I don't know about everyone else, but I usually order my seed in late Jan. or early Feb.

"Hello, my name is Booberry 85, and I am a compulsive seed collector."

For zone 4 or 5 buying seeds in January or February is fine. However, I like to collect seeds and participate in a lot of seed swaps and seed round robins. So I'm still looking for places to buy seeds now. Your right, a lot of places have varieties of seeds sold out.

jwstell42

I like to purchase many seeds in the fall when seed companies put their left-overs on sale, sometimes 2 for 1 or full price for 1, a penny for the second. You just need to be sure to purchase seeds that have a long shelf-life.

That means no leek, onion, or parsnip seeds, which are thought to be viable only about a year. Still, the number of years given in the link below is not set in concrete. The older seeds may have a lower germination rate but are fine if you take that into account and plant accordingly.

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Viability, Years

I like to order seeds just after the first flush is over. Hopefully the old seeds are gone and there is plenty of new seeds in stock. This time is December and January.

Anney:

I have a similar list of vegetable seed shelf life. One big difference was mine gave one year for lettuce, and yours gives five years.

Bob

Bob

Maybe it's head lettuce that has a short shelf-life? I grow only leaf, romaine, and butterheads, and those seeds seem to remain viable for years and years!

I am not sure I understand the question. I last bought cabbage seeds in 2000. If you keep your seeds in the freezer, they last indefinitely.

Also, when will your garden plans for 2009 solidify? I try not to buy seeds until I am sure of what I want to grow and have a plan I know will fit in the space I have. Otherwise, I end up with seeds for which I have no space or which are no longer of interest.

Jim

I just finished building the last of my beds, so I'm going to start laying out the "definite" items i want and see what room i have left over.

From what I read above "most" people buy in the winter, but it wouldn't hurt if I decided to buy some early as even if they are a year old, they should still be good for a few years to come.

That's important to me, as I don't want to do what I did this year, and waste a whole seed packet for no reason :)

I only plant maybe 1/3 of each seed packet (depending on the veggie of course), and it would be nice to save them for a few years til I've used them up!

Thanks for all the replies.

Something to consider....my friend and I split the years seed requirements. Neither of us has the space for 1500 carrots or 30 hot pepper plants! We split the cost down the middle and split the seed by weight with a regular kitchen scale. This also allows for each of us to have more variety.

"Something to consider....my friend and I split the years seed requirements."

Definitely.

Not only can that save you money initially, but having a circle of people you can trust who grow what you grow that can save their seed keeps you from having to "make seed" for everything in your garden next season.

It's also great if you want to buy some pricey hybrid seed, but you only want to grow a few plants a season vs. the 20-30 seeds in the "mini" packets. I like slicer cukes, but I can't imagine ever needing more than 4-6 plants a season, myself.