booker81 said:
Baker's prices are almost double for some of the seed (based on what they have listed online) vs what I'm getting...
That would be interesting, see what costs where. For instance - Amish Paste tomatoes are $2.50/25 seeds at Baker, $1.85/50 at E&R. Detroit Dark Red Beets are $1.75/250 seeds at Baker, $0.75/500 at E&R. I think that's what turned me from Baker once I got turned to E&R (though no one's heard of E&R, no website, darn those Amish).
One thing I've noticed though....because I AM a tomato addict: I bought Roma and Amish paste seeds from many, many different seed catalog sources and nursery seed displays and sometimes the fruit was tasteless, sometimes it was shaped differently, sometimes it didn't produce very much fruit at all. So I started narrowing down the companies I chose my seed from (after almost dropping Amish and Roma from my garden altogether) and found that Tomatofest (for one) sent me seed that consistently tasted better, produced more and was disease resistant. The Martino's Roma from Tomato fest will literally out-produce any tomato I've ever grown. You actually cannot see the plant because of all the fruit on it and the taste is so good you could use that puppy as a slicer on a good hamburger. No, I don't have any affiliation with Tomato fest or any of the other places that shamelessly tempt me into buying their seeds but I do know quality tomatoes and can see good breeding practices in the consistency of my planting (since I plant nearly a couple hundred tomato plants every year and sell my tomato babies) and I'm willing to pay for that quality and consistency.
)
That's what I like about forums - you can spread the word on good companies without depending on their advertising (or lack thereof) to make sure good things are available and folks know about them.
I'm ready to start my garden!!
