*Updated 1/30/26*

Seed catalogs can fast forward the time to lush summer gardens without that pesky weeding. Their pages are saturated with possibility and so much incandescent color inspiring us to dream a little bigger, a little bolder, a little MORE each year.

*Many of the companies offer digital versions of their catalogs as well, found at the same link as for ordering their printed versions.

And dreaming is an important part of gardening for me – so of course I want to share that with you! There are a surprising number of well established Organic and Heirloom seed companies. Turns out there are almost as many seed companies out there as there are ways to plant those seeds. And after a while you find what fits best for you.

I’ve gathered my favorite Free seed catalogs, and online links for ordering those beauties, along with the accompanying online versions for those that want to stay paper free. There’s a bit about each of the companies to hopefully inspire YOU to dream big – but purchase responsibly – with an eye to saving more seed each year. For more on saving Seeds and local Seed Libraries, check out my earlier Post on just that.

Botanical Interests

WEBSITE
Request Free Seed Catalog HERE

Recently acquired by EPIC Gardening, Botanical Interests was started 25 years ago and they are sticking to their motto of inspiring and educating gardeners.

I adore their seed packets. They are by far the most beautiful, illustrated with Botanical art with and the most informative. I read somewhere that most gardeners get their ‘how to’ info right from seed packet (which puts me in my place – ha!) another reason to choose these packets if you’re new to the garden game.

I adore their flower selection, from Hungarian Bread Poppies, Mexican Sunflowers and Bachelor Buttons and had great luck with their Sugar Magnolia snap peas and Calliope Carrots as well!

High Mowing Organic Seeds

WEBSITE
Request Free Seed Catalog HERE

As their name implies, you’ll find only Organic Seeds here. I have been consistently satisfied with their seed stock from germination to disease resistance- which is exactly what comes from growing seeds organically (and not coddling them with chemicals).

They take educating gardeners and farmers seriously, and did a great Joe Gardener podcast called Why Buy Organic Seeds with Joe L’Ampl of Growing a Greener World. Their seed catalog is extra enticing to me, I’m going to have to control myself. I especially love their microgreen seeds, pea shoots and arugula are some of my favorites. I also have great luck with their Midori Edamame and many of their herb seeds.

Johnny’s Selected Seed

WEBSITE
Request Free Seed Catalog HERE

These guys have a huge inventory of seeds and sell more F1 hybrids than the other seed companies I’ve mentioned. They also grow lots of heirloom seeds that germinate well. There are some things that I do prefer to grow that are hybrids, or things that, as a Nothern gardener, I just can’t get excited enough to overwinter to set seed (looking at your cole crops) and Johnny’s is usually where I buy those brassicas from (Bellstar Broccoli, Graffiti Cauliflower, Veronica Romanesco). They are also 100% employee owned, which you gotta love!

Seed Savers Exchange

WEBSITE
Request Free Seed Catalog HERE

SSE holds a special place in my heart and garden, and the only seed farm I’ve visited. I wrote another blog post about these grass roots people and their love and stewardship of so many rare seeds. They grow most of their seeds out on Heritage Farm just outside of Decorah, Iowa. Worth a visit to one of their events, especially the annual Conference + campout!

Their seed catalog shares seed stories and recipes, and does an amazing job of welcoming you into their community.

Seed Savers Exchange is also where I’ve gotten some of my favorite seeds that I save annually (Glass Gem, Tiger’s Eye, Borage, Cilantro, Wisconsin Lakes Bell Peppers, Black Hungarian Peppers, Winter Density Romaine). When you buy from them you are helping save seeds for future gardeners, which is becoming more important each year!

Southern Exposure

WEBSITE
Request Free Catalog HERE

Southern Exposure is a well-loved small seed company that grows most of their seed in Virginia, a little further south than I usually like, but these guys grow great seed! They have a history of helping others save seeds and other great growing guides on their website. Their seed catalog is a fun mix of illustrations and photos. I also got to meet one of their leaders, Ira, at the Seed Savers Exchange Seed Swap. She was a joy to meet and talk with. Owning that I had a fan girl moment !

Territorial Seed Company

Territorial Seed Company website
Request Free Catalog

– I started with their root crops and found my favorite white beet, Avalanche here! They have a great selection of unique crops, with lots of greens. I also especially love their snapdragons and carrots. They have around half of their seeds offered in organically grown options.

They also have a decent amount of flowers (yellow cosmos!) to chose from.

Updates

Since I first wrote this piece a few years ago, I’ve added more eco-friendly Seed Companies to my favorites list:

Experimental Farm Network (EFN)- The seed stock is growing just as fast as the social justice side of the company. They keep their catalog online only.

North Circle Seeds – A true Minnesota seed company with a small but growing seed selection.

And there’s another way to share seeds, and what you think of them from Seed Linked, find out what they’re about HERE.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company is no longer on my recommended list because of the way they conduct business. They have been confronted for taking seeds from Indigenous communities and re-naming them. This is Indigenous erasure.

After hearing about all those seed catalogs, you might be ready to jump in but don’t know exactly how or where… I have got you!

Vegetable Garden Design Basics Blog
FREE Video Garden Design Class YouTube
Seed Starting 101 article to take through step by step!

What seed companies do you love that I didn’t mention?

Do you have any other seed catalog shopping tips?

Looking forward to Digging In again,
Michelle

The post Seed Catalog + Company Overview appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

I know that sounds dramatic, but saving seeds is a big part of why humans hunkered down into communities and began our long march towards civilization (we’ve still got on our marching boots though, right!?). Variations of those seeds still sustain us today. 

Until a few generations ago, most people planted what they had saved from the last harvest. With a few additions now and then from neighbors or travelers.

But for me and many home gardeners, saving seeds had fallen off our radars. It is making a bit of a comeback and I am encouraging as many people as I can to jump on this bandwagon with me!

To start saving seeds please remember:
Not all seeds are suited for saving!

There’s a simple trick to buying the right seeds so you can save + grow again.

Grow Heirloom varieties, or open pollinated varieties.  Hybrid seeds will not produce the same vegetable that you took the seed from.

Garden Planning, my Favorite!

I love getting those seeds catalogs and will have larger than anticipated bills at a few seed companies once I finalize my orders, but I am proud to be able to skip over a few seed sections because I’ve saved my own seed stock from what I grew last year.

Saving seed is intuitive- if we stop to see the plants we nurture as part of Mother Nature. Everything has a cycle, and the whole reason tomatoes exists is to grow more tomatoes so they make it easy for us. Or as Michael Pollan suggests in a few books, like The Botany of Desire and TED talks, “the plants have us working for them”.

Back to the real world application of all of this-

We’re half way through one of the coldest Januaries on record across the northern US, so most of us are looking forward to those lazy days of summer even more than normal. Oh Summertime; being surrounded by lush green growth, the sounds of birds chirping and bees buzzing, smelling flowers, picking strawberries warmed by the sun… (the weeding, mosquitoes, heat and humidity have conveniently faded into the back of our memories.)

And this is the moment the seed catalogs begin storming in, right when they know we’re at our weakest, most desperate state. Well played seed companies, well played.

The colorful pages of these catalogs offer escape from the winter weather and promise sunny days filled with so much growth it overwhelms our senses, often including our common sense.

A sample of saved seeds from my garden. Picked, dried, stored and ready to plant.

As much as I still revel in these catalogs and all they promise I’m able to skip over a few sections now because I’ve been saving seeds of plants grown in last year’s garden.

There is something so empowering about growing your own food AND saving your own seeds so that you can grow more food again next season- without the help of anyone except Mother Nature.

The simple act of bringing in a seed connects you to a 10,000 year-old heritage of saving the best seeds to better the food we eat. It also makes sense to this frugal mama because you save cold hard cash on your next seed. With both reasons, you get to play with Mother Nature and see what happens.

Luckily for us (and our ancestors), the process is pretty intuitive with most seeds. You pick a seed and save it. But like all the things worth doing, seed saving is worth doing well.

And I’ve found just the local lady to help us ALL learn to do it well!

Pam talking with visitors at the WBL Winter Market.

I’d like to introduce Pam Larson Frink .

Pam started the White Bear Lake Seed Library in April of 2016 and has been gaining steam and seed stock ever since. She also holds a Masters in Environmental Education and a Horticultural degree, so she knows her stuff inside and out. For those of you that were able to attend the White Bear Lake Winter Farmers Market, Pam was there representing the seed library.

The Seed Library at the White Bear Lake Library.

She also thinks a lot like me, “I think saving seeds connects you to the food you eat. It’s so easy to buy produce at the grocery store that you don’t understand that it’s more than just food. It’s soil and insects pollinating the plant and clean water and sun to grow the plant. And if you don’t take care of the soil and the water and the insects you soon will not have food.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Pam often shares her knowledge of seed saving during seed packing events at the WBL Library. Sign up for the email list to get notices of when packing events, classes and seed distribution events are coming up!

I’ll suggest the highly regarded books, Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth and  Seed Sowing And Saving by Carole Turner and The Seed Garden by the former director of the Seed Savers Exchange Lee Buttala

And here’s where the planning comes in!  It is easy to forget when you’re looking at all the glorious varieties in the seed catalogs that…

If you want to start saving seeds, you have to start with save-able seeds.

Look for seeds labeled ‘open pollinated seeds’. This also means NO HYBRIDS, often labeled as F1! These are NOT good options for seed saving. They will not ‘come true’ if the seeds are planted, they will often revert.

Reverting

Johnny’s Potomac Custom Mix (F1) Snapdragon Seed, which I still order even though the colors will never stick, now I know why!

Pam had a perfect story from her early days of gardening that explains this “reverting”… She had grown a beautiful rainbow of colored snapdragon flowers. So she decided to save the seed to enjoy the color burst another season. Pam planted the next Spring, getting sturdy snapdragon plants. But every single flower bloomed pale yellow. This is nature saying nice try The seed of a hybridized plant most often does not “come true” and reverts to one of the gene pools it was hybridized from. In the case of the snapdragon seeds, this meant pale yellow.

Swinging Squash

Things get a bit more complicated with certain groups that cross pollinate; squash are the notorious for cross pollinating with each other. Some open pollinating plants will cross pollinate. Seed growers have tricks like growing inside greenhouses, growing miles apart or bagging seed heads to avoid cross pollination. I might try to bag a favorite zucchini after she’s pollinated this summer!

Before I understood that squash were ‘swingers’  I had already saved and dried a few butternut and acorn squash seeds. So, after talking it over with Pam, I’m going to do my own squash experiment, I might grow something delicious, or something horrible. Either way, I’ll be playing with Mother Nature which is a win for me!

The Seed Stacks

Seed Libraries are places where people can ‘check out’ seeds to grow on their own.  The hope is that you can save some seed and replenish the seed stock the following Fall/Winter. They’re usually housed inside public libraries, but also co-ops and community centers. Checking out the seeds are free, but some ask for  membership info or volunteer commitments.

Our WBL Seed Library asks for membership info, but as Pam quipped, “There are no seed Nazis around”.  Started in April of 2016, the WBL branch is serving the community well, going through over 1,000 seed packets in 2017!  They take both home saved and purchased seed. With a few necessary caveats.

Donating to the seed library? Please keep in mind:
Heirloom or open pollinated varieties only. If they are home saved seeds, a few choice vegetable varieties; Beans, Peas, Lettuce, Sweet Peppers and Tomatoes, plus native flowers.

This year the White Bear Lake See Library is especially looking for some native pollinator plants like Milkweed, Liatrus/Blazing Star and Monarda /Bee Balm– but only the native non-hybridized varieties.

To save seeds of native flowering plants, wait until the flower forms a seed head, knock off seeds (or cut seed head) and bag.

So far, I’ve only ever saved enough seeds to use the following year, and keeping them in paper bags inside paper envelopes has worked well for me. But if you want to save for multiple years you’ll be better off storing in an airtight container- like a mason jar. Just make sure they are completely dry before you seal that jar!

Seeds make tasty treats too!

I want to give a shout out to the people who have worked to secure our right to save and share our own seed, with a Minnesota bill signed in May of 2015. The business of seeds is BIG business, and without the efforts of many groups working together to protect our rights to save and share seeds, thank you!

A few more online resources:

• Seed Savers Exchange– One of the best nationwide sources for heirloom seeds, they have a stunning selection of seeds for sale (but don’t get sucked too far in!)
• They also have their actual “Exchange” program, outlined HERE
• The University of Minnesota, as always has gathered simple, accessible practical information about saving Vegetable seeds grown in MN. 
• If you’d like another online read about seed saving, The International Seed Saving Institute has some easy to read info as well.
• White Bear Lake area residents, be sure to check out the WBL Seed Library’s Blog site and sign up for their emails, its a great way to connect with other local gardeners!

Like all things gardening, saving seeds is less daunting and way more fun when you get to talk to someone else who either knows what they’re doing, or is making the same mistakes as you are

I hope you can join one of the many local  Seed Library ‘seed packing events’, this is such a great way to find your local garden family!

A special thanks to Pam for sharing her deep plant knowledge and vision to help the community and creating our local Seed Library, thousands of plants and pollinators are thankful!

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson

Will you try to save any seeds this year? Which ones? I’m determined to save my tomato and peppers this year!

Can’t wait to Dig into the Dirt again with all this talk of seeds!

Michelle

The post Seed Saving Starts Now! appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.