Seed shortages could imperil home gardens

MSNBC ^ | 2/1/10 | AP

[Daisyjane69]

DES MOINES, Iowa - Dreaming of biting into a garden-fresh cucumber sandwich this summer? Better order your seeds now.

A poor growing season last year and increased orders from Europe could make it difficult for home gardeners to get seeds for the most popular cucumber variety and some vegetables this spring. Farmers, who usually grow different varieties than home gardeners, aren't likely to be affected.

[cripplecreek]

I ordered early so I can get things started in the greenhouse by the end of this month.

[Daisyjane69]

Smart idea.

Just a fair warning for our fellow FReeper gardeners!

:)

[cripplecreek]

I was talking to the owner of the local veggie farm the other day and he sounded the alarm for me. He took a beating on tomatoes last summer.

[cherry]

at the Fred Meyers they already have their seed sales going on....and they seem to have a ton of seeds....

nonetheless...I'll get mine tomorrow....

[NEPA]

Home Depot and Lowes are also well stocked on seed

[doodad]

ping for the garden list

[NorthWoody]

Survival Seed Bank advertised on Glenn Beck's radio show.

[Daisyjane69]

thanks for doing that. I meant to ping our garden list, but I hit the Send button too fast!

[FrankR]

"at the Fred Meyers they already have their seed sales going on....and they seem to have a ton of seeds...."

See.

And Freeper NEPA says Home Depot and Lowes have plenty too. I think this is just fear-mongering from MSNBC. You know they love to paint the best gloom and doom stories they can.

Their ratings over there are so low, they're trying to plant some "seeds" of their own...you know how those liberals love a crisis.

[who knows what evil?]

Buy heirloom, and save your own seed. Most of the seed sold at box stores is GMO or hybrid crap.

[raybbr]

Survival Seed Bank advertised on Glenn Beck's radio show.

I have always heard that. Now I know why I didn't check it out. About half of those plants provide nutrition and the other half is a waste.

[NorthWoody]

I don’t know enough about gardening or veggie nutrition to know the difference.

Mighty hefty price tag on it too, but if it does actually keep for 20 years as they claim, then it’s worth it, provided the seeds will grow good, nutritious crops.

[Red_Devil 232]

I asked the FReeper Gardeners on this thread  Weekly Gardening Thread – 2010 Vol. 02 – January 15   if they were having problems ordering or finding seeds and the consensus was - No.

[cripplecreek]

Its early. If there is any real shortage I suspect we’ll see it in mid March or later.

[who knows what evil?]

Consider the source for this article...MSNBC. Not credible...just trying to stir the pot. I order early, but that is because I don’t want to miss out on anything unusual I am looking for...everything arrived with the exception of two packs on ‘back order’.

[o_zarkman44]

I haven’t ordered any seeds yet this year. but I have a whole bunch of seed left I didn’t plant last year. I will still order some extra, but trying to start re-using my heirlooms I have been saving.
I will be ordering my new heirlooms next week. Hopefully I can get everything I order.

[who knows what evil?]

‘Survival Seed Bank’ sounds like one of those recycled ‘Y2K’ outfits...way overpriced, and some those seeds aren’t going to do that well in certain areas of the country.

[who knows what evil?]

Ever done business with Missouri’s ‘Baker Creek Seeds’? They have one of the nicest seed catalogs I have EVER seen...

[gardengirl]

For the most part, we’ve gotten what we ordered. A few things were bo’d or not available. Nothing unusual. There’s always something that had crop failure last year. Consider that a bunch of the crops grown for seed are planted out west—Texas, New Mexico, etc. Ours, anyway.

OTOH, if it doesn’t STOP raining, I’m not going to be able to plant anything but rice, and right now, rice would prob drown!

Anybody know where I can get rice seed? LOL