Vegetable seed question

I live in deep south Texas. We grow gardens in fall, up till around June when everything except corn and melons withers in the heat, humidity and constant wind. I'd bought some seeds in spring and summer (when the stores here had their seed racks up), but all the stores have sent their seeds back. Does anyone have experience with online seed ordering this time of year?
I have a nice garden growing now, but a neighbor has a new tiller attachment for his tractor and he fixed another garden for me. It's beautiful loam, close to the water and is 20 x 40. I need to fill it!!

Some on- line vendors have started getting thier 2009 stock. You might want to call Willhite and see what they have. Last year demand was larger than expected, so many sold out of 2008 seed.

Farmerdill, who is Willhite?

Susie, I think Territorial has 2009 seed in, and Johnny's. I bought some 2008 seed from Territorial about 2 month's ago, anticipating there will be even more seed shortages coming. I don't care if the germination % drops some in year-old seeds. I'm moving towards OP seeds so I can save my own... in fact I saved 3 kinds this year not including tomatoes. :)

Thanks Darius. I have saved some seeds, my tomatoes are grown from my own seed that I've saved each year. They do good in Texas, unlike a lot of named varieties. I guess I can let some radishes and turnips go to seed too.
I will give Johnny's a try(I forgot all about them). I'll have to look up Territorial, do they have a website?

Yes, http://www.territorialseed.com/

Territorial is good--Wilhite is a Texas Company. I used to use them a long time ago, and had real good results. A lot of their seed is treated.
http://www.willhiteseed.com/

A lot of commercial Texas growers use them

Heirloomseeds.com and victoryseeds.com are both great. I don't know if 2009 is out yet but I placed orders in September. At that time heirloom seeds had posted that they were running 4 weeks behind filling orders. I still got mine within a week. Order early and extras. I keep seeing new things posted here and will never get over wanting more seeds.

Demand higher? I can see with the economy now, there will be more growing, but last year? Anyway, I'm glad you mentioned it- I won't wait too long to order.

People probably started stocking up on seeds when gas was so high--in fear shipping would go even higher, perhaps?

Territorial puts out a fall planting catalog.

Keep an eye on the coop forum here as well. And in seed trading forum there are also often offers of seeds for postage. Good luck and have fun.

Z

Johnny's Seeds is offering their 2008 seeds for $1.00/packet. The germination rate will certainly still be good so be sure to check them out. (I've stored seeds for many years and have had excellent viability when they are properly stored.)

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/Home.aspx?ct=CM&source=s1208_homepage_CM

Shoe

Newsletter this week from Peaceful Valley said all their 2008 organic seed is on sale.

Thanks for the link, Shoe. I just ordered $40.00 worth. They are offering the Cauliflower we couldn't find last spring. It did great for us in 2007. Variety is "Phoenix.

I always have good crops from Johnny's seeds.

Bernie

You out did me Bernie--I managed to keep it at $13.95 (with the shipping). Just got some 3 green bean varieties to try, arugula, sweet peas, a pack of pansies, and vinca dirt cheap (it keeps the weeds down in July-August and easy to pull--very shallow roots--also do well over top of the daff's). 8 seed packs for $10 + ship--can't beat that with a stick.

their seeds always do well for me too--thanks for the heads up there Shoe
=)


This message was edited Nov 29, 2008 10:28 PM

I have my market garden to fill up. It is 5 acres+, so lots of room.

I tried "Boone" & "Crockett" green beans from Harris, http://www.harrisseeds.com/
last year. I think "Boone" was the better of the two. Very nice beans on both.

I have a small knob hill on the far end of my garden. I planted some perennials there last year along with alfalfa. I ordered some field peas to plant there too. We have quite a bunch of pheasants hang out there. They should like the peas.

Thanks everyone for the links. I can see that I'm going to need a bigger garden!
I went to Johnny's but couldn't find the 2008 seed, they must have sold out. I've already got a wish list started and will order later today.
I did find some lettuce and radish seeds at Walmart, packed for 2009 and organic seed. I couldn't believe it. We were in a little town north of here picking up citrus trees.

It's on the left side & says "Clearance". I must thank someone for mentioning that sale. I was able to buy "Phoenix" cauliflower, which is no longer carried in the regular catalog. It does great here. I bought 2000 seeds. Had a big total when I got done.

Bernie

Another super seed source at reasonable prices is Fedco in Maine (http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds.htm) They have just come out with their 2009 catalog. Renee's Garden is also an excellent source but more expensive. It all depends on what you want to plant! http://www.reneesgarden.com/seeds/seeds-hm/seeds.html

Might look at Valuseeds for a few cheap thrills
http://www.valueseeds.com/index.html
I just did, including their Oriental Salad leaves mix that I really liked, and its 49 cents right now.

I ordered from Valueseeds once and had good luck, But I think it depends on what one orders as others on the Garden Watchdog have had poor germination rates. Major complaint also seems to be slowness of shipping and not responding to e-mails. If the seeds germinate they are a fantastic deal.

y es, this is for cheap thrills /what the heck , and the selection is far from complete. The things I had poor results with were a few I was totally unfamiliar with too. I read the decriptions and passed up a couple that didn't sound suited to my area at all.

I ordered from Johnny's. I went to their website, checked out the clearance stuff but had a question. I called them, they answered their phone!! (I couldn't get pinetree seeds to answer their phone ever). I bought $47 worth of seeds. An I nuts??? My garden is only 20 x 42. I do have over 3 acres here and there is the 111 acre farm.............
The guy from Johnny's was super nice. My seeds came 4 days later. I can't wait to plant them. It's warm today, but so windy I don't think I could get the seeds from the pack to the ground without them blowing away.
They sent a catalog along with my order. I know that is going to mean trouble!

Yes, great company. I've always had good luck with them.
One time, that I remember, I had some seeds that didn't germinate the way they should have. I don't even know if it was my problem or theirs. I called, talked to lady, she didn't even question anything. She just said they would be glad to send another pack. It was here in a couple days.
Bernie