Top 7 Seed Vendors for Heirloom Tomatoes

I can’t believe it’s 2023 and here we are near the end of February already. The spring planting season is just around the corner and the catalogs have been steadily rolling in since the beginning of the year. It is amazing how many seed catalogs have gotten my name over the years. Despite all the companies vying for my business, I always seem to come back to the same short list of vendors year after year for seeds and also for a lot of supplies and equipment I use in my sustainable growing operation. This year I purchased seeds for 15 varieties of tomatoes. I always get a lot of questions about where I purchase my seeds. To answers this question and hopefully save you some time, I put together the following list of my top seven go-to companies where I purchase most of my tomato and other vegetable seeds. They are listed in alphabetical order.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds – A quirky, Mansfield Missouri-based company that sells rare heirloom varieties of vegetable seeds from around the world. Their catalog (all 350 pages of it!) and website are stunning. Here you can often find varieties of tomatoes and other vegetables you won’t find anywhere else. Their catalog alone is worth getting on their mailing list. They host an annual Spring Festival that attracts over 10,000 people locally and from neighboring states.

Gary Ibsen’s TomatoFest – TomatoFest offers the most extensive collection of heirloom tomato seeds I’ve seen – 600 varieties – along with great descriptions and different lists and collections such as “Top 10 Tomatoes for 2023” and “Gary’s Personal Favorites.” Sometimes I question how they could grow so many varieties for seed saving without getting any cross pollination or adultration of heirloom genetics. It’s possible the source seed from several other growers to complete their collection, but I don’t know this for sure.

Johnny's Selected Seeds – An employee-owned company based in Maine that caters mostly to small scale farmers and market growers, but offers a wealth of resources, equipment, supplies and seeds for the serious home gardener. For example, if you want to purchase bulk cover crop seeds or learn how to graft tomatoes and purchase all the required supplies, Johnny’s is your go-to vendor. They also create and thoroughly test their own varieties so many can only be found at Johnny’s. It is pricey, but worth the cost for certain things in my opinion.I find Johnny’s to be one of the best educational resources around for many advanced gardening topics.

Peaceful Valley – I sort of see Peaceful Valley as a West Coast version of Johnny’s but less corporate, more down to earth, and slightly more economical. They offer a lot of tomato and other vegetable seeds in larger quantities. I also sometimes buy cover crop seeds and organic fertilizers from Peaceful Valley. Their tools and equipment selection is outstanding and their catalogs are full of great information.

Pine Tree Garden Seeds – Pine Tree offers an excellent selection of seeds for vegetables, flowers, herbs, plants, supplies and books, all through a gorgeous, easy-to-use website. Their prices are also among the lowest I’ve found. Great customer service. This is where I buy most of my vegetable seeds becuase they still offer the best pricing around. They have a nice mix of heirloom and hybrid varieties.

Seed Savers Exchange – (“SSE”) This is a non-profit organization based in Iowa whose mission, as stated on their website is to preserve Americaʼs culturally diverse and endangered garden and food crop legacy for present and future generations. Their collection heirloom and open-pollinated seeds is second to none. I typically end up buying most of my heirloom tomoato seeds from SSE. It is a joy to receive their catalog early in the new year and it always jump starts my gardening bug. They have many great varieties of heirloom tomatoes available and a mission worth supporting if you’d like to donate to their cause.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange - A cooperatively run business offering over 700 varieties of heirloom vegetable seeds. Their website offers a nice library of growing guides for many types of vegetables. They have an excellent selection of heirloom tomato seeds and reasonable prices.

OTHER NOTEWORTHY VENDORS I HAVE USED IN THE PAST

Sandhill Preservation – Sandhill has a catalog of heirloom vegetable seeds, herb seeds, flower seed and rare breeds of poultry. I rarely buy from them due to their antiquated, paper-based ordering system. Yes, you really must mail them a check and then wait. If you are looking for heritage chicken pullets, they will ship them live to you.

Seeds of Change – Seeds of Change offers 100% organic products, including a huge variety of vegetable, herb and flower seeds, as well as tools and supplies. They are not cheap.

Tatiana’s TOMATOBase – Tatiana Kouchnareva’s website is an extensive database of nearly every heirloom tomato out there, complete with histories, descriptions, growing notes, and photos. Tatiana grows many of the varieties herself and also collects information from other hobby growers to include in her database. You can purchase seeds for a huge number of varieties from her seed store. 

Territorial Seed – Territorial Seed is a family-owned business with a thick catalog full of high-quality seeds for both open-pollinated and hybrid varieties of tomatoes and all other vegetables. They also provide a great selection of garlic and potatoes.

Tomato Growers Supply Co. – This company offers a comprehensive catalog of over 500 varieties of tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds, including huge selections of both hybrid and heirloom varieties.  

Totally Tomato – Totally Tomato specializes in seeds for tomatoes and peppers, offering both heirloom and hybrid varieties.

Victory Seeds – Victory is another small, family-owned company whose stated mission is to preserve rare, open-pollinated plant varieties. They offer non-hybrid, heirloom seeds, many of which are grown on their farm.  Victory is my go-to company for the Livingston American heirloom tomato varieties such as Golden Queen and Favorite.

If you are looking for seeds for a particularly hard-to-find heirloom tomato or vegetable, always start with Google. This approach will quickly tell you if the seeds are available commercially. For a good online discussion of commercial tomato seed sources, with links to many others not in my list, go here. One final parting bit of advice: if someone is trying to sell you “non-GMO” tomato seeds at a premium price, don’t bother. There is no such thing yet as a GMO tomato. Even if there was, who cares.