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Seed for vegetable gardening is scarce.

Many of us who are still sowing spring seed know the doubt. Seed for warm season vegetables and bedding plants is presently scarce. Consequently, we doubt that all the varieties that we want are still available. Many unusual varieties that we purchase by mail order or online are sold out. Some more popular and reliably obtainable varieties in supermarket seed racks are going fast too.

Home gardening is very suddenly more popular than it had been for a very long time. Those who can not work at their respective professions have much more time to work in their gardens. Many want to grow a bit more produce at home, in order to shop amongst others in supermarkets less frequently. Many who have never enjoyed gardening before are now taking a serious interest in it.

This adds a few more complications to planning the garden. Choices really are limited. Some of us must be satisfied with what we get. Instead of trying new and unusual varieties, we might need to try old and common varieties. It might be a new and unusual experience, and an interesting way to learn why they have been so popular for so long. This applies to young plants as well as seed.

Although more varieties are available online and by mail order, it is now more important to purchase them early. Delivery is not as prompt as it was prior to this increase in popularity of gardening. Seed providers are overwhelmed by the demand. Since it is already late in the season, it is probably too late to order seed that start in spring. It is not too early to start procuring seed for autumn.

It is also a good time to share surplus with friends and neighbors who may be experiencing the same scarcity of seed and seedlings. Although it is too late to wait for delayed delivery of seed that gets sown in spring, it is not too late to sow some types if they are already available. If left outside to avoid personal interaction with recipients, seed might need protection from rodents and birds.

Anyone who is experienced with gardening knows that it involves challenges. This is certainly a new one.

10 thoughts on “Seed Of Doubt Gains Popularity”

  1. I had a terrible time finding a few seed packets for items I normally buy the plants at the farm store. I order my regular seeds in December and January, so I had plenty of my usual on hand since it was before the COVID-19 hoarding of goods got out of hand. I had to raise my own tomato plants from seed this year, and also Bell pepper and hot peppers. So far they’re coming up nicely and I’ll be able to transplant in a couple of weeks.

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    1. That is better than some of us are doing. Some of my friends are planting one or two varieties of tomatoes because it was all they could get. They have plenty of seed, which would normally be leftover, but they lack the variety. I do not notice because I grow only three varieties anyway, and would be satisfied with only one.

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  2. I’ve been going through the same thing. Thankfully I still had quite a bit of seeds left over, though they were mostly packed for 2018. I hadn’t done much planting last year, so there were still ample seeds left. Thankfully, they have so far been viable enough to get a garden going. Sadly, my baby peppers and eggplants got snipped off by birds just yesterday. I may still try to start them since I have a decently long growing season, but it’s cutting it a bit close.

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      2. Some of the old seed here got sown very densely, with the expectation that most or all would not be viable. However, some came up very crowded. There were some winter squash that were sown at about four times the rate that they should have been sown, but since about %75 were not viable, the rate worked out well. Kale is very crowded though.

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