At Gardening in the Desert, we are big on seed saving, seed collecting, and seed sharing. We save seeds from our own crops to share and keep for future use. We do carry a small selection of our saved seeds for purchase on our shop page. Our wildflower collection is perfect for tossing out right now in anticipation of winter rains and a fantastic spring display.
As I, Ayshica, started getting more comfortable with gardening, I started to acquire a vast seed collection. I became familiar with many seed companies and there were a few that I kept going back to time and again. Here are my favorites – not in any order of any preference, I value all of them for different reasons.
There are a few more that I am really intrigued by, and I will add them once I have purchased and grown their seeds.
Adaptive Seeds
I currently have my eye on the Brightstone and Marvel of Piedmont beans at Adaptive Seed. In addition, they carry some more rare options like Black Sicilian garbanzo and Kali Black mung bean. Their lettuce selection is also worthy of mention, with several varieties I am not familiar with. I have chosen the Mikola butter and Pandero Red Romaine to add to my garden this winter, but there are so many more options I want. Another great option on offer is the Doucette D’ Algers, which is native to Northern Africa. This is a great green for the warmer weather and is similar to mache or corn salad. It produces lovely purple flowers loved by pollinators. Click on the green button to connect to Adaptive Seeds.
Baker Creek Seeds
Almost everyone who gardens is familiar with Baker Creek Seeds. They carry a very generous selection of seeds. They add new varieties every year, always include a packet of free seeds with orders, and offer free shipping. The yearly Whole Seed catalog is packed with exciting seeds and worthy information. The huge selection of Brad Gates tomatoes is my favorite thing about their website. I also really enjoy the customer reviews on the varieties they carry, especially when the reviewer is from Arizona or another desert climate.
Fruition Seeds
Fruition Seeds seems like an odd one to have on my list since they have seeds that are suited to the Northeast. However, their seeds are perfect for our fall and winter gardening! The Romano beans, for example, are perfect for planting in late September and I am loving the deep purple stems. Another favorite is the Maxiglot pea, which is fat and sweet on very tall plants. There is also a good selection of salad mixes such as the Fruition Seed salad mix or the Provence salad mix. She also has an impressive herb selection with less commonly found items like black cumin, marshmallow, and arnica.
HERITAGE SEED MARKET
This is a favorite because it is a smaller company with great options. There are always seeds marked down for sale, there’s a constant addition of new options and always a free gift of seeds. I particularly love their selection of lesser-known and newer varieties of tomatoes. The product descriptions on the website are excellent and the owner just added a page listing her favorite varieties. I am all about supporting smaller companies and Heritage Seed Market definitely deserves your attention and support.
nATIVE SEED
Native Seed is located in Tuscon and definitely worth a visit if in the area. They carry desert-adapted seeds and I highly recommend planting their seeds for the monsoon planting season. They have a vast selection of Southwestern dried chilies, grains, flours and more available for sale both in-store and online. I am particularly excited by their chili, squash and tepary bean selection. Native Seed offers a membership with benefits to some rare and limited seed offers.
ROUGHWOOD SEEDS
Roughwood carries an exciting collection of Heirloom seeds. The company was started by William Woys Weaver and his collection of seeds. His book Heirloom Vegetable Gardening is a must for any gardener. Stephen Smith has joined as the seed collection manager, adding his knowledge and also some lovely varieties of seeds to the collection. Stephen is a guru on all things corn and beans. He recently released his first book “Maize: Roots, Shoots and Moccasin Boots,” the perfect gift for the seed crazy person in your life. The unique blue and black turmeric, pretzel beans, and interesting tomatoes are just a few of the interesting options at Roughwood Seed.
SAN DIEGO SEED COMPANY
San Diego Seed company focuses on providing organic local seed to the South West but also focuses on the Urban Gardener. Most people do not have large gardens, therefore the seed collection they carry are compact varieties perfect for the urban gardener. On Varieties to check out are the Ethiopian kale, Sharlyn melon(a cross between cantaloupe and honeydew), Black pearl pepper, leisure cilantro(my favorite variety0, tepary beans Turkish red pepper, Walla-Walla onion(intermediate day), and Lebanese squash. In addition to the many wonderful things about San Diego Seed Company, they are extremely generous with free seed with each purchase.
SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE
Seed savers exchange is a wonderful non-profit organization with thousands of members sharing seeds. Membership allows access to many other seed savers with lesser-known varieties and accessions to experiment with plant breeding. In addition, non-member are still able to purchase from a fantastic selection of seeds with many options for bulk purchase well. I love there seed saving tools page with items like glassine seed packets instead of plastic, corn shoot and tassel bags, blossom and lettuce bags for isolation needed for seed saving.
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE SEED EXCHANGE
Southern Exposure has a fantastic selection and has seeds adapted for hotter weather. Therefore it is an excellent choice. Check out their substantial okra selection with varieties like Silver Queen, White Velvet and Evertender(from India). I have added the Stewarts Zeebest to my seed collection. I selected it because it is a non-ribbed variety( all mine are ribbed) and had seven inches long pods that still remain tender. In addition, I appreciate their attempts to be environmentally conscious and use some recycled materials in their packaging.
SOW TRUE SEEDS
STRICTLY MEDICINALS SEEDS
This is the seed company for all things herbs(over 500 varieties). They carry a substantial variety of medical herbs, and also some veggies.This is the place for budding herbalists who are also gardeners to get seeds for herbs like brahmi, burdock root, St Johns Wort and more. If you raise chickens check out their camelina seed. it is excellent for richer egg production. They have excellent customer service and have even mailed out comfrey root to me when it was not mailing season for them. In addition, they have herb plants seasonally available for sale online, and often have a marked down sale at the end of the season.
TERROiR SEEDS
Firstly I love the name of this seed company! It invokes images of France just with the name even though they are located right here in the Southwest, Chino Valley Arizona specifically. I found Terroir Seed when I first started gardening four years ago. I loved that they offered rare options like nodding onion, papalo, kulantro, agretti and more. Their seed collection offerings are really fun with exciting options such as an aromatherapy seed collection, backyard chickens, hummingbird gardens and butterfly pavilions. I highly recommend taking a gander at the collections.
TWO SEEDS IN A POD
Two Seed in a Pod is an absolute gem! This company carries a large selection of Turkish varieties and I love all things Turkish! The Bozdag tomato is an absolute winner. The Edirne Eggplant is not only stunning but so productive, I have no idea how I will be using all the eggplants currently on that plant. There is a vast selection of Turkish chilies both hot and sweet, as well as Turkish melons. The owner is working on adding more varieties of Turkish beans to the available seeds and I cannot wait to try them. In the meantime, I have a specific big bag bed dedicated to a “Turkish Garden!”
Garden of the Month: October 2019