A Somewhat Meticulous Scrutinizing Of A Seed Company
It's seed catalog season, and I often find myself almost skipping to my P.O. Box to see which one has arrived, yet one of my favorite seed suppliers doesn't even send me a catalog.
Since 1974 Mountain Valley Seed Co. has been providing fellow
passionate growers with a wide range of high quality seeds at
wholesale prices. Our business has grown, but we are proud to still be
a "little guy" and remain one of the few truly independent seed
companies in the nation. We are still catering to the local grower,
still operating as a small company and still supporting all of our
local growing movements.
I honestly can't remember where I heard of this marvelous purveyor of endless seed joy, but I imagine it was probably on the Market Gardener Forum over on Garden Web. I have spent many an hour over the years lurking and absorbing information from all of the wise sages that post market garden how-to tidbits that flow like soil-encrusted digital manna from all over the globe. My gratitude for their freely offered wisdom is almost as endless as the zucchini that dots my plants every year. Almost.
That said, I see that Mountain Valley now how free shipping on orders over thirty-five dollars and a flat rate for orders under that. The holidays have came early people! I love that I have the option to order a ninety-five cent packet of Lima beans or five POUNDS of Romaine lettuce seeds. Who knows, a person might need over two million lettuce seeds!
The first time I ordered from MV seeds was at least five growing seasons ago, as I got the bright idea that I could provide some in my local community with tomato plants. Sure, those big box store plants look pretty, but I had heard too many sob stories from locals that bought those beautiful, bushy, nitrogen-overdosed plants, only to have them stunt, not produce, or all out die as soon as they were planted in the Earth. Our growing season here in North Idaho is usually short, fickle, and our weather can be a tad extreme. Temperatures often will fall below 55 degrees at night even if it is 100 degrees during the day. I have spent years trying varieties in the search for tomato plants that would thrive and yield in our challenging climate. MV is based in Utah, which as a inland mountainous state should have empathy with our climate-plight, and I have always been pleased with the varieties of tomato they carry. I completed the tomato plant sale challenge, but that is a blog post for another day!
The greatest praise that I can heap upon MV Seed Co. is that I have ordered from them multiple times, and I have NEVER had to speak to a human. My experience with them usually goes as follows:
- I place far more than I need in the shopping cart. twenty-five thousand Basil seeds on sale for four dollars? Heck YAH!
- I sing a moment of praise to their company and business model as I observe my shipping costs.
- Enter my payment information and complete the transaction.
- Wait impatiently for the few days that it takes the seeds to get to the farm.
- Rejoice when everything, and I mean everything that I ordered arrives to my domicile in a complete and orderly fashion.
With the exception of the packets, all of the seeds that I have ordered come in resealable Mylar packages. I love this! Seed packets and I have a habit of breaking up frequently, as I seem to love tripping and spilling them all over the ground. Not so with the zipper top Mylar packages. I can fall down all day and not lose a single seed! Genius!
Also, the germination rate on the package is very accurate, I have never had any trouble with germination of any of the seeds that I have bought from Mountain Valley. I have also saved and grown seeds from the heirloom varieties that I have purchased from them.
This great, independent company also carries herbs, flowers, sprouting, and long term storage seeds. Microgreen seeds, cover crops, books, and supplies are also stocked. I haven't personally ordered any of those things, aside from some herb and flower seed, as I tend to make due with what we have or scrounge locally supply wise for what I need for the farm. That said, if given the chance or financial surplus; I wouldn't hesitate to get as much as I needed from Mountain Valley.
In closing, it's worth a trip to their website, if only for a bit of plant perusing. I also dare you not to break into a guffaw or at least a smile when you behold the pictures from their annual Ginormus Pumpkin Regatta.
Hat tip to haphazard-hstead for encouraging me to write this post!
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