ordered my 2010 tomato seeds

2 weeks ago i was in newport beach (the oc) enjoying a nice week of vacation - with the family. one of the essentials i took on the trip was my 2009 tomato growers supply catalog. they are on my list of favorite catalogs every year and this year i was determined to purchase something from them.

as noted in my previous post, i have selected the varieties i was going to purchase. with the hard part done, i hit their website, selected the tomatoes of choice - paid via cc and was done in all about 10 minutes or so. 7 days later - my seeds were in my mailbox and now in the hot fist of my seed growing friend 'keith'.

last year, i purchased my seeds from totally tomatoes. i had no issues with my tt seeds - but contrasting the 2 companies; i find that tgs was a better overall experience.

tgs has a better interface for their website, web interaction seemed faster (perhaps a better server on the backend) and delivery from tgs was almost 10 days faster. seed varieties are comparable, so based upon web interaction - i gotta give the 2 thumbs up to tgs.

my favorite seed catalogs

every year, around december - i start hitting the websites of the seed companies to sign up for their next catalog. up until this year, i have never purchased any seeds from any of them - but just getting the catalogs in the mail would get my gardening juices flowing. i get quite a bit of catalogs each year, but there are four that stand out - head and shoulders above the rest.

the catalogs pictured are from tomato growers supply, seed savers exchange, totally tomatoes and baker creek. the varieties of seeds in these books are incredible - the layout, pictures and presentation is first class.

this year, i placed my first order and it went to totally tomatoes. i was looking for 3 particular varieties of cherry tomatoes and wanted a single source to limit my shipping charges - there is nothing worse than buying $3 in seeds and paying $5.95 in shipping.

totally tomatoes had timely shipping and reasonable shipping fees. in addition to the seeds, i also took the opportunity to purchase walls-of-water. i utilized their web interface, which proved to be reasonably layed out and serviceable. the seeds arrived within 10 days and included in the order were 2 free seed packets, 1 sweet bell variety and also another medium size tomato variety. i would not hesitate to order from them again.

my second seed order, which hasnt taken place yet, is destined for the seed savers exchange. specializing in heirloom varieties of all manner of seeds - their catalog is the best of them all - and i find myself reading it in the evening, just to survey the beautiful pictures that they include to highlight their produce.

i am still waiting for my 2009 burpee catalog - hopefully it will arrive soon!