One other note. (Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer. Seek legal advice.) Collecting seeds from plants that are not heirloom seeds generally is illegal; it is considered stealing. Also, the new seed may not have all the same characteristics as the parent plant.
Don't just buy seeds and put them away for safe keeping. Those of you who don't know how / have no experience gardening need to start this coming season (starting in March. Yes, March). There is a lot to learn in gardening, with every mistake costing you a year. I've been doing it for several years now, and I still suck at it.
I still can't grow carrots larger than toothpicks. Rabbits, rodents, birds, and insects devote more time to eating your produce than you have to spend defending it. It seems like more lima beans are sowed than harvested. And let's not forget the friendly, neighborhood Tru-Brown than shows up to your neighbors yard blowing poison on a windy day.
This is not meant to discourage new gardeners. It's meant to discourage collecting seeds, putting them in storage for long periods of time (they do die off), and relying on ill-informed, pre-conceived notions of gardening to help you survive a collapse. Don't bother buying seeds if you are not going to sow them this spring, summer, & fall.
As to the question, I buy most seeds from Johnnyseeds dot com and potatoes from Rural King.
One other note. (Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer. Seek legal advice.) Collecting seeds from plants that are not heirloom seeds generally is illegal; it is considered stealing. Also, the new seed may not have all the same characteristics as the parent plant.
Don't just buy seeds and put them away for safe keeping. Those of you who don't know how / have no experience gardening need to start this coming season (starting in March. Yes, March). There is a lot to learn in gardening, with every mistake costing you a year. I've been doing it for several years now, and I still suck at it.
Last year I was suckered into shopping with wife. She stopped at a store called "The Christmas Tree" in Greenwood. They had heirloom seeds for $.025 a packet. Needless to say, I bought 100 packets of various fruits/vegetables
That's what I'm looking for...3 cent packs! Heck, I'd even pay 30 cents each for quality packs!
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: Rare Heirloom Seeds | Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
An incredible variety of foods you know and some you never heard of. Love their offerings and they have performed well for us.
I would note that the last two years, I have gotten one or two seed packs from Burpee that did not germinate at all or at a poor rate.
Spinach is one of them that only had a couple plants come up and even they were little scrawny things./That's interesting, I had some Spinach seed from Burpee and some from Ferry Morse (dollar store impulse buy). I've always had trouble with Spinach germination and I always plant a lot of seed and thin as needed. But, this spring the Burpee Spinach didn't germinate nearly as well as the other.
I've been continuing to work on saving seeds. This year I have some parsnips from last season that I left to go to seed this year. So far so good. I routinely save beans, romaine lettuce, some spinach, and turnips, and I've been trying to work in at least one other plant for seed each season.
I've been planting the same garlic for 15 years now, and this year, for the first time, all my potatoes were from last seasons saved left-overs.