The best places to buy seeds online in 2024

Choosing and buying seeds for the year ahead is an exciting task for a gardener and during the dark days of winter when being stuck indoors is the only option, flicking through seed catalogues is a welcome reminder that spring will return. There are many seed suppliers to choose from, many of which are specialists in their field.

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Here are the best places to buy seeds

With careful planning you'll have the perfect selection of seeds for the next growing season. We'd recommend always checking the seed suppliers' organic credentials and trying to pick seeds which will grow into plants that are perfect for wildlife.

We've put together a list of our favourite seed suppliers, divided into flowers, vegetables and wild flowers, to give you a head start on your gardening year.

Looking for plants? See our list of the best places to buy plants online.

The best seed suppliers in

The best places to buy flower seeds

Chiltern Seeds

The Chiltern Seeds catalogue is always tempting with a selection of inspiring images. Cultivar choice is excellent and descriptions always helpful.

Crocus

Since starting out in the year , Crocus has become the largest gardening website in the UK with around 4,000 plants and seeds available to buy.

Dobies

As international suppliers of flower and vegetable seeds, Dobies has sold products direct to gardeners since .

Mr Fothergill's
An extensive range of flower and vegetable seeds, including potato, onion and garlic sets. Plantsman Graham Rice writes a regular blog for the website, which provides useful discussion on some aspect of Mr Fothergill's offerings.

Gardening Express

Online retailer Gardening Express now sells thousands of plants and seeds every week throughout the UK and Europe. If they don't have a plant that you're looking for then they'll endeavour to get hold of it for you.

Great Dixter

If you've visited this iconic garden, you'll have been delighted by its sheer exuberance, colour and range of plants through the season. The nursery offers flower seeds from its own stock chosen by the staff and students as notable. Seed is then harvested fresh by hand and supplied in glassine bags.

Higgledy Garden

Grower and owner Benjamin Ranyard trials a selection of flowers at his field in Suffolk. He then sells a range of seed specifically for the flower cutting patch ' sometimes working with florists to ensure the best range. The Higgledy website also has plenty of growing tips and a monthly planting guide.

Plant World Seeds

Extensive range of seeds for flowers and vegetables but also trees and shrubs and grasses ' many of them rare and unusual. It ships around the world.

Plants of Distinction

A small, family-run business based in Suffolk that has built up a good range of both flower and vegetables that rivals some of the larger, more commercial seed companies.

Primrose

Online retailer Primrose of Reading, Berkshire, has a large range of flower and vegetable seeds along with almost everything garden related.

Sarah Raven

Sarah is renowned for her carefully curated collections of traditional flowers for her cutting garden. Her seed selection is relatively small but you can be assured that those she has included are good ones.

Special Plants

Plantswoman Derry Watkins runs a fantastic nursery in a hidden valley near Bath. Her plant selection is impeccable and you'll always find something of interest there. Added to which, she sells a range of flower seed too. Of particular note is her fresh seed.

Thompson & Morgan

Established in , Thompson & Morgan has a wide range of seed for flowers and vegetables, regularly winning awards for its offerings. You'll find plenty of choice on cultivars and good descriptions.

Unwins

Another of the big all-rounders with a wide range of seed ' many offered as part of special deals ' so worth keeping an eye out for seasonal promotions. Unwins is best known for its range of sweet peas, and has an ongoing breeding programme and extensive sweet pea trials each year.

The best places to buy vegetable seeds

Heritage Seed Library

Run by Garden Organic, the Heritage Seed Library is a members-only resource that offers a selection of rare, hard-to-get-hold-of, heritage vegetable seed ' many of which have been lost to standard seed catalogues.

Jekka's Herb Farm

If you are growing for flavour then herbs are an essential, and probably your best guide as to which to grow is award-winner Jekka McVicar. The nursery stocks 140 varieties of herb, with notables including winter purslane as an excellent winter salad crop; summer savoury, excellent with all forms of beans and pulses; and blue hyssop for its savoury minty/thyme flavour ' and pollinator popular blue flowers.

Kings Seeds

Much of Kings Seeds stock comes from its own 300-acre farm. Good selection of vegetables and flower cultivars, including an organic range of vegetable seed. It also stocks the range from Suffolk Herbs.

Marshalls

A good all-rounder, with plenty of choice covering a range of different vegetables. The duo packs, with two complementary cultivars, are a great way to discover more of the variety available within one vegetable type and benefit from an extended harvesting season or variations in flavour.

Moles Seeds

An independent seed merchant with good selection sourced from some of the best seed producers. Anyone looking to current food trends should check the sections on crops best suited to baby leaf and microgreens harvesting. Although wholesale, Moles Seeds will supply anyone looking for larger quantities, so great for smallholding owners and gardening groups.

Seed Co-Operative

An initiative was set up on the belief that the future of food needs to be rooted in a diversity of genetics and wildlife. All seed are from open pollinated varieties, adapted to organic growing systems. Finalists in the BBC Food and Farming Awards.

Pennard Plants

A RHS Master Grower, Pennard Plants sells one of the largest selections of edible plants, heritage and heirloom seeds, fruits and herbs. All the stock is UK grown, many of it by themselves in their Victorian walled garden in Somerset. For those keen to grow their own plant protein, Pennard stocks amaranthus and quinoa seeds.

Real Seeds

Everything in Real Seeds' offering has been chosen only after trialling to check its success both in the vegetable garden and in the kitchen. All seed are open pollinated (non-hybrid) so you can collect and resow your own seed from one year to the next.

Sea Spring Seeds

Every vegetable cultivar has been tested before it's included in the catalogue. For it is encouraging us to try 'mange tout' chilli peppers. Cultivars such as 'Hungarian Hot Wax' and 'Frigitello' can be harvested small and either fried or grilled to be eaten whole in the same way as Padrón peppers.

Seeds of Italy

Paolo Arrigo who is a passionate seedsmen has declared a climate emergency on seed biodiversity. 'In just 100 years, 94 per cent of the world's heritage veg has gone,' says Paolo. Franchi focuses on the remaining six per cent, promoting them for their taste and regional diversity and including cultivars from the Slow Food Ark of Taste, the register of foods at risk of being lost.

Suttons

Nice, clear website that makes it easy to find what you want from Suttons' all-round range of seeds. It also works with ethnobotanist James Wong to offer a range of vegetables and edible flower seeds that James has chosen for their focus on flavour and high nutritional value.

Tamar Organics

A good range of vegetables for the organic gardener along with helpful, clear, growing advice. Tamar Organics supports charity Joliba Trust working in central Mali to help fund horticultural projects.

Want more information on wholesale vegetable seeds? Feel free to contact us.

Thomas Etty

Among the range of vegetables offered by Thomas Etty are 52 perennial vegetables ' an option for grow your own often overlooked. Examples such as sea orach, tuberous pea, perennial broccoli and skirret are worth having a look at, alongside more unusual veg choices, such as the pink 'Roscoff' onion from Brittany with its unique flavour good for eating raw or cooked and 'Tall ' pea yielding eight to ten peas per large pod.

Chiltern seeds

There is always something to look forward to in Chiltern's herb and vegetable selections. This year it has included British basil ' selected specifically for growing in the UK and climbing bean 'Cobra', encouragingly resistant to a variable British summer. Look out for beetroot 'Crapaudine', new to Chiltern Seeds. This is one of the oldest beetroot cultivars, carrot shaped and with an oddly rough skin (resembling its namesake derived from the French for toad). Underneath is a richly coloured flesh with superior flavour.

Where to buy wildflower seeds

Emorsgate seeds

Run by committed botanists and ecologists to promote the importance not just of growing more wildflowers but of working with nature. Its wildflower and grass mixes are grouped by habitat, such as meadow, and then by soil type so you get the right mix of species for your area. Excellent whether you're creating a large meadow area or simply want to increase the biodiversity in your garden.

Pictorial meadows

Seed mixes for annual and perennial meadow-style planting. These were originally developed by Nigel Dunnett from his work at the University of Sheffield and are aimed to provide impact of colour and lots of nectar-rich flower

Other resources

Seed swaps
If you are looking for recommended, locally suited, unusual cultivars of flowers and vegetables, try researching community seed swapping events. These are a great opportunity to meet other growers, hear first-hand of growing experiences and discover new favourites.

Wakehurst Seed Bank
And finally, a word for the wonder of seeds and the biodiversity they represent. The Millennium Seed Bank, at Wakehurst Place in Sussex, is Kew's project to conserve 25 per cent of the world's seeds to ensure against future extinction. See the website to find out more and discover the amazing science behind seeds.
kew.org/wakehurst

Planting your own garden from seed is an incredibly rewarding experience, and not to mention affordable! Bring your garden to life with a range of fabulous flower, herb, vegetable, and wildflower seeds from our favourite retailers. If you're looking for more online plant purchases, check out our list of the best plant subscriptions services to give the gift that keeps on giving to a loved one, or just for yourself.

For more inspiration on what to plant in your garden, don't miss our advice on the best perennials and how to plant a wildlife garden. For detailed advice on sowing seeds, head to our guide to planting seeds.

How do you know if you're picking the right seeds? Here are some easy tips on choosing the best seed crop for your environment.

The following is an excerpt from The Organic Seed Grower by John Navazio. It has been adapted for the web.

Seed Crop Characteristics

There are a number of prominent characteristics of cultivated plants that are quite similar within the nine plant families in which most of our vegetable crops are found.

One of the first things someone researching our cultivated crop plants finds is that closely related crops within a particular family usually share a number of prominent features.

We know that different crops within the same family often share certain phenotypic traits, such as structural or reproductive characteristics.

Flower Structure

Flower structure has long been a principal way of categorizing plants into families.

The type and structure of the fruit, which is indeed a fertilized ovary of the flower, has also classically been used to assign different plants of the angiosperms (the true flowering plants) to various species and genera.

As to structural features, we all know that crop species in the same family usually share a common leaf type, arrangement of their leaves on the main stem, type of stem, and so forth.

Plant Structure

Plant structure can also be a reflection of the function of a particular part of the plant.

Certainly as you get to know the different crop members of a plant family you may begin to see more of the commonalities among these species.

This way of viewing crops can prove quite useful when you consider growing unfamiliar seed crops for the first time and realize that it is possible to culturally handle them in a similar fashion to a seed crop with which you have experience.

Categories for Choosing Seed Crops

Here are a few categories in which crops within a particular family share traits that will help you decide whether the crop is suited to your environment:

1. Evolutionary Past

• Center of origin. Is your climate similar to that of its evolutionary past?
• Climate. Is your climate similar to the climate where it's currently grown?
• Structure and flower parts of the family definitely relate to shared ancestry.

2. Environment

Characterize the climate that the crop thrives in.

• Cool-season crops need cool weather to mature high-germination seed.
• Intermediate crops will grow in cool or warm climes and mature seed in warm conditions.
• Heat lovers need heat to thrive and produce high-germ seed.

3. Life Cycle

While some patterns exist across families, there are clearly families that contain annual/biennial/perennial species.

• Annuals complete their entire life cycle in one season.
• Winter annuals are planted for fall growth and flowering early in the next growing season.
• Biennials need most of two seasons to complete their life cycle, with vernalization between the first season of vegetative growth and the second season of reproductive growth.
• Perennials. This includes very few seed-propagated vegetable crops.

4. Daylength Sensitivity

Is the crop sensitive to day length?

• Daylength-sensitive crops only flower at certain daylengths.
• Daylength-neutral crops flower at various daylengths.

5. Reproductive Biology

Self-pollinated species versus cross-pollinated species.

• Cross-pollinated species. Is on-farm isolation possible?
  • Wind-pollinated. Pollen travels far and doesn't require insects.
  • Insect-pollinated. Are pollinating insects present?
• Self-pollinated species. How many on-farm isolations are possible?
  • Faithful selfers are highly self-pollinated; several crops are possible.
  • Promiscuous selfers'how many isolations are possible?

6. Presence of Disease

Is disease a limiting factor in your environment?

• Diseases of the vegetative stage'is it a limiting factor?
• Seedborne diseases'are they endemic and economically limiting?

7. Presence of Insect Pests

Are insects a limiting factor in your environment?

• Insects of the vegetative stage'are these a limiting factor?
• Insects of the seed'are they endemic and economically limiting?

Climactic Zones

Here is a reference list of the four major climatic types in which vegetable seed crops are grown.

The important climatic considerations that determine each zone's suitability are given, followed by the crops that are most well adapted to that particular zone.

Note that some crops are suited to more than one climate and therefore have a wider adaptation to environmental conditions for producing high quality.

Cool-Season Dry-Seeded Crops

All dry-seeded crops are formed in dry pods or in clusters along the stem of the plant and are essentially harvested like grains.

They produce the best quality seed when they mature and are harvested in seasonally dry, low-humidity regions; the so-called Mediterranean climate.

These cool-season, dry-seeded crops are best grown in the cooler reaches of the Mediterranean climate, where cool, often wet weather predominates during prolonged springs, and summers are mild and dry with little or no rainfall through harvest.

Cool-season crops do not handle hot weather, especially through the earliest stages of their reproductive cycle.

These crops form the highest quality seed when temperatures are generally somewhere between 60 and 75°F (16 to 24°C) during pollination, fertilization, and the earliest stages of embryo and endosperm development in late spring and early summer.

After this initial formation and development of the seed they are able to tolerate average summer daytime high temperatures between 75 and 85°F (24 to 29°C) but thrive in relatively cool summers, especially where daytime high temperatures rarely exceed 80°F (27°C) to produce the highest-quality seed.

Seed crops that excel under these conditions: Spinach, beet, cilantro, Asian greens, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage, parsnip, mustards, Swiss chard

Warm-Season Dry-Seeded Crop

This climate is similar to the Cool-Season Dry-Seeded parameters above but with temperatures that are consistently warmer throughout all the months of the growing season.

Warmer spring temperatures result in more rapid early growth and development for these crops over the cool-season dry-seeded crops.

Daytime high temperatures during flowering and seed setting should generally not exceed 78 to 85°F (26 to 29°C).

But after this initial formation and development of the seed these crops are able to routinely tolerate summer daytime average high temperatures between 85 and 92°F (29 to 33°C) when producing high-quality seed.

Seed crops that excel under these conditions: Broccoli, kale, collards, celery, radish, turnip, lettuce, Swiss chard, favas, peas, runner beans, parsley, endive, escarole, and chicories.

Hot-Season Dry-Seeded Crops

All dry-seeded crops do best when there is little or no rainfall during seed maturation and harvest.

This lessens the incidence of diseases of all kinds, especially seedborne diseases, and it lowers the threat of excessive rainfall shattering the seedheads that form with all dry-seeded crops.

While summer highs do regularly exceed 92°F (33°C), a number of these crops must complete their early reproductive stages of pollination and anthesis to mature a high-germinating, high-quality seed crop, while early season daytime temperatures are between 80 and 92°F (27 and 33°C).

Crops that excel under these conditions: Garden beans, lima beans, edamame, carrot, onion, and sweet corn.

Hot-Season Wet-Seeded Crops

The wet-seeded moniker refers both to the fact that most of the fruit of these crops is wet but also to the method used to extract the fruit, which is extracted through a wet fermentation or a series of water rinses (see Seed Harvest for each individual crop).

These crops are all heat lovers from the moment they are planted.

They depend on warm spring temperatures that average above 65°F (18°C), to establish good early growth and need warm nighttime temperatures to realize a decent yield and mature a high-germinating, high-quality seed crop.

Temperatures may routinely exceed 90°F (32°C) during flowering and early fruit and seed set,* and unlike the dry-seeded crops, some humidity is tolerated; in fact, the presence of humidity often is responsible for holding the heat into the evening and nighttime hours.

Crops that excel under these conditions: Cucumbers, melons, watermelons, summer squash, winter squash, bitter melon, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes. (*The exception for this group is cucumber, which does prefer slightly cooler temperatures.)

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