offer the "black" tomato named after the great American singer Paul Robeson. It is a Russian offering. Paul Robeson was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. This great baritone was popular in the Soviet Union, so this tomato's story emodies some of the complexity of the early years of the Cold War. Roguelands is friendly to US and Canadian gardeners. (Heirloom) (Botanic names: no) UK Salt Spring Seeds: This is the site for an ambitious project: "maintaining, evaluating and keeping databases for all the edible, medicinal and useful crops that can be grown in Canada." The database project is operated by a nonprofit organization affiliated with Salt Spring Seeds. The selection of wheat varieties is impressive. The online catalogue, however, is a little rough around the edges -- plant descriptions range from minimal to extensive. As a Canadian company with an interest in Canadian crops, the selections offered are appropriate for northern climates. On my most recent visit to the site there was a notice stating that they can no longer ship seeds to the US. The site is worth a visit, regardless, and hopefully this will change and they will once again be able to ship to American clients. (Heirloom) (Botanic names: yes) Canada Sand Hill Preservation Center This is a family-run farm dedicated to preserving rare poultry and vegetables. Orders are accepted by post only, and credit cards are not accepted. While plant descriptions are minimal, the offering of tomatoes is vast. It is my impression that this is the largest offering of tomatoes on the internet. (Heirloom) (Botanic names: no) USA Seeds of Change The Seeds of Change web site is beautiful. A good description and a photograph is provided of each plant variety sold. Seeds are sold in quantities for home gardeners and small farmers for a wide array of open-pollinated vegetable, herb, and flower seeds. (Heirloom) (Botanic names: yes) USA Seeds Trust You must look at this web site! If you live in a northern climate -- then their heirloom tomatoes from Siberia are your ticket to ripe, flavorful tomatoes. The Seeds Trust works with native seeds, high altitude seeds, and much more. (Botanic Names: no) USA Shepherd's Garden Seeds This is part of White Flour Farms. It can be frustratingly difficult to find the seed information on their web site. If you can't find it, then call customer service and ordera a catalog. The vegetable seed selection is good and the information about each of the vegetables is excellent. There is an emphasis on European market vegetables, particularly from France and Italy. A few years after selling her seed company to White Flour Farms, Renée Sheperd started a new company, called Renées Garden. You will find this company in the list, above. (Botanic names: no) USA Siegers Seeds This seed company is for farmers. Small quantities of seeds are not sold. When appropriate, seeds are identified as hybrid or open pollinated. Sieger's specializes in market vegetables for the Eastern United States and Canada. Siegers has been in business since the early 20th century. (Botanic names: no) USA Stellar Seeds This small seed company offers a careful selection of organic seeds. The web site is well organized and beautifully illustrated .Stellar Seeds is associated with Left Fields, "a diversified organic farm nestled at the base of Squilax Mountain, perched above Shuswap Lake, a stone's throw from the village of Sorrento, British Columbia." Plant descriptions are lively and personal. (Botanic names: yes) Canada Stokes Seeds A large and fabulous Canadian seed company with a huge selection of vegetable and flower seeds. Stokes Seeds provides detailed growing instructions for farmers and separate detailed growing instructions for home gardeners. (Botanic names: yes) Canada Sustainable Mountain Agricultural Center If you are looking for heirloom seeds from Appalachia, then this is your source. The Sustainable Mountain Agricultural Center's specialty is beans and tomatoes. Heirloom seeds is only one part of a larger program supporting regional farmers. Territorial Seeds A fabulous company based in Oregon serving home gardeners and small farmers. The web site is particularly well organized -- a model for what online vegetable seed catalogs should be like. This is a good company to order from if you live where the summer's are cool. They have an excellent selection in all categories of short-season vegetables. There is a separate section of the web site devoted to growing instructions. I use this section of the Territorial Seeds site as a reference book. (Botanic names: yes) USA The Cooks Garden One of the biggest specialty seed companies in the US. The emphasis is on heirloom varieties. Amongst other vegetables, Cooks Garden is strong in lettuces (50 varieties) and chicories (20 varieties). The photographs and plant descriptions are amongst the best on the internet. (General, heirloom) (Botanic names: yes) USA The Heirloom Vegetable Gardener's Assistant I recently came across this phenominal list of links to heirloom vegetable seed supppliers. Kathy Mendelson's pages of links is more thorough than mine. We each have our own approach. My advise is to look at both our pages. There is overlap -- but our editoral content differs. Kathy's page of links to public gardens organized by state is also worth a visit. The Thyme Garden This company offers thousands of varieties of herb plants, and a selection of seeds. (USA) Thomas Etty Esq. If you want to plant a period garden, or if you want to make an 18th vegetable recipe with period vegetables, then this is the company for you. Thomas Etty is an English seedman specializing in vegetable seeds from the 16th through 19th centuries. The catalogue is especially informative for cooks trying to recreate historic cuisines. Many seeds sold by Thomas Etty are difficult to impossible to find anywhere else. Most of the information on Thomas Etty's web site is offered in the form of PDF files. The catalog is an important reference work. (Botanic names: yes) UK Thompson & Morgan Seed Company This is the biggest English seed company with a focus on the home gardener. Its selection is broad, though you will find other companies with more depth in particular areas. As befitting and old English company, the web site is set up for international sales. There is a selectioni of organically grown vegetable seeds. (UK) Twinleaf House Seed List This is the seed list, by common name, of the shop affiliated with Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. You will have to search for the vegetables among the flower offerings. There is an heirloom bean and salad collection. This is obviously an important collection for the heirloom vegetable grower, and for culinary historians. (USA) Underwood Gardens The bean section is my favorite part of their listing. You will not find a great number of vegetable seeds, but the offering is thoughtful, and includes many hierloom American seeds that are difficult to find. This bean list includes varieties introduced pre-1850. (Botanic names: yes) USA Victory Seed Company One of the best web vegetable seed sites. The site is well designed and there is good depth in the descriptions, particularly of the more popular vegetable varieties. While the Victory Seed Company specializes in heirloom and open pollinated seeds, the company is more than just a seed company. They have a broad vision of agriculture and life. Visit the site to learn more. (Botanic names: yes) USA Vida Verde Seed Collection This company claims for itself "Interesting Vegetables for the Kitchen Garden," and it's true. The collection is interesting! In keeping with the dynamic English gardening tradition, you will find a broad acceptance of plants that are not currently customarily part of our food tradition. The Vida Verde Seed company is particularly strong on grains. (UK) Vreeken's Zaden This is a Dutch web site. With some patience, even if you don't speak Dutch, you will be able to find some wonderful seeds. The site includes the Latin plant names for all their offerings, so you can always use the Latin name to search the database. Many of the vegetable varieties are also listed with their English names, so you can search on "fennel," for example, and their Foeniculum offerings come up. You will find the Dutch words that will help you get deeper into the database as you do you searches. Since every vegetable does not have an English entry, do try to use Dutch and Latin as much as you can. If the shopping cart confuses you, then call the company. You will find a phone number in the "contact" section. You can assume that everyone in the office speaks English. West Coast Seeds A seed company in British Columbia. Like Territorial Seeds, this is a good choice for those living in an area with cool summers. (Canada)