Ray,
I adore Fedco Seeds. I also like Pinetree. I've ordered three times from Fedco, once from Pinetree. They are both very cheap relative to quality, and I'm in same zone as you, and they select things that grow well in cold BY TRIAL, in zone 5, and thus do very well for us in fall.

Though if you want value, I think I saw Gurneys has 20 bucks off any order of 40 bucks or more (half off).

With Fedco, there is a 5 buck handling fee, unless you order 30 bucks or more, which i always do. But they stopped taking orders for season a few weeks ago.

I haven't ordered from her, but Cherry Gal has good prices ($1.25/pack) and a good selection

http://www.cherrygal.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=lettuce&x=0amp;y=0

I get a lot of seeds from heirloomseeds.com

They are a family owned company (very small operation), but they are tremendous in customer service. Every time I buy from them they even send along a few free seeds (Number and variety depend on what you buy from them).

The only downside (although some would not consider it a downside at all) is that they ONLY carry heirlooms, no hybrids.

Most seeds are $1.25-$2.99. Depending on the seeds you buy how many you will get.

Hi, Ray! If you could make it to the store, Ferry Morse seeds in the carousels are really cheap yet dependable. Plus, no shipping and handling. Misterbaby.

Now talk about cheap...................
Crosman's Seeds...www.crosmanseed.com....I'm talking about 0.89 per packet...some higher, some lower.

karen,

How many seeds do you get for say: tomatoes, lettuce and corn from crossmanseed.com?

Their quantities seem a little low. Maybe its just me.

I do like their variety though. They cover the basic seeds for someone not seeking the exotic, but just the generic "victory garden".

Try Willhite Seed in Poolville TX

mountain valley in oregon
www.mvseeds.com

I like mainstreet seeds

Here is a link that might be useful: mainstreet seeds

Try sustainable seed company--they're a small company that specializes in open-pollinated and heirloom varieties. They have a number of 99 cent sampler packets available with graduated shipping fees.

Here is a link that might be useful: sustainable seed company

To determine the number of seeds per packet do the math: use the chart which is included in many seed catalogs. You can then compare seed prices accurately. I like Fedco - they've got top quality seed, the prices are great, they have organic and non-organic seed and they identify which seed comes from independent or smaller growers vs. huge companies like Monsanto (which buy up smaller brands to make it look like they are small seed outfits.).

I happened to be browsing my local Ace hardware store last week, and was surprised to see they sell loose seeds in bulk. You can buy per different sized "spoon" of a number of varieties - they had at least 1/2 dozen lettuces, plus lots of other veggies and onion sets. For the price of one pack of seeds, you'd get maybe 2-3 tablespoons of loose seeds.

Walmart has American Seed packets for 20 cents! Since this is only my second year growing vegetables I can't vouch for reliability, but all seeds germinated and grew well last fall.

Dollar Tree also has American Seeds for 25 cents and Walgreens sells them 3/$1 here (I have read they have them on sale for less sometimes). Dollar Tree seeds don't seem to get picked over as fast. Our Walmart seeds have already been picked over. I called our Walmart periodically to see when they came in and went right away. But when I went back just a couple weeks later they had already sold tons of them. But they do have plenty of the more expensive Ferry-Morse seeds for sale. : (

cherrygal has some really different seeds but the quantities were very very small. I thought I placed the order plenty early but she refunded 3/4 of it for being out of stock.