I like Territorial, Nichol's and Stokes, I grow some hybrids but like heirlooms the most.

It's a question that's asked very often, so I've linked to a search here at GW ( at the bottom of this first page) that has many many threads asking pretty much the same question and you'll find the opinions of lots and lots of folks concerning their favorites

Hope that helps.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Companies

Victory Seeds

Here is a link that might be useful: Victory Seeds

It's hard to chose. My favorite is Heirloom Seeds. They sell a smaller
amount, therefore lower price. For tomatoes usually 20 seeds. That's
plenty for one variety,

There are some really good seed companies for open pollinated tomato varieties. I order from several of them and think highly of Johnny's Selected Seeds, Tomato Growers Supply, Sandhill Preservation, Bakers Creek and Seed Savers Exchange.

But the question is "Favorite Tomato Seed Company" and for that I have to agree with JayTee ... hands down Victory Seed Company.

Being on a fixed income, I like to trade seeds with family, friends and now with my fellow tomato friends on the internet.

Johnny's

I'm very comfotable buying stock from NESeeds, GourmetSeed, and Tomato Growers Supply.

I'm trying, "Sand Hill Preservation Center", this season they come highly recommended. Link is below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sand Hill Preservation Center

My favorite is Sand Hill Preservation. They offer tremendous variety, quality and dependability (speed is not usually one of their virtues, but they tell you that up front), and they don't rip the customer off blind with shipping charges. In fact, if the order is $10 or more, shipping is included I believe. The only problem with Sand Hill is that they do not ship seeds in fall and winter, and that's exactly when some of us in warmer climates need to start our seeds. We have to order almost a year in advance to avoid sell-outs (such as Indian Stripe and Break O'Day this year).

Also I like Victory Seeds and Tomato Growers. Great service and quality from both, and you can also order hybrids from TG.

Tomatofest: I hate it when someone tells me I have to order $15 minimum and then slaps me with not-so-minimal shipping charges on top of it. I'll pass.

Diane's (dianeseeds.com) has one of Garden Watchdog's highest ratings of all seed purveyors.

I like Baker Creek; http://rareseeds.com/cart/ because their forums are a lot of fun, the owner cares a lot about protecting heirloom seeds and the company has some good sales. Right now everything is 10percent off until tomorrow.

My favorite is Seed Savers Exchange, a wonderful non-profit organization that has a large variety of heirloom garden seeds, including tomatoes. I buy from them because of their great selection and quality, and because I think it's important to support their mission of preserving heirloom varieties for future generations. You can buy seeds directly from them, and, if you become a member of their organization, it gives you the opportunity to exchange hard-to-find and exotic varieties of garden seeds with other members.

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Savers Tomatoes

The SSE has become WAY too controversial for me since the board recently forced the man who began the company out the door. He is very unhappy with the direction his organization has taken under the new leadership.

Harris, Fedco, and Pinetree are my favorites.

Just as an fyi, I built a webpage that gives links to a huge number of seed companies. Please feel free to use it as a hinge point to get to gardening places you love. I will be adding to this webpage so if you have a good link please email it to me.

DarJones

Seeds and plants

That's a wonderful resource, thank you for puting together that set of link. I will be sharing that with my Winter Sowers.

Trudi

Since I posted on 11/30 I have learned that Sand Hill DOES in fact fill seed orders year round. Good news, but pay attention to what has already sold out for 2009. I am also very pleased with Baker Seeds--I left that out of my last post.

If anyone is bored and wants to have some fun check out the 2010 seed catalog at link below and see how many erroneous, embellished or downright gaffes you can find. Like the Black Cherry blurb that states...'Black Cherry will produce up to 50 dusky pink fruit per truss.' Those must be Special black cherry plants. Don't think i've ever seen 50 fruit per truss or off color fruit on a black cherry plant before.

You would think people would try to get things as accurate as possible before putting them up on the net for the whole world to see.

Here is a link that might be useful: Caseys tomato seeds

JT, everyone learns as they go along.

I'll publish something at WinterSown and won't see "teh" until two years later ;-O

Try being a good doobie and emailing the differences you find to Casey so the changes can be made--ridiculing someone whose making a valid effort at marketing just makes you look less than any typo or off-worded description.

T--who, of course, thinks it's better to give than sell seeds.

if you say so trudi. I dont call it a "vaild" effort when people try to embellish and "bend" the truth for the sole purpose of increasing sales.

I try to give people a chance to come around to better ways. Every commercial catalogue, in some way or another, makes changes, either subtle or large, to promote their products. Sigh.

I can completely understand subtle changes as a way of doing business even though i dont agree with it, but a blatant disregard for the facts is a different story IMO. Sorta like that misuse of photos at TT. double-sigh

(smile)

trudi I hear you, but I tend to agree with jt. With some seed companies every single tomato variety they sell produces tons of intensely tomato-flavored fruit. We all know darned well that they're lying. That's one thing I like about Sand Hill. You'll notice often that no reference whatsoever to flavor is made. I read between the lines on that.

LOL. The word "tasty" can mean that too. Everything has some taste.

Darn if I can remember which new company it is, but I did come across a tomato seed site that had pinched many photos and descriptions from other online catalogues. Because I'm all too often a victim of it, copyright theft is one of my pet peeves. Doing something like that irks me a lot more than pumped-up selling points. It's not too hard to tweak copyright free images to represent what you're selling--people who rip off picts are not going to think twice about manipulating descriptions to get a foothold in a large marketing field.

Caveat emptor.

Solana Seeds in Quebec. Their response to your order is fast. Only an online catalogue, but you can print the form and snail-mail it. Good selection of old favorites and lots of hard to find ones. Also indicates the method of isolation used in seed production so you can be sure you're buying pure seed.

baker creek and tomatofest were both good for me last year.

I like Johnny's and Rupp. Last year I bought from Tomato Growers Supply and was not pleased with the quality. Poor overall germination, even using grow mats, plus several varieties did not come out 'true'.

heirloom acre seeds (not heirloomseeds) and tomatofest have been good for me
Dennis