Ordering vs. Store: The Seed Purchase Debate

Usually, I order my seeds in mid-winter from a variety of seed houses; I've written about this before.  This year, between one thing and another, that order didn't happen, and I'm glad.  It's given me a chance to see how much I can save on starting my garden.

For many of my favorite varieties of seed, I've had very good luck going to the hardware store and buying Burpee seed.  They are the same varieties I can order by catalog, but they are much cheaper for a somewhat smaller pack.  These packages in the photo were on sale for $0.68 apiece, and I got a substantial number of my favorite varieties.  It's true that there's less seed per pack here, but so far that hasn't been much of an issue.  And, at $0.68 per pack rather than over $3.00 from Burpee, I can always go get more if I run short.

I have ordered some specialized varieties of seed at full price this year (have to have my Burpee Pickler cucumbers), and I ordered some tomato plants and onion starts, but otherwise, I'm trying to economize a bit without sacrificing quality.

Most of my tomato plants I have started from seed I saved, and they are happy under the grow lights right now.  I'll be reporting as I go along as to the difference between store bought, ordered, and home-started tomato plants.

What are you doing to get your garden off to an economical start?