Square Foot/Intensive Gardening/Buying Seeds

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Expert: Sojourner - 2/1/2009


Question
Thank you for taking my questions:

I need to buy seed for a 5000 sq ft vegetable garden. I live in Southern New Hampshire and I was wondering if you could tell me where to buy my seed? I am of course looking for the lowest price and the best quality. I am planning to be as organic as possible. (I follow Joy of Gardening and The Veg Gardener’s Bible).

Also, how important is it to use organic seeds since they cost more?

Should i buy from Agway and save on shipping?

Much abliged,

Phil


Answer
There are many good seed companies.  I can't recommend any particular company as I don't know what you plan to grow.  I don't know about buying from Agway, I have never done that.  Some seed companies give you free shipping on larger orders - Fedco for example gives free shipping on orders over $30.

Here's the URL for some sites with links to many garden seed companies:

http://www.gardenlist.com/

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/agriculture/sustainable_agriculture/gardenin...

http://davesgarden.com/products/

Fedco, I might note, specializes in seeds for Northern gardeners so you might want to check them out in particular.

http://www.fedcoseeds.com/index.htm

Johnny's Select seeds also specializes in Northern gardens.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/

Hope that helps  

Square Foot/Intensive Gardening

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Sojourner

Expertise

Intensive gardening along the lines of square-foot gardening and no-till methods such as Ruth Stout and "lasagna" gardening. Fed a family of 7 from the produce grown in the backyard of a city lot. Knowledgeable about most common garden crops, excluding cole crops other than cabbage (e.g. broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower etc. are not my cup of tea). Can help you to make the most of the space that you have - for instance, many community garden plots are fairly small. There are ways to maximize the space you have. Smaller is often better because it's not only more efficient spacewise, it's also easier to take care of - and the easier it is to take care of, the more likely you are to have a successful garden. No yard space whatsoever? I can help you with container growing as well. Give me a shout and I'll try to help.

Experience

Vegetable gardener for most of my life, homesteaded for 8 years. Currently have my tiny yard (1'x15' strip along the back fence and a 3'x20 strip along the south side of the house) planted with 2 eggplants, 2 tomatoes, lettuce, coriander, green onions, basil, 4 bell pepper, 4 green pepper, watermelon, 3 yellow squash, 3 zucchini, and green beans. And flowers galore.

Education/Credentials
College educated, currently working out a mid-life crisis by getting my doctorate and changing my profession

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