Container Culture: Three Container-Friendly Seed Sites

The internet: saving you time and money ... at least in this instance

I don't know if other people do this, and I hope they don't, but sometimes I go seed bingeing. As someone who has limited funds, this at first blush can seem like a relatively affordable way to curb a major splurge craving. After all, it beats the buyer's remorse of an $80 pair of shoes I'll never wear. However, to a container gardener such as myself, seed bingeing is about as useful as setting money on fire.

Buying seeds blindly, without taking into account the season, your space limitations, and food you actually like ("I guess I could always start liking radishes," you murmer to yourself, enticed by the bright colors of the edible root coaxing you from its glossy package), can be a waste of time and money. And especially now, as we enter the hottest summer months, when the variety of crops to plant for the season has dwindled down to nearly nil, dreams of what to plant in the fall may become all-consuming. You're better off having a parking meter expire on purpose and watch gratefully as the parking enforcement officer writes up your ticket: that's how frivolous it is to spend money on seeds you'll never plant.

So, how can the internet help you quench your seeds craving and at the same time help you make better informed decisions on the seeds you actually buy? Sure, you can read about climate zones and carefully plan your next purchse using the aid of the reference section in the library for hours upon end, but just in case you're not that kind of person 100% of the time, here are a few seed companies with websites that have special sections just for container gardeners like you.

SeedsNow owner Chris Surabian knows firsthand the plight of the container gardener. "When I was first starting out," says Surabian, "I tried planting corn in a container. It didn't work out too well." The SeedsNow website, which stresses the importance of carrying non-GMO, heirloom, and organic seeds, also has a section for seeds that grow well in containers, making sifting through certain crops to find "container varieties" that much easier. Additionally, they have partnered with the website Urban Organic Gardener, which focuses on growing edible gardens in containers in the city.

Johnny Seeds, which does have its share of hybrid seeds and non-organic varieties, is 100% employee owned and has a decent section devoted to organic gardening.

Urban Farmer is another container-friendly site that also sells a great variety of helpful products including organic fertilizers and also this. Their resource guides are also very user-friendly and readable -- a.k.a no downloading of .txt files with poor formatting necessary.

Hopefully these folks can help save you money so you can spend it on things that you'll actually use. Like that digging dog statue, which is becoming more and more of a necessity by the minute. I bet he'd look great sticking out of the cement on my garden patio.