I'm probably around that mark for my backyard garden. Alas, I'll probably ending spending 4-5 times that this year.

Mike

You don't want to know, but I usually spend about $500 on seeds alone then add in seed potatoes, onion sets, sweet potato slips, leeks and the occasional packet from the store, I probably spend closer to $750 a year.

However, I am grow lots of plants to sell, so it takes alot of varieties. I am also doing so many succession plantings it takes alot of seed. I am trying to cut back on varieties, but variety is the spice of life!

Jay

About $200 here. I can remember when it was about $35, but I sow about 2ý times as much and inflation is about 2ý times as much too.

With much shame, I think I have to admit to being the winner of this dubious contest. I've probably spent an average of $600-$700 a year on just SEEDS the past few years -- they add up when ordered from a number of companies. I guess it could be justified if I were a professional grower like jrslick, but I'm not. The only good thing is that I have about a bazillion seeds in storage, 3 of the great big rubbermade totes down in the basement (kept very dry and sealed). I am planning purposely NOT to buy ANYTHING to speak of this year -- I'll allow myself the luxury of buying something if it's a new introduction for 2011, but otherwise, no. I need to use what I have before they go bad.

Top that off with the probably $2,000 a year in nursery stock over the same period, and it's obvious that I don't need to buy anything else for long, long time except for replacements if something dies.

I have ~200 sf in veggie and some containers. I'm at maybe US$10-15/year for new varieties and replacement for decreasing viability.

Dan

I believe this thread tells you everything you need to know!

Two words:

HEIRLOOM SEEDS!

Try them...seed save and cut your seed bill in half, if not lower. Really there is no real need to spend that type of money on seeds folks. Many of the hybrids you may be growing offer nothing more than a very similar heirloom. Look into it.

That said, with my tiny garden, the HIGHEST I will be spending on seeds this year is $30 - that includes seeds for 23 different varieties of plants. My actual total will probably be about 1/2 of that, as I currently have many seeds from last year that I will be using again. (I'm a little lazy, I don't save any seeds from any biennials. I just don't have the space to allow for that.) Seed saving also adds just a little something extra for a home gardener! ;^)

Even though I save tons of seed every year, I usually wind up buying about $350 of seed per year. That factors in buying a lot of seed from Sandhill Preservation and Hazzards greenhouse which is relatively cheap. I grow upward of 50,000 plants per year to sell.

DarJones

I usally get the old seeds from ebay for about $15-20 for about 100 different sets of seeds which last me about 4-5 years if that. Call me a cheap skates i'll try to save the seeds even if the plants are not Heirloom seeds

$30 for 2000 sq ft now, but early on, it was more. I have a lot of packets from up to ten years ago (some heirloom tomatoes, savoy cabbage, some lettuce are more than 8 yrs old) , in a large ziploc bag in the freezer.

Some rules to save: garlic, beans, parsnips, arugula, fennel, chives seeds are saved or self seeded. Some potatoes too, which I keep separated from store seed potatoes($10 or so of those 30). I buy once per winter, from a single nursery (Johnny the last few years), I buy big packets, I freeze everything, and I start in coffee filters in a warm box, or in compost strips or pockets if direct seeded in the garden. I never start seeds in soil. Both methods are fairly efficient at germinating things and save seeds.

Because I travel for work, I also buy European packets (there is a stand in Amsterdam airport that sells a lot of vegetable seed packets which are both cheap and very large compared to ours).

I spend about $40 for mushroom plugs per year though.

Well, much of what I bought has been heirlooms, but the fact that I COULD save many of my own seeds doesn't give me the luxury of time to do so. Once in a while, if something is really unique or different, or something self-sows and is really neat, I'll save seeds from it.

In fact, when I discovered all of the companies out there selling heirlooms and selling European seed house product lines, companies like Baker Creek, Native Seeds/SEARCH, Seeds of Change, Southern Exposure Seed Company, FEDCO, Gourmet Seeds International, THAT is when I got in trouble with the obsession.

Probably $100 for me, for a 2500sq ft garden. That's seed, seed potatoes, onion sets, and a few seedlings.

Never thought about it until you brought it up, since it's a $10 here, $20 there.

Gulp!

Good point, camp: seed potatoes are an expense as well.

I second the observation about heirloom seeds. Time is money.

Dan

I container garden for just Hubby and me, so I spend maybe $10-$15 on seed about every other year and still have leftovers. I also save seed from favorites. I peruse the end of season seed sales and hit the dollar store seed racks. Then there are the exchange forums. Unless I'm looking for some rare new item, a lot of seed can be had for very few dollars. But again, this is mostly just for two people.

Yikes! I thought I was bad when I spent $100 a few years ago. This year should be about $60. I'm saving seed where it's convenient to do so like beans and OP squashes. And I'm even leaving some leaks in the garden to collect their seeds next year. But most biennial plants I won't bother collecting seeds. This year I'm buying a ton of carrot seeds from Johnnys. When you buy large quantities, the unit price comes way down. And I do put some effort into properly storing seeds.

When I first got into heirloom gardening & was conducting a lot of trials, I was spending $500+ a year on new varieties. It was over $800 one year (when I really got the heirloom fever). Stock for garlic is especially pricey. Now that I save much of my own seed, I might spend about $20.00 on seeds I can't grow myself (such as corn, moringa, and winged bean) with perhaps $50.00 a year to try new varieties.

I do around 10,000 sq ft garden and have spend the last couple of years around $150, mainly for new varieties and garlic/onion stocks. I do a lot of trading for heirlooms, which I figure saves me another $150 or more.

This year I am cutting back a bit as I have increased my seed stock and I have completed lots of heirloom trading for next season already. Thus I plan on spending $30 at Fedco seeds, $15 or so at Sandhill Preservation and maybe another $20 for new varieties via the SSE yearbook.

Dean

I've never totaled it up, I buy a few seeds every year from far and near, I think I pay more on shipping than the actual seeds themselves. I've caught the heirloom bug so each year I save seed from these, especially the ones that are hard to find. I keep just enough seed to grow myself and spread a few around.

Annette

I have bought all the seeds I need for next year on summer clearances. I square foot garden so successive plantings of small amounts and saving the extra for future use is almost mandatory. Now the real nitty gritty! What I need and what I want? Well I am thinking a few more fruit trees. How about the turnips Jay grows I need seed for them. I really want some napa type cabbage It grows so good in the summer?---- About 100 bucks + a few extra for the spring impulse items! lol

Curt

The turnips Jay grows are sold by Johnny Selected. Surely a packet will be below $100. I am going in for them too next year. One full bed. My wife has decided that rutabagas are not her root, so...

I've spent $7.50 so far for new heirloom tomato varieties. I might spend another $5 also on heirlooms.
I think dan, george, noinwi and I are the winners so far.
Spending more is losing IMO but if you rely on those seeds as your income or main food source that's a different story. It's a win-win situation as long as those seeds produce more $ than your overhead or what it would have cost to buy your veggies.
It's worth it to me just to have fresh and tasty fruit and veggies instead of the cardboard sold at stores.

I spend about $100 a year on seeds. Most are spent on obtaining rare hard to find edible seeds, end up only growing out a few plants... its worth it though because no store or farmers market has the varieties/exotic edibles.

I guess a follow-up question for this topic is where do you get your seeds? Catalog, online store, nursery, big box store, etc.? By the way, i went through my seeds and what I need to order, I only need $18 worth of stuff.

I get all my seeds from heirloomseeds.com. I found them completely by accident. They are a small operation out of western PA, but they offer great seeds at rock bottom prices... less than $2 per pack for everything, except the organics. Shipping is a flat rate - about $3.50.

For those thinking of using heirlooms, you may want to look into this site, it's the lowest prices I've found around, they give you some free seeds of similar varieties to what you purchased and it might just help you cut your seed starting costs down a bit. In this economy, any little bit helps. (I recognize that this may break the policy of this website, but I have no affiliation with this company other than purchasing from them the past 3 years, with great success.) BTW, have your varieties in mind before you go there. They offer very little in the way of pictures, etc.

glib; Ya I rambled too much I meant 100+ dollars for the seeds and fruit trees even if I don't need them ;)

Curt

This year is the most I spent on seeds at about $75 because I tried to start most things from seeds. I also had bad luck this year with overwhelming bugs (snails), some seeds I ordered (germination rate too low), and weather (lost seedlings to unexpected cool/hot weather).

Spending this much every year on seeds is not very economical because my garden is really not that big. So in the future, I'm thinking that I may order larger package of the expensive hybrid seeds (and keep them in the frig), try to save open pollinated seeds (this is hard because of the many variety I grow in close proximity), and avoid certain seeds from specific companies (this is where good record keeping comes in handy because I can't remember all these).

We used to spend a lot more up in NJ

Those seed catalogs were SUCH a pleasure during dark, frosty winters
~ExNJer

I'm sure that the long-term gardeners know this, but for any variety-hungry newbies out there, here's my tip. I stumbled into a Farm Supply store, a place that sells supplies for cattle and horses, stuff like that, this past summer and discovered a wealth of seeds. They sell their seeds from bins, weighing out however many you want. They have an enormous selection of especially heirloom seeds that I have seen mentioned on this forum over and over as some of the very best. Just as an example, I bought a quarter pound of crowder pea seeds for thirty five CENTS. They had Emerald Okra and Christmas Limas for two. I am going there first this year before I place any mail orders.

If you store dry seeds in the freezer in an airtight container, they will stay viable for decades. I just finished using these up about two years ago:

{{gwi:34402}}

I'm surprised as well at the amount spent on seeds! But, I have a small garden - like many folks on here - with only about 430 square feet.

I'm getting an order going with FedCo right now myself - and so far I'll max out at $39. Wanted to ensure I got over $30 so I can get free shipping/handling but now there are a few different varieties of lettuce that I'd like to try since my lettuce this year did horrid.

I've also picked large packs - such as 1 pound of Bush Blue Lake beans and 1 pound of Cascadia Snap peas so I'll ensure to have enough to save my own seed from.

I still have a lot of seed sitting down in the freezer - but some seed only is good for a few years (onion, lettuce) so I'm having to get new.

Would be nice if I didn't need to order anything next year - because I shouldn't have to - but onion see doesn't stay good for very long.

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

I sent my Fedco order in today.....I had more than $30 in cover crops and materials and such, but had to pay the $10 surcharge for handling on the veggie seeds.

A couple hundred dollars for next spring (so far).

It doesn't take long to get that high when the less common seeds can run $3-$4 a packet. Then shipping adds up, too.

We're trying lots of varieties of different things, trying to find something that will grow in our weather. So I hope that in years to come, the amount invested will go down, when we only have to order 1-2 varieties.

Packets of seeds can be used over several years, and I'm hoping to get at least a few heirlooms that do well so that I can save seeds.

Hundreds and hundreds were spent this past year on fruit trees, grapes, and berries. Several hundred dollars more are ordered for the spring. But those costs are one time costs and once the plants are in, the only expense will be taking care of them, and they should give a very good return on investment.

I saved a lot of flower seeds this year, so hope to not spend so much as a penny on flower seeds (except, the bees seem to like late cone flowers, so I have to get some of those for the bee food section of the orchard)