Underwood Gardens was recently brought to my attention as an independent seed company in the US specializing in heirloom/OP seeds. They’ve been around for a while now, and I’m not sure why I’ve overlooked them before. While I don’t have much experience with them, their catalog looks great and I always think it’s great to support family owned seed companies. I hope some people reading this will buy some of their seeds and report back on your experiences.
They have a blog with a domain name Terroir Seeds, and this is worth having a look at too.
There may be too many seed companies to list them all, but if anyone knows of independent seed companies/retailers specializing in OP/heirloom seeds, not in the list on my links page, I hope you will let me know about them. I’d like to include as many as possible.
Hi Patrick!
Check out Fedco Seeds http://www.fedcoseeds.com/.
I know, I know, sounds like a corporate name, but they’re actually a co-operative of growers. They are in Maine and work closely with Will Bonsall’s Scatterseed Project. They offer a lot of really fine OP varieties, new and old, and are very trustworthy as to their descriptions, whether seed is hybrid or not, and where the seed came from. The catalog is an incredibly entertaining (well, if you’re a plant geek…) and informative piece of work. They are the mainstay for most of the serious organic gardeners in northern New England.
Another one to check out is TomatoFest, a family run operation that offers hundreds of heirloom and OP tomato varieties. http://www.tomatofest.com/heirloom_tomato_seed_store.html
Hi Leigh,
I know Fedco, and I know about the fiasco with Seminis they had recently. While I think they are a fine company, they are not particularly specialized in heirloom/OP seeds and do sell commercial hybrids.
Some other companies that fall into this category are Southern Exposure and Seeds of Change, also both fine seed companies.
The first problem is none of these are family run or even particularly small.
More importantly, retailers who sell any commercial F1 hybrids sign marketing agreements which regulate how they are allowed to distinguish between hybrids and OP varieties, and these companies are covered by those marketing agreements. The simple fact is these companies do not clearly and honestly distinguish between hybrid and OP varieties, nor do they publicly state policies guaranteeing unmarked varieties are OP. My advice therefore is you not buy seeds from them expecting them to be OP or even of non-commercial origin, and this is also why they are not on my list of seed suppliers.
I explained this in some more detail in a recent post.
Hi Michelle!
Thanks, I’ll add TomatoFest as soon as I have a chance.
Here are a few smaller companies that I purchase seed from upon occasion.
Wild Garden Seed –
http://www.wildgardenseed.com
High Mowing Organic Seeds -http://www.highmowingseeds.com
The Thyme Garden Herb Company –
http://www.thymegarden.com
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the links.
I’ve added Wild Garden Seed. High Mowing sells F1s, and so like Fedco I haven’t added them. Thyme Garden doesn’t seem to have a statement about the kinds of seeds they sell.
Here are two small family owned and operated companies that I buy seeds from here in Western Canada;
Heritage Harvest seeds http://www.heritageharvestseed.com/index.html
Prairie Garden seeds
http://www.prseeds.ca/
They have only OP heritage seeds. I have had good results with everything I have bought from them.
Another interesting company is C. und R. Zollinger in Switzerland which has been collecting and doing trials on heritage seeds in Switzerland. Their seeds are all organic and the catalogue is available in both German and French. I don’t think Switzerland is covered by the same seed rules as the rest of the E.U. I picked up some interesting beans, chicory, tomatoes, mache and onions when I was in Switzerland.
http://zollinger-samen.ch/de/
Thanks for all the great information you are sharing.