If you’re wondering where to buy vegetable seeds and other plant seeds, we have a couple extensive lists of best garden seeds companies to help you along.

It’s Never too Early to Buy Seeds

During the 2020-2021 Covid-19 (and beyond) pandemic, all seed companies experienced shortages. Many were not back to full production even as late as 2022.

However, as you may have noticed, many companies and businesses are still not back to full inventory capacity. So now, no matter the time of year, it’s a good idea to order seeds early for an ample supply of more than one season’s planting for survival preparedness, just in case.

Planning, Picking and Ordering Seeds for the Garden

In typical times seed catalogs start coming in around January, and many during the week between Christmas and New Years, and the sooner you place your order, the better the chance of getting your selection.

Planning What to Grow in Your Garden

Gardeners longing for planting time can easily go overboard in ordering too many seeds. First of all, if this happens to you, the good news is that you can store seeds for a year or so.

However, the best way around that is with a clear garden plan.

In addition to the garden planner app, as an investor and investment educator, I use the value investing approach to help decide what to plant. Beyond that, most garden seed companies also have a lot of useful information on their websites to help you in whatever you’re wanting to plant and grow.

Online Saves Time

The Garden Planner app has a built-in program which generates a plant list with the seed companies that sell your variety.  This has been a real time-saver for us.

Sure, it takes a little learning period, but once you get your garden layout entered in, you can keep tweaking that year after year as you rotate beds, change and add new crops. You can even save your plan for each year so that you can look back and see your notes on how your garden grew, as well as garden failures and wins.

Two other advantages of ordering seeds online are the quick search capability, and shortening the order/delivery time.

We actually order a lot of things from Amazon because it’s fast and easy and with Amazon Prime, we’ve save lots in shipping. You can get a free 30-day trial to see how you like it and get free shipping on most or all orders, plus free movies, music, etc., so lots of perks.

We’ve been satisfied so far with seeds ordered from there as well, and many sellers are also reputable businesses with their own websites and nurseries. We’ve ordered a number of seeds from different vendors, including purple sweet potatoes, cucamelons and the new hybrid of Brussel sprouts and kale, which we’ve written about here: Kalettes.

No matter where you get your seeds from, just make sure to follow the seed packet instructions for planting them. Some seeds fail to germinate because they’ve not been given their best chance through scarification, stratification or soaking.

Gardening is a lot like cooking or painting. The best results come from proper preparation and cleanup, both of which take a lot more time that the gardening itself. Start with good soil and organic compost, heed the seed packet instructions, keep your garden watered, (we favor drip irrigation), and you’re well on your way.

Seeds Are Our Future

At GardensAll, we are very encouraged to see so many people interested in gardening, homesteading and self sufficiency through growing our own food. Many in the Gardens All Facebook community are also interested in earning a living—or supplemental income—from gardening and farming, on anything from acres of land to 1/8 of an acre.

No one said it would be easy, but many are proving it’s possible, and many more want to and are heading in that direction.

So whether you’re a beginner gardener, just getting into vegetable gardening for the first time, or a seasoned old-timer, this article includes information you might find helpful. From ordering seeds and planning your garden, this is a good place to start.

While some say it can’t be done, others are just doing it.

List of Seed Companies

This list of seed companies was originally researched, compiled, and shared by Planting for Retirement community member, Paulina Circelli during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020 that impacted so many. Thanks to Paulina for sharing this excellent, well-researched and alphabetically organized resource!

If you don’t see your favorite seed company please let us know the name and status and we will add it to this list. Also, please let us know, if you see a status that needs updating as well.

All of the companies on this list have taken the Safe Seed Pledge and Paulina has researched to the best of her ability, to ensure they don’t sell seeds from Seminis, Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, etc., or any of their affiliated companies.

The seed companies in this list sell heirloom, open pollinated, land raised, and organic seeds.

Seeds Companies are Swamped With Orders

All garden seed companies are reporting unprecedented volumes of orders. Those who are already gardening are ahead of the game. Those who are just starting… congratulations on taking action now! Once you grow your own food, chances are you always will as long as you’re able.

Some small seed companies had to close down during Covid. Some, due to being unable to meet demand while also tending their farm or homestead; others, due to personnel issues during quarantine.

Most, garden seed companies are back in operation now, however all are still experiencing reduced inventory and more out-of-stocks, especially as the season wears on. That’s due to a combination of a higher demand and a lower supply.

This list should help you find your way, and we will update periodically. Please let us know if you see any corrections or additions to make.

71 Garden Seeds Companies

Vegetable, Flower, and Medicinal Plant Seeds Listed Alphabetically

Updated 12/31/22

All companies on this list are currently open, in full production and shipping orders as usual, (unless otherwise indicated in this listing.

1. ✅ Adaptive Seeds – “Pacific Northwest Grown, Open Pollinated, and Organic Seed.”
2. ✅ Alliance of Native Seedkeepers – “Revitalizing Our Communities, Protecting Our Future”.
3. ✅ Amazon – multiple companies. We’ve ordered some plants and seeds from Amazon sellers with good success; just check the reviews.
4. ✅ American Meadows – “For years we have offered gardeners only the best wildflower seeds, flower bulbs, perennial plants and flowers, vegetable seeds and flower seed packets. The ones we grow in our own gardens.”
5. ✅ Annapolis Seeds – Vegetables, Herbs, Flowers, Grains, Mushrooms;
   NOTE: Based in Nova Scotia; currently shipping in Canada only.
6. ✅ Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds – “America’s top source for pure heirloom seeds.” And certainly our favorite go-to seed source!
7. ✅ Botanical Interests – “High quality seed and garden products.”
8. ✅ Burpee Seeds –  “Offers a broad range of novel and traditional vegetables, herbs, fruits, flowers, perennials, and quality gardening supplies.” 
9. ✅ Chauly’s Favorite Seeds – “Heirloom, open pollinated, organic gardening & non-gmo.”
   NOTE: Website name is BabyBows.com
10. ✅ Clear Creek Seeds – “Heirloom garden seeds… keeping heirlooms in the family.”
11. ✅ Diane’s Flower Seeds – “We sell heirloom seeds, including annual flower seeds, perennial flower seeds, heirloom vegetable and herb seeds.”
12. ✅ Eden Brothers – The Seediest Place on Earth.” “Selection includes over 700 different vegetable & herb seeds.”
13. ✅ Field and Forest Products – “We can help you get started with superior certified organic mushroom spawn, indoor mushroom grow kits, tools, technical information, and good advice.”
14. ✅ Filaree Garlic Farm – Garlic, potatoes, asparagus crowns… open and shipping
15. ✅ Forgotten Heirlooms – “Rareseeds for Heirloom Tomatoes, Exotic Peppers, Cool Beans and More at Affordable Prices.”
16. ✅ Fruition Seeds – “Organic seeds and trees for short seasons.”
17. ✅ Full Circle Seeds – “Culinary, Medicinal, Flowering, Unique, Edible, Grains”
    NOTE: Based in Sooke, British Columbia, Canada; Shipping within Canada only; not currently shipping to the US due to customs challenges.
18. ✅ Great Lakes Staple Seeds – “100% Michigan Grown Staple Crop Seeds that Empower Your Plant-based Lifestyle Goals.”
19. ✅ High Mowing Seeds – “Our goal to leverage the power of seed to transform our world.” 
20. ✅ Hudson Valley Seed Company – “Your source for heirloom and open-pollinated garden seeds and beautiful garden-themed contemporary art.”
21. ✅ Hume Seeds – “Ed Hume [of Gardening in America show] has the longest continuously running gardening show in America.” 
22. ✅ Irish Eyes – “a small scale, family owned organic farm that provides the highest quality, most affordable, and diverse selection of organic seeds and plants.”
23. ✅ J. L. Hudson Seedsman – “A public access seed bank established in 1911”!
24. ✅ Johnny’s Seeds – 100% employee owned; “Our mission is helping families, friends, and communities to feed one another by providing superior seeds, tools, information, and service.”
25. ✅ Kitazawa Seed Co: – “Your source for Asian vegetable seeds for 104 years.”
26. ✅ Kusa Seed Society – “Practical Work With Seedcrops   —  Research Work on ‘Sacred Grasses’
    “Work for the Future, Being Done Today”. [Unable to fulfill orders at time due to personal circumstances; you can request to be notified by email when they resume].
27. ✅ Little Shop of Seeds – Fully stocked for 2023; owner retiring after 2023, so it’s the last year for purchasing seeds from here.
28. ✅ Maine Potato Lady – The Maine Potato Lady is a certified organic handler (#0706) through MOFGA Certification Services, LLC. All our seed is untreated. 
29. ✅ Mary’s Heirloom Seeds –  a “mom and pop” small business created to help people become more sustainable and self-sufficient.” 
30. ✅ Meadowlark Hearth – “All seed offered is open-pollinated, including heirloom varieties certified organic seed.”
31. ✅ MI Gardener – “Grow Big or Go Home”; “Empowering others to establish food security through home gardening.” 
32. ✅ Native-Seeds – a non-profit whose mission is “to conserve and promote the arid-adapted crop diversity of the Southwest in support of sustainable farming and food security.”
33. ✅ Ohio Heirloom Seeds – “For People Who Eat What They Grow™”
34. ✅ Oikos Tree Crops – “Ecological Enrichment: New Seeds, New Plants, New Ideas.” Seeds, roots, fruit & nut trees, tubers, rhizomes, berries, rare plants
35. ✅ Old House Gardens – “America’s expert source for heirloom flower bulbs.”
36. ✅ Open Circle Seeds – “Here is the Open Source Seed Initiative Pledge: You have the freedom to use these OSSI-pledged seeds in any way you choose….”
37. ✅ Pinetree Garden Seeds: (DBA: Super Seeds) “Your source for seeds and supplies, helping the home gardener succeed since 1979.”
38. ✅ Plant Good Seed – “The mission of The Plant Good Seed Company is connecting plants and people. We offer vegetable, flower, and herb seed varieties sourced directly from our farm in Ojai, California and a network of growers that reflect our agriculture ethic.”
39. ✅ Prairie Moon Nursery – “Native plants for gardening and restoration.” Based in Winona, MN.
40. ✅ Prairie Road Organic Seed – “Select certified organic garden seed, from our garden to yours.”
41. ✅ Project Purity Seeds – Shipping seeds as usual
42. ✅ Project Tree Collard – “Helping communities grow food security.” Tree Collard seeds, plants, and cuttings of perennial vegetables, fruit and herbs.
43. ✅ Renaissance Farms – “Preserving the diversity of tomato seeds for future generations is the heart of our mission. Our focus is to bring you the highest quality heirloom and open-pollinated tomato seeds grown with the best organic practices possible.”
44. ✅ Resilient Seeds – “Resilient Seeds is a one-woman operation, a labor of love, a search for sustainability, and a desire to do work that is connected to the earth in a good way.” 
45. ✅ Restoration Seeds – “Preventing seeds from extinction. Selling 100% savable open pollinated seeds.”
46. ✅ Richter’s – “Your best source for everything herbal.”
47. ✅ Roughwood Seeds – “The Roughwood Center for Heritage Seedways is a Pennsylvania based 501c3 non-profit educational organization devoted to heritage foods prepared from heritage seeds.”
48. ✅ Salt Spring Seeds – “Specializes in heritage and heirloom open-pollinated and non-GMO seed varieties of vegetables and plants.” BC, Canada
49. ✅ Sandhill Preservation Center – “Our goal and mission is genetic preservation and education on the importance of diversity in our food crops.”
50. ✅ Seeds for Generations – “Our family business sells 100% heirloom/open pollinated vegetable seeds and related gardening products.”
51. ✅ Seeds From Italy – “The U.S. distributor for Franchi Seeds, Italy’s oldest family-owned seed company, founded in 1783.”
52. ✅ Seed Needs – Heirloom, non-GMO and untreated, “with over 5 million seed packets sold & more than 2,000,000 orders shipped.”
53. ✅Seeds Now – “All of our seeds are 100% non-GMO,  heirloom, non-hybrid, open-pollinated (op), raw & un-treated.”
54. ✅ Seeds of the Prairie – “Vibrant seeds for native planting, restoration, and gardening in the prairie states.”
55. ✅ Seed Savers Exchange – “Keeping heirloom seeds where they belong, in our gardens & on our tables.”
56. ✅ Seed Treasures – “Open pollinated and heirloom seeds from our Northern Minnesota, off grid, 200 acre homestead is way back in the woods.”
57. ✅ Siskiyou Seeds – “a bio-regional seed hub that produces open-pollinated & heirloom seeds on our home farm in South West Oregon using organic practices and biodynamic methods. “
58. ✅ Southern Exposure Seed Exchange – “We encourage cooperative self-reliance in agriculture. We promote and participate in seed saving and exchange, ecological agriculture.”
59. ✅ Sow True Seed – “Sow True Seed is a collection of over 500 types of GMO-free vegetable, herb and flower seeds.”
60. ✅ Strictly Medicinal Seeds – Located in the town of Williams in Southern Oregon, in 1985, the Cech family, started Horizon Herbs, LLC, growing gardens of diverse medicinal herbs.” 
61. ✅ Territorial Seed Company – “When quality matters, plant Territorial Seed.”
62. ✅ Terroir Seeds – “We believe in healthy soil, seed, food and people.”
63. ✅ The Seed Guy – Heirloom seeds; shipping as usual.
64. ✅ Tomato Fest – the tomato lovers paradise.
65. ✅ True Leaf Market – An independent non-gmo seed company in operation since 1974.
66. ✅ Truelove Seeds – “Truelove Seeds is a farm-based seed company offering culturally important and open pollinated vegetable, herb, and flower seeds.” 
67. ✅ Turtle Tree Seed – “Offering 385+ varieties of open-pollinated, Demeter certified Biodynamic ®, and organic vegetable, flower and herb seeds.”
68. ✅ Uprising Seeds – “Open pollinated & certified organic seeds for all the vegetable varieties we love as well as seeds for specialty cut flowers, herbs & grains.”
69. ✅ Vermont Wildflower Farm – “Established in 1981 is a hands-on kind of company! We are family owned and operated.”
70. ✅ Victory Seeds – “Family owned and operated, passionate about providing the highest quality seed of the best varieties available to home gardeners.”
71. ✅ Wood Prairie Family Farm – “Certified Organic Seed Direct from our Maine Family Farm.

The Good Arising from the Bad of Covid-19

In these strange Covid times we’re in, we see more people taking up gardening and growing their own food as a very positive thing. If that’s the result of this Covid-19 scare, then that may also be the birth of more good to come, such as a return to the family farm.

RELATED: Finding the good in the bad.

Enjoy a Free Seed Starting Guide from Botanical Interests Seed Company

Family Business Ideas Around Growing for Profit

Families working together and at home together more often is a tremendous positive as well. Many will end up starting their own businesses from home… yet another positive. If that’s a topic that interests you, we have a number of articles on ideas for making money from yard gardens and more:

Articles on Making Money from Your Yard and Garden

• Landscape vegetable gardening business
• Make money farming from home
• Small Farm organic gardening for profit
• Specialty crops to grow for profit
• Urban homestead gardening for profit on just 1/8 acre
• The Market Gardener
• Mushroom farmer – she started it in her basement!
• The family farm and a millennial farmer

RELATED articles from our sister site: 15 reasons not to go to college.

And… you’ll find others linked from each of these as well, but this should get your creative juices flowing.

The Flag and Tag Hard Copy Method

Something about turning real pages, tabbing, and marking them up can be really satisfying. Some catalogs carry bonus features like planting charts and garden books. No batteries or Wifi required either!

Seed Shopping Tips

• Shop and Compare – You may find prices varying as much as 50%!
• Minimize Shipping Costs – Place orders with friends, family and neighbors. Order for the entire growing season as much as possible.
• Seed Storage – Safely store your seeds to keep them viable as long as possible.
• Think Local – Look for varieties and vendors in your grow zone.
• Make Contact – Chat, email, phone to ask questions and get direct answers. It never hurts to ask. The customer service you receive may help you decide which will be your favorite company!
• Have a Plan – To repeat, this will help you to avoid wasteful impulse purchases… don’t we know it! Create a garden plan, then stick to it. Mind you, that can include a section for experimental growing, but keep in mind what will most serve your family first, all things considered.

This article on what vegetable to grow and how to decide may also help.

To identify quality seed vendors, we’ve listed a whole bunch of seed companies favored by fans of Mother Earth News and researchers at Organic Gardening. Also, there’s a list for those interested in heirloom seeds that allow you to collect “true” seeds and grow the same varieties year after year.

You may also be interested in this GardensAll article on saving and storing seeds.

NEXT: The best of garden seeds companies.

Mother Earth’s Top 15 Vegetable Seed Companies

1. Johnny’s Selected Seeds (Winslow, Maine)
2. Seed Savers Exchange (Decorah, Iowa)
3. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (Mansfield, Mo.)
4. Burpee Seeds and Plants (Warminster, Pa.)
5. Territorial Seed Company (Cottage Grove, Ore.)
6. Seeds of Change (Rancho Dominguez, Calif.)
7. Ferry-Morse Seed Company (Fulton, Ky.)
8. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (Mineral, Va.)
9. High Mowing Organic Seeds (Wolcott, Vt.)
10. Fedco Seeds (Waterville, Maine)
11. Nichols Garden Nursery (Albany, Ore.)
12. The Cook’s Garden (Warminster, Pa.)
13. Botanical Interests (Broomfield, Colo.)
14. Renee’s Garden Seeds (Felton, Calif.)
15. Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply (Grass Valley, Calif.)

SOURCE: MotherEarthNews.com^[1]https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/best-vegetable-seed-companies-zm0z11zsto.aspx?PageId=1#axzz3MTK1TNIO

Rodale’s OrganicLife Favorite Garden Seeds Suppliers

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co. (Not organic-certified, but open pollinated, germination tested, untreated and non-GMO)
2278 Baker Creek Road, Mansfield, MO 65704
417-924-8917

W. Atlee Burpee & Co. (Non-GMO, limited varieties of both Organic and Heirloom)
300 Park Ave., Warminster, PA 18974
800-333-5808

Fedco Seeds (Organic and open pollinated varieties)
PO Box 520, Waterville, ME 04903
207-873-7333

High Mowing Seeds (Heirloom and organic)
76 Quarry Rd., Wolcott, VT 05680
802-472-6174

Johnny’s Selected Seeds (All kinds of heirlooms and organics)
955 Benton Ave., Winslow, ME 04901
877-564-6697

John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds
PO Box 638, Bantam, CT 06750
860-567-6086

Nichols Garden Nursery
1190 Old Salem Rd. NE, Albany, OR 97321
800-422-3985

Renee’s Garden
888-880-7228
(no print catalog)

Seed Savers Exchange
3094 N. Winn Rd., Decorah, IA 52101
563-382-5990

Seeds of Change
P.O. Box 4908, Rancho Dominguez, CA 90220
888-762-7333

GardensAll Local NC Seed Companies

And last but not least, here’s a listing of our local North Carolina sources for heirloom seeds including many organics.

Sow True Seed
146 Church Street, Asheville, NC 28801
828-254-0708

Eden Brothers
34 Old Brevard Road,
Asheville, NC 28806
828-633-6338

For fun and historical interest, we enjoyed this story of the Burpee Seed company and thought you might as well.

The Burpee Story

One of our favorite companies is Burpee. The Burpee Seed Company is non-GMO with ample organic selections, and the origin story of this 135+ year old company is inspiring and shares many parallels with current times.

The Legacy of The W. Atlee Burpee company

In the year 1876, as the great Philadelphia Centennial Exposition opened, the United States was still recovering from the cataclysmic upheaval of the Civil War, the agonies of Reconstruction, and a severe economic depression. Yet the mood of Americans, inspired largely by the industrial revolution and westward expansion, was one of almost unrestrained optimism, along with faith in scientific, social, and cultural progress resulting from self-reliant, individual achievement.
SOURCE: Burpee.com

Optimism, Hope and Faith

We love the Burpee origins story. Besides the independent entrepreneurial spirit of its founder, W. Atlee Burpee, it parallels our current times, where there’s recovery, fear, struggle, concern, and yet a restorative energetic hopefulness, innate in the American spirit.

We see gardeners, homesteaders and those seeking to return to simpler times of growing their own food, family values and even working together on the family farm. This is the raw and real American bootstrapped, innovative work ethic, representing the best of the American soul in independence, freedom, resiliency and self-sufficiency, and we are very hopeful for the future.

There is an aching for a return to simpler times of family values and working together in family business and on the family farm.

Sure, it’s a rocky road but it’s leading to better things. From the Industrial revolution of the late 1800’s to the “Internet revolution” that places the world of possibilities at our individual and collective fingertips… to the seeds we each plant that grow vegetables, fruits, trees and more to feed our families and beyond.

There is much about which to be hopeful and positive and what we focus on grows. So let’s focus on the positives and we’ll have more of that.

Today is the seed of tomorrow. Let’s plant it well.
~LeAura Alderson, GardensAll.com

You may enjoy these other garden memes here.

Stay Well, Optimistic, Resilient and Hardy Friends

We hope this unprecedented historical event will find you resilient and pivoting into better things for you and your family. May you weather this storm well enough to enjoy the rainbows on the other side.

Thanks again to Planting for Retirement community member, Paulina Circelli for taking the time to research, compile and then share this list with us. It’s a wonderful example of how one person’s actions can create a positive ripple effect, benefitting many by the simple act of sharing.