My favorite free seed catalogs for 2023 (Garden Betty)
1. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (Mansfield, MO)
If you’ve been following my blog for some time, you know I’m a big fan of Baker Creek. (Disclosure: They’ve carried my cookbooks in their catalog and had me speak at their events in the past.)
Baker Creek specializes in heirloom seeds, many of which they grow and trial on their farm in Missouri. (Check out my behind-the-scenes tour of Baker Creek headquarters.)
Many of the plants I’ve profiled on my blog (like Mexican Sour Gherkin cucumbers (cucamelons), Romanesco broccoli, Purple of Romagna artichokes, fish peppers, and Black Futsu squash) came from Baker Creek seeds.
The flagship Whole Seed Catalog is big and beautiful (over 500 pages!) and reads like a hefty magazine (kind of like the September issue of Vogue… but picture wide-grinned farmers instead of aloof supermodels).
It’s chock full of seed history, growing resources, recipes, and page after page of eye candy featuring more than 1,000 heirloom seed varieties (which, if you can believe it, is only a fraction of their full selection).
They also offer a free smaller catalog upon request, or you can browse their selection online.
2. Kitazawa Seed Company (Oakland, CA)
This was one of the first seed companies I ever ordered from, and they continue to be an important source for many of the herb and vegetable seeds I sow each year.
Since 1917, Kitazawa has specialized in Asian seeds and their selection is vast for a specialty seed supplier (over 500 varieties of Asian vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers).
They carry seeds I’ve never seen anywhere else, like hard-to-find Vietnamese herbs, Japanese radishes, Korean gochujang peppers (the same kind that’s dried and ground to a powder for kimchi), and dozens of Chinese cabbage varieties. Flipping through their catalog makes me nostalgic for my family’s home cooking!
Kitazawa sends out a no-frills garden seed catalog every year, but you can also download it as a PDF.
3. Botanical Interests (Broomfield, CO)
I love ordering from Botanical Interests because their seed packets are beautiful and hands down, the best I’ve seen from any seed supplier.
Each packet features a detailed artist’s rendering of the plant in front. Peel open the packet and inside you’ll find a mini encyclopedia filled with an incredible amount of information on growing, harvesting, pest control, cooking tips, and plant history.
If you’re new to growing, you can’t go wrong with Botanical Interests because they’re truly invested in your success as a gardener.
They carry a curated selection of just over 600 varieties of organic, heirloom, and native seeds. You can request a seed catalog in the mail or browse a digital version online.
4. Seed Savers Exchange (Decorah, IA)
Much more than just a garden seed company, Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving biodiversity in food crops.
They collect and store thousands of rare heirloom seed varieties in the country’s largest nongovernmental seed bank, and operate the world’s largest online seed exchange where members can search and swap open-pollinated seeds and plants.
If you’re in their neck of the woods, you can visit the display gardens and farm where a lot of their work takes place.
For everyone else, Seed Savers Exchange offers a beautiful print catalog and digital catalog, or you can shop their vegetable, herb, and flower seeds online.
5. Fedco Seeds (Clinton, ME)
Fedco is different from many other seed companies in that it’s a cooperative owned by its consumers and worker members, who share in the profits through annual dividends.
They’re also one of the few seed companies that specialize in cold-hardy plant varieties (they’re based in the northeast, after all) and their seeds are specially adapted to harsh climates. So if you often struggle with producing a good crop, you’ll be interested in their short-season varieties.
I mostly know them for their seed selection, but Fedco also carries seed potatoes, onion sets, trees, and bulbs. They operate seasonally, which helps keep prices low.
Fedco prints three different catalogs for their various divisions. You can request a mail-order catalog, download a PDF version, or shop online.
6. High Mowing Organic Seeds (Wolcott, VT)
High Mowing Organic Seeds is one of the few garden seed companies that is 100 percent certified organic and Non-GMO Project Verified.
They also spearheaded the Safe Seed Pledge in 1999 and recruited nine other seed companies to sign a statement against genetic engineering. (The pledge has since been signed by more than 370 seed companies worldwide, including many on this list.)
High Mowing puts out consistently high-quality vegetable, fruit, herb, and flower seeds every year that are certified organic. (But don’t confuse organic with heirloom—the company sells open-pollinated heirlooms as well as hybrid seeds bred for flavor, yield, and disease resistance.)
Their seed catalog (available by mail and online) is unlike other garden seed catalogs in that it also features personal profiles on the growers, farmers, and gardeners who use their seeds. They’re a great bonus read!
7. Pinetree Garden Seeds (New Gloucester, ME)
Pinetree is new to me as a garden seed company, though they’ve been around for over 40 years. (Disclosure: They’ve sent me free seeds in the past, which is how I was introduced to them.)
I’ve only been using their seeds for the past few years, but have strong germination rates and productive harvests every time, so I feel confident in recommending them.
Pinetree Garden Seeds is a family-owned and operated business with an extensive catalog of vegetable, herb, and flower seeds (over 1,300 varieties), along with live plants, tubers, seed garlic, mushroom logs, gardening supplies, soap-making supplies, tea, spices, and books. It’s a bit mind-boggling how much they carry!
They have an excellent full-color catalog that you can request by mail, or you can browse their PDF catalog online.
8. Filaree Garlic Farm (Okanogan Valley, WA)
This seed company sets itself apart from traditional seed companies in that it specializes in seed garlic, shallot sets, onion sets, seed potatoes, sweet potato slips, and asparagus crowns.
In other words, their “seeds” have already been started for you. I’ve ordered their seed garlic in years past (with great success in growing garlic, harvesting garlic, and curing and storing garlic), and recently planted an asparagus bed with their Purple Passion crowns.
They have one of the best garlic selections I’ve found and once you’ve grown your own, supermarket garlic just feels meh. (But I guess that can be said for everything else you grow yourself!)
https://www.gardenbetty.com/best-garden-seed-catalogs/
So far, not a single catalog. OTOH, between saved
seeds, and some ordered from the Web, I’m not really missing them.
Diana, here: For those of you new to gardening who want to grow varieties that are tried and true and tested, or those of you ‘experienced’ gardeners that have done all the ‘experimenting’ you need to and just want reliable varieties that PRODUCE for you each season, AAS Winners are for you!
“AAS WINNERS are flowers and vegetables that have been “Tested Nationally & Proven Locally.™” Each AAS entry is tested for superior garden performance by horticulture professionals across North America.”
https://all-americaselections.org/winners/
Baker Creek is about 100 miles from me and I used to live in the area. One of these days I’ll make it to one of their harvest festivals. Shettler’s, a Mennonite run discount grocery store also has a few locations there so a shopping trip there will pay for half my fuel.
This year, more than ever, it’s about price.
Seeds n Such beats everyone on both purchase price and shipping costs.
seednsuch.com
During the Gopher Wars of 2022, I stuck umpteen smashed cloves of garlic in holes all over the yard to try to deter them by smell. The attempt failed, but I’ve got the best-looking crop of garlic plants you ever saw. Even though it’s winter!
The local Ace Hardware gave me several packets of heirloom tomato seeds for FREE at the end of the summer, when Corporate had directed them to either unload them or throw them away. Will see if I can get some Abe Lincolns growing this spring. Looking forward to our town’s Seed Swap next Saturday as well.
A few companies to check out. I’ll probably add more later:
https://greatlakesstapleseeds.com/
-They have the 3rd-largest collection of heirloom grain seeds I’ve ever seen in an online company. Also a huge selection of legumes and other vegetables.
https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/
-By the breeders, for the breeders. This company is different in that the “store” portion is almost a side-effect. They started with the goal of encouraging the development of more resilient crops, and the preservation of rare heirlooms. The selection offered by this company changes constantly, so it’s worth checking back every month or so, even outside the normal “seed ordering” season.
https://www.cultivariable.com/
-This is what happens when a person obsessed with plant-breeding also has the executive function needed to run a business. William Whitson tends to focus on potatoes and other root vegetables, making this site the #1 source of True Potato Seed (TPS) in North America. Possibly the entire northern hemisphere! He also offers hard-to-find South American vegetables such as yacon and ulluco, and several strains of edible dahlia, among other things.
(If you have a stash of seeds for survival purposes, I strongly recommend adding a few packets of TPS. They can keep for years when properly stored, and give you a way to rebuild your supply of seed potatoes if something happens to your potato crop.)
https://www.nativeseeds.org/pages/seeds
-This company sells excess seeds as a way to raise money for their preservation work. Their primary goal is to identify and preserve varieties that do well in the arid regions of the southwest, and help Native Americans of that region regain their self-sufficient ways. As such, you’ll find varieties here that are hard to find elsewhere. Their collection of tepary beans alone is amazing! They also carry wild forms of some things such as luffa gourds. The selection varies by year, because they only sell seeds when they have excess amounts of a given variety.
Hi Diana,
How about Sand Hill Preservation? They have some interesting varieties.
https://www.sandhillpreservation.com/