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Where Will You Get Your Seeds This Year?

Spring might seem far away, but it isn't too soon to think about which seeds you'll grow this year! Where will you find them? Canadians are fortunate to have nearly 100 seed companies to choose from, but the choices don't stop there. Whether you buy your seeds from a catalogue, order them through a seed exchange, or pick them up at one of the many seed libraries in communities across the country, look for seeds that are organic, open-pollinated, and grown locally.

Seeds of Diversity's Canadian Seed Catalogue Index

This is a list of vegetable and fruit seeds sold by Canadian seed companies, organized by seed company and by crop. Follow links to visit any of the companies’ web sites, or click on crop names (in the box on the right) for a list of all the varieties we’ve indexed. We constantly update this list, though some information will be up to a year old.

Seeds of Diversity’s Ecological Seed Finder

This service, sponsored by the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security helps you find seeds that are well suited to your region in Canada. Choose a crop species and select your region to find which seed suppliers are located near you. Local seed companies often sell the varieties that are best suited for your growing conditions, so when you buy their seeds you're improving your own region's seed security!

Seeds of Diversity's Member Seed Directory

Our seed grower members offer over 1700 varieties of vegetable, fruit, grain, flower, and herb seeds saved directly from their gardens. This directory is available to members only, so become a member today to access this fantastic grassroots resource. Over two-thirds of these varieties are not available from any seed company. Our grower members conserve and offer these seeds to ensure that the varieties can be grown, tested and adopted by gardeners across Canada. This gardener-to-gardener seed exchange is an incredible example of people protecting the people's seeds.

Seedy Saturdays and Seedy Sundays

Every year, up to 170 of these events happen all across the country through the winter months, and each features a community seed exchange. This year things will be very different: many of the events will have an online format, and many of the gardening presentations will be videos instead of live. But the seed exchanges will go on in a variety of contactless formats!  Check the complete Seedy Saturday and Seedy Sunday list on our web site to find a seed exchange near you, and how to join a fascinating seedy webinar.

Community Seed Libraries

Communities across Canada have set up seed libraries to protect genetic diversity in our food system and promote public access to seeds. Community members can check seeds out and grow them on the expectation that they will save seeds to be donated back to the library for the next year. Locally-grown seeds are bound to be great choices for community gardeners because healthy local seeds grow into healthy local food! Seeds of Diversity works with the Community Seed Network and the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security to support many of these community seed libraries across Canada because they work towards the same goal we have been striving towards for over 30 years.

Happy seed hunting!

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