Ranking The BEST Seed Companies In 2024? (#1 Shocked Me) | Value, Germination + Selection

hey guys welcome back today I'm going to be talking about kind of a seed haul but also some seed buying experience that I've gained over the years so there will be two parts to this the first part I'm going to be talking about the three companies that I have found are the best for me for ordering seeds and then I'm also going to be talking in the second half just about some of the varieties and some of the things I'm really excited about this year yes it's still December and I actually have purchased all of my 2024 seeds that I'm going to purchase so so far just kidding that's a lie I'm almost certainly going to purchase more but I have well over 95% uh basically everything I need so let's just Dive Right In and I'm going to start by talking about the seed companies that I use I'm going to give my three favorites and then I'm going to give two bonus seed companies after that okay from maybe least favorite to favorite I like all of these companies but um the first one I'm going to talk about is one that you guys tipped me off to and here's an example is Baker Creek so this is thme and oregano from Baker Creek there's a few reasons why this isn't my number one favorite but why I still like to order from them number one uh reasons that I like Baker Creek is because they are an heirloom seed company so as I've become more interested in being self-sufficient and also uh seed saving which saves a ton of money I have been a lot more interested in heirloom and open open pollinated seed varieties somewhat frustratingly some seed companies make it a little bit difficult to figure out when you're looking at a variety whether or not um you can save seed and reproduce it so I just like using these companies where you don't have to do the digging you can just know that everything you look at is going to be something you can save seed for and not have to buy seed from in the future I also like Baker Creek because they seem to be really popular on YouTube it seems like a lot of people use them for their seeds and so that way it's really easy to find varieties that other people are really excited about especially if they're in climates similar to mine and then I know right where to go so that's another reason why I tend to use them germination rates in my experience have been good um a couple were a little Hit or Miss they weren't like some of the other companies I'm about to talk about but they were good I think the only thing that I struggle with a little bit is they have these beautiful beautiful photos they take gorgeous photos of the produce that they're advertising which is really fun um just really I like eye candy it's really fun to look at it almost makes me want to order their entire Reed catalog which you actually have to pay for just because the photos are so beautiful which whoever their photographer is does a great job I will say I find it a little bit difficult just from a shopping perspective to like compare different kinds of peppers and different kinds of tomatoes because they're just arranged so beautifully and it's also artistic that I find it a little bit hard to pick what necessarily I'm looking for the art is wonderful but sometimes I just want a really plain photo of what I'm buying so that's why I started trying some of these other seed companies all right another seed company that I really love is Johnny's Seeds I actually used to get all of my seeds from Johnny's Seeds the pros being that they have amazing varieties they have a lot of hybrids that are going to grow really really well that are going to fit specific needs they offer a lot of specialty stuff too like pelleted carrot seeds so that they're easier to space correctly the first time instead of having to thin them out later which is actually the most time efficient way to do it they Market primarily to home gardeners obviously but also to kind of Small Time small Market Farms so that's really cool they have a lot of organic stuff uh just a really wide variety sometimes I have to do a little bit of digging whether the variety I'm looking at is open pollinated or heirloom or whether it's a hybrid usually it's very straightforward like it'll say F1 hybrid but not always and maybe that's my user error maybe if it's not saying it's a hybrid it just means it's not a hybrid but I like to be 100% certain if I'm going to be putting an entire season of growth and resources in into it that I will be able to save seed next year CU if you're thinking about it if you can't save seed next year then you're wait it takes like a year and a half 2 years figure that out so I would definitely want to make sure I'm getting it right the first time and the other reason I don't buy everything from Johnny's anymore is just because it is really expensive um and I'm not saying it's not worth it a lot of the stuff that you maybe you can't get anywhere else may very well be worth it but you have to spend last time I checked you typically have to spend over $200 to get free shipping and that shipping can add up really quickly if you know it's just for seed packets it can add up really quickly even then even things like the sweet potato slips and stuff usually have to pay shipping on top of that so awesome company I still look at them but I have been buying from them a lot less just cuz it's a very expensive way to buy seeds uh compared to some others that I found now my number one favorite is definitely going to be you guys tip me off to this if you look in this box everything almost is from Mi Garder I tried Mi Garder seeds last year for the the first time and I should mention none of this is sponsored or um I don't think I even have any affiliate links to any of these companies so it's not sponsored or anything but I do love IG Garder seeds here are the reasons why because number one my understanding is that all the seeds are either heirloom or open pollinated so you don't have to worry uh whether or not you can save seeds from the crops that you're going to get so it's really fun to just be able to go through all the photos pick out what you want and know that you're not going to be getting your hopes up and excited about something only to find out it's a hybrid you can't save seed that kind of thing so I love that I guess kind of a side note another benefit is that I love the YouTube channel I have learned a lot I think it's really straightforward information and uh definitely a great YouTube channel if you haven't checked it out but it's one of the biggest YouTube it's one of the biggest gardening channels on YouTube so I'm sure you have but number three reason that I love Mi Gardener is the in my opinion the amount of seeds you get for what you're paying is really good so it's I guess a really good value I find that the the bags are pretty much always packed Fuller than I expected them to be versus some of the others I've been a little disappointed to open them up and find especially with some of the bigger seed items like pumpkins and things that there's only so many seeds in there and it's really not as many as I was hoping for so I found the seed count in the packets are fantastic another thing I love is these seeds are so inexpensive compared to other seeds that's obviously a huge one especially if you're saving your own seeds guys I used to spend hundreds I mean and this was before inflation got crazy or anything like years ago but I used to easily spend a few hundred bucks on seeds and I got all my seeds for under $100 this year and I got a lot of varieties like I am starting a lot of new varieties that I haven't been able to save seed for yet so I think most of the packets I want to say are like $2 I'll correct that on the screen if that's wrong but most of the packets are super duper cheap and then on top of that M my Garder runs a ton of sales so every time that I've checked I've been able to find a discount code for more money off and then I pretty much every time qualify for free shipping I think it only takes a few packets of seeds to qualify for that so and then on top of that too like here's a free seed packet that just got thrown in this is a complimentary salad bowl mix so I've just been really excited about Mi Gardener thank you to everybody who tipped me off to that Seed Company uh really really happy there I think is a great value I love the open pollinated and heirloom varieties uh all good news there so those are my top three seed companies that I like to use uh as a couple bonuses I will add one bonus is going to be fet fet is a little on the expensive side again kind of get hit with shipping a lot of the time there too but floret has so many beautiful flower varieties that a lot of other places don't have so if you're looking for flower seeds especially Zenia Cosmos right now I'm not sure that they do dalas anymore unfortunately um I may be wrong in that so you can check it out but for flowers specifically specialty flowers fuet is kind of my go-to for anything that my Gardener doesn't have or any of the others and then the other one that I'm going to add I'm sure you all have heard of uh Burpee Seeds Burpee Seeds is pretty much everywhere you're going to find this one at most big box stores and things I honestly don't have any problem with burpee seeds they're a little on the pricey side compared to like Mi Gardener for example most of the time when you're going to be buying these seeds especially in peak season you know as gardening season is ramping up there's not going to be any sales on them or anything and I think this packet let's see this one is this from is 2021 and this packet was $1 169 I would guess that this packet would be close to closer to $3 now so I found that most of the packets have really gone up in price if not just straight up doubled so Burpee also has some varieties that I haven't been able to find anywhere else they have really fun varieties of like Cula is what I found they also had some really beautiful carnations that I didn't see anywhere else so even though it's a name you see everywhere I've had decent germination rates not as good as the Mi Gardener germination rates probably but still plenty good that I I'm not worried about it Burpee isn't necessarily what I order from from at the beginning of the Season like right now but I do like to use Burpee to kind of fill in the gaps later on or if I have poor germination rates for something that kind of thing I just use that one to fill in the Gap so I don't get hit with shipping charges on uh from companies like Johnny seeds or Baker Creek or Mi Gardner doesn't usually have shipping charges but uh they don't always have everything available they do sell out decently quickly on quite a few things so that's why I bought everything early from them this year thanks for watching today please leave any questions you have but otherwise we'll see you next time

Channel: Oak Abode

Views: 82,397

Keywords: migardener review, baker creek seed packet, Johnny seeds, gardening supplies, home gardener, starting young plants, hardening off tender transplants, where to buy seeds in 2024, what to grow in a vegetable garden, companion planting for beginners, grow fruit at home, edible landscaping, self sustainability, tomatoes, Wisconsin cucumber, harvesting squash, backyard harvest, heirloom vs hybrid, best open pollinated varieties, survival seed stash, preparedness, picking from home

Id: 5NoDbSZr7J8

Length: 10min 3sec (603 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 22 2023