If you google "garden watchdog" (GW won't let me link) it is a site that you can check out real gardeners' experience with different seed and plant vendors. I look there before I use any new mail order vendor.

Onions & leeks: Dixondale Farm - Good quality and always give me way more per bundle than indicated. I share extras with friends.
Potatoes: Wood Prairie Farm - Not the cheapest, but great disease-free varieties, great website information like storage capability and best uses for each variety; family run organic farm in the upper reaches of Maine.

I tend to use Johnny's for most of my seeds since I have had really good luck with their short season varieties; seeds that don't have the time to produce aren't a bargain for me, but that is probably less of a concern for you since you most probably have 6 weeks or so longer to grow things.

I will be reading other posts for suggestions. I have meant to try other seed catalogs, but life has gotten in the way of investigating other companies for the last few years.

I'd love suggestions for a good short season black bean and where to get it as well, if anyone else has grown one.

And, can we eventually make this thread about saving seeds, a 'how to' and a 'what i do' sort of thread?

While I don't grow vegetables, I do grow from seed. I completely filled all my perennial beds with plants grown from seed obtained primarily through trades with other gardeners here on GardenWeb. Check out the Seed Exchange forum and shop for seeds you can either trade for or else purchase for the cost of postage.

FYI - I traded for seeds, winter sowed them, potted up the seedlings, planted them in my beds once they got some size to them and filled all my perennial beds to overflowing in just 3 years' time, literally for pennies.

Primarily I traded for perennial seeds and also harvested and traded seeds from my own plants. I sowed the seeds via the Winter Sowing* method and ended up with more perennials than I had room to plant or could give away.

Harvesting seeds isn't particularly difficult but requires patience. The seedpods must be allowed to remain on the plant until they're completely dry & the seeds within are fully ripe. That can be a bit tricky since not all seed types ripen simultaneously. Example: seeds of Siberian iris aren't ripe until some time in late summer/early fall whereas Aquilegia/Columbine seeds ripen much earlier in the season. I harvest ripe seedpods, then allow them to dry for a few weeks in/on paper bowls or plates on stainless steel racks inside my garage.

* Winter Sowing is a proven, USDA-accredited method of growing trees, shrubs, perennials, vegetables & annuals from seed in winter. Check out the Winter Sowing forum here on GardenWeb for how to do it and how it works.

A neighbor left an envelope in my kitchen door a few years ago that had 4 apple tree and 10 pear tree seeds. The note asked me to grow them for him. The trees are now as tall as I am. Spirea, St. John's wort, butterfly bush, & ornamental dogwood trees are growing in my garden beds, all grown from winter sown seeds.

With some exceptions, most things can be grown from seed (minus a hothouse or electricity) given the optimal growing conditions. Winter sowing allows seeds to germinate when the hours of daylight + temperature + moisture tells them the time is right. It's natural and hands the controls back to Mother Nature.

Persimmons, you said:

"And, can we eventually make this thread about saving seeds, a 'how to' and a 'what i do' sort of thread? "

As the editor for the New England Gardening Forum, I can add a seed saving FAQ. I don't want to write it myself but I can either just save the whole thread or I can add something someone else has written up.

Something to keep in mind.

Claire

I found this useful for saving tomato seeds:

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Save Tomato Seeds - GardenWeb

Looks like there is no need to start from scratch for an FAQ page...

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Saving FAQ - GardenWeb