With the late summer shoulder season starting, it’s time to start the winter crops in Southern California. In the past few years, I’ve not been good at starting them on time, or getting doing any succession planting at all, so this year I am working on that, and starting a log of the seeds I have, and evaluating how well the perform, so I have a one stop digital log to reference. Hopefully it will help me from rebuying something we didn’t like, or didn’t do well for us. And give me an easy place to take notes, since I have a bad habit of misplacing my paper gardening journal.

While I was at it, I thought I would share my favorite online sites for getting seeds. I don’t have any referral codes for any sites I link. They are just ones I like and the seeds I’ve had good success with in my 10A inland Southern California garden.

My Favorite Seed Companies:

True Leaf Market / Kitazawa Asian Seeds : I’ve been using seeds from this company for the last four years. I still get excellent germination rates from most of the four year old seeds. You can buy a lot of seeds in bulk, so if you need cover crop, microgreens or sprouts, they have packages sized for you.

Native Seeds SEARCH : Native Seeds SEARCH preserves indigenous seeds, and distributes them to the community. The seeds they share are those from or suited to the desert southwest United States.

Urban Farmer : Urban Farmer has a great variety of seeds, both hybrids and open pollinated varieties. You can order in small packs to large farm sizes. Like a few of the other sites, they also offer seed potatoes, and sweet potato slips, among other bareroot plants.

Renee’s Garden : Provides the best on package information which is readable without destroying the package. They provide separate instructions for those of us in more mild climates when applicable.

San Diego Seed Company : San Diego, CA based small seed company for seeds geared towards zones 9 and 10. They also have classes for new gardeners, farm visits. and if you are adventurous, they have a Seed of the Month VIP Club where you get to try three surprise packs of seeds a much, all geared for the month they were sent in.

Johnny’s Selected Seeds : Employee owned company, great for sourcing hybrids, large quantities, tools and supplies.

Siskiyou Seeds : A small company that sells open pollinated seeds adapted to grown and adapted to the Pacific Northwest region. I found them when I was looking for something in particular, but everything has grown well for me that I’ve tried.

Territorial Seed Company : Another smaller, regional seed company based out of Oregon, you can find hybrids and open pollinated. You can also find seeds in larger amounts, for the larger gardens

Botanical Interests : Well known, popular brand, found in some nurseries and online. Provides excellent information on the package for how to start the seed, and detailed information inside the package.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange : Southern Exposure Seed Exchange specializes in seeds which are suited to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. They also encourage self-reliance through offering heirloom and open-pollinated varieties.

Seed Savers Exchange : I have not purchased through the exchange yet, but I have used their shop to find some harder to find varieties to try. Some varieties may have the story of how the seed came to the Exchange, which can be helpful if you are having trouble with them thriving in your garden.