Buying Annual Vegetable Seeds

It’s winter, it’s snowy, it’s cold here – a great time to snuggle up in a blanket and dream about the summer garden. In this blog post, we cover buying annual vegetable seeds for the new growing season. Before purchasing new seeds, it is a good idea to organize the seeds you already have. Many seeds stay viable for much longer than one year and do not need to be bought new. 

You can get seeds for the new growing season by growing and saving them yourself. Seed saving is a skill that can be learned but also depends on space and, to some degree, on the length of the growing season. Only open-pollinated seeds can be saved.

As urban gardeners, we buy most of our seeds, preferably heirloom, open-pollinated, and organically or naturally grown, from local growers. 

What annual vegetable seeds to choose

Not all annual vegetables are the same, even if they share the same name. There are usually short-season and long-season varieties. Before buying seeds, you want to know how many frost-free days you have; the time period between the last frost in spring and the first frost in fall. To find frost dates for your region, use this link. In our region, it is 106 days, so all my seeds, no matter where I get them, should have less than 106 “days to maturity”. 

What do those days to maturity mean? It’s the optimal growing condition time, counted from seedling to harvest. For example, if a carrot seed package says 15-20 days to germinate and 80 days to maturity, we will need 100 growing days from seed to harvest that are optimal for growing carrots. Since carrots are a cold-weather crop, we will have 100-day growing seasons during our short summer. 

However, if we want to grow heat-loving plants but most of our 106 frost-free days are cool, those days do not count toward the heat-loving plant. Simple because the plant will not grow during those days. Look for varieties with fewer days to maturity. 

For continuous fruit-bearing plants like tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers, the days to maturity should be at least 30 days less than the optimal growing condition days. That would allow the plant to produce for about a month. I usually try to stay within the 50-70-day range.

Secondly, you want to aim to grow what you eat. Looking through a beautiful seed catalog can be misleading. It is better to think about what you actually want to eat. I still remember how one year we had grown too many rutabagas and didn’t know what to do with them. We put them into the garage and forgot about them. No one was missing them at our house. After a while, we noticed a strange smell; it took us some time to find out where it came from. We learned the lesson: If you do not want to eat it, don’t grow it! And if you don’t grow it, you don’t need to buy the seeds.

Options to buy seeds 

Annual vegetable seeds can be ordered from a seed catalog, online, or purchased from a local seed supplier. A local Seedy Saturday event is also a great place to get seeds. The advantage of a catalog/online order is that you can take the time to see what is available, compare varieties, and decide what you really want. Getting seeds locally can be more cost-effective, especially if using special sales, and there are no shipping costs.

Choosing a seed grower close to you, or at least one with a similar climate, is a good idea. Please note where seed companies source their seeds.

Below, we list seed suppliers in Canada by province to make it easier to find seeds suited to your growing conditions. The more unique your climate is, the more important it can be. It does not mean that seeds ordered from the West Coast will not grow in our prairie climate; they most likely will. But I often have better results if I can get the same variety locally.  

I’m aware that our readers come from all over the world. However, since we are in Canada, we have the most comprehensive list from Canada. 

A list of Canadian seed suppliers sorted by province

Casey’s Heirloom Tomatoes in Alberta (Our favorite for tomatoes)
Seed Potatoes in Alberta
A’bunadh Seeds in Alberta
Wild Rose Heritage Seed in Alberta
Heritage Farm in Alberta
Alberta Sweet Potatoes in Alberta
ALCLA Native Plants in Alberta
Broadview Farm in Alberta
Circle Farm in Alberta
CoCreative Seeds in Alberta

West Coast Seeds in British Columbia 
BC Eco Seed in British Columbia
Brother Nature in British Columbia
Eagle Ridge Seeds in British Columbia
Full Circle Seeds in British Columbia
Metchosin Farm in British Columbia
Saanich Organics in British Columbia
Salt Spring Seeds in British Columbia

Prairie Garden Seeds in Saskatchewan
Early’s In Saskatchewan
Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds in Saskatchewan
4 Acre Farm in Saskatchewan
Martha’s Garden Seeds in Saskatchewan

USA seed companies

I asked my friends at Homestead Bloggers Network for seed companies in the USA. Here are some great seed companies they recommended:

• Select Seeds
• Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
• Territorial Seed Company
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company
• Johnny’s Selected Seed
• High Mowing Organic Seed 
• Pinetree Garden Seeds 
• Seeds of Change
• Wood Prairie Farm 
• Seed Savers Exchange 
• Sow True Seed

Do you have a veforiete seed company? Please share in the comment section below.

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More Seed-Related Posts You Might Enjoy

Buying Annual Vegetable Seeds

Starting Seeds Without Grow Lights

Organizing and Storing Seeds

How to Soak or Sprout Seeds Before Planting

Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors

Spring Indoor Seed-Starting Schedule – Free Printable

Starting Seeds in Vermiculite

Annual Vegetable Varieties for a Short Growing Season

Heirloom Tomato Varieties We Grow In a Northern Garden