There are many factors that determine where you can get the best seeds. If you are a small gardener you might not even want seeds you might want to start off with trays of plants to transplant. However if you want to plant a special vegetable or flower then specialty seed suppliers are probably your best option because you’re not about to find those as tray sets at your local supplier.
If you live in an area that has a lot of farms or farms within reasonable driving distance then you might be lucky enough to have a good farm seed supplier in your area. These suppliers often sell seed by weight. Normally they will have a small sample pack and then the normal 1/4 pound and higher packs of seed. If you need a lot of seed this can be a good option.
Seed Suppliers Vs Seed Growers
Just because a company is a seed supplier doesn’t mean they actually grow the seed they sell. They may resell from a variety of suppliers or they might repackage and sell from a bulk supplier. This is very important to know when you are buying your seed. If they repackage seed you might just want to buy from the primary supplier if they offer direct sales and most will if you are buying a reasonably sized order of seed. That doesn’t mean you are buying pounds of seed it can just mean your order is over $75 or something.
Seed Growers are companies that actually own the farms or contract farmers specifically to grow their plants for seed collection. If they contract out the production then those farms are under strict rules to not harvest for sale to anyone else or even give away product to friends and family. Inspections are regular and there are strict rules about the chemicals that can be used on those fields or even neighboring fields. Cross pollination is also a problem so you won’t see a seed farm located where other similar plants can change the genetics of the seed.
Buying Online Vs Buying In Store
In the past 10 years even professional farms have moved to ordering seed online but they only do it from companies that have very good guarantees on their products. If you are planting a personal garden then you can use these stores too or you can buy directly from large retail suppliers but there are times when you might see individuals that resell the seed the collect. I really suggest that you do not purchase from individuals that are just randomly collecting and reselling seed. Some of them might not even have the right to resell seed if it was grown from commercial seed that is patented. This can run you into problems if you want to sell your produce and flowers or sell your own seed.
Buying locally normally means you are purchasing from a national or regional supplier that services that big retailer. Often they are the same company across many chain stores. It can vary from region to region but Burpee, Ferry Morse, and American Seed. Interesting is that American Seed, Ferry Morse, Livingston and Jiffy are all the same company and you can find them at greengarden.com which is a little difficult to track down. Its not a paid/promotional link its just very difficult to find so we are including it for our readers. Unfortunately American Seed is only available retail but Ferry Morse does sell seed and even plant starts from their site.
If you don’t have a selection locally then buy online as long as you buy from a good supplier.
If you are a small gardener you can still often get professional grade seeds that farms use. One company is Stokes Seed stokeseeds.com (also not a paid promoted link) they primarily sell to farmers but often also have small packs for home gardeners. Expect to pay a little more for their seed. Normally they do have guarantees on germination but honestly I can’t recommend them any better than a fresh good packet of 20cent American Seed. The difference is they have a wider selection of specific varieties and they do sell seed by the pound if you need it.
Final Note
Whether you are buying seed for your 4×4 foot garden or for your 80 acre farm it is important to buy fresh seed. Never buy any seed that is more than 6 months old. Always look on the package and it should say when it was harvested or at the very least what year season it was harvested for. Most better seed suppliers will require retailers to destroy/throw out any old seed at the end of the season.