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Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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Posted by couture911 IL (My Page) on Mon, Jun 30, 08 at 16:16
| In past years I have occasionally hit upon a store with a late-summer garden supply clearance. Usually these are stores that do not usually carry garden supplies (like grocery stores, or CVS). This year I have been watching very carefully for seeds that go on clearance. At CVS and Walgreens they are still normal price (at least at my local stores). Target mysteriously has no seeds at all. Lots of other gardening stuff, but the seeds displays seem to have vanished. A local grocery store had two displays of NK seeds at 40% off one week, and a week later they displays were gone and there were no seeds to be found. I doubt that they were all sold as the other items in the same aisle were barely touched and had not been marked down beyond the previous week's price (seed starting trays, lawn seed, trowels...).
Do some manufacturers take back the unsold stock? Why oh why can't I find any clearance seeds? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| Depends on the kind of seeds (flower? veg?) you want. I've seen large boxes of flower seeds - wildflower, zennia, marigold- on sale at WalMart and can always find both kinds of seeds at the different dollar-type stores or BigLots at good prices. I think the retailers ship them to the discount stores after the season. |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| We have Dollar General stores here in Texas and they sell seeds for four packets for $1. Sometimes I find year old seeds at the thrift stores. When they're only one year old they still have a pretty good germination rate. The best place to find seeds is at your local plant and seed swaps. Some people sell them at garage sales too. In the fall our local area gardeners get together via the Garden web and have a swap and I always save seeds for that. I usually end up giving away a lot of seeds that I've saved from my garden flowers. This fall I will have about 6 lbs of larkspur seeds to trade. I also have a lot of cleome seeds, but I'm going to plant them all until I have enough to trade. That should take me about 2-3 years, replanting all the seeds. My mom gave me some seeds for pink rain lilies yesterday, about 50. I figure I'll have to harvest seeds from all my plants for about 5 years before I have enough of them from one crop to start trading them. You don't have to have alot of money and you don't have to drive all over town to get seeds, just the patience to harvest seeds from the plants that you have. You really only need to start with a couple plants of each type and go from there. Cheryl |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| Have seen cheap seeds at Walmart this year, Fred's and Big Lots. |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| Try Big Lots a little later in the summer. Many retailers carry seeds that are "pay by scan" which means the store doesn't have to pay for them unless they sell. Usually, there is a time limit for them to be on display. If they don't sell by that time, instead of being reduced in price, they're trashed. Sad but true. |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| I have often found Thompson and Morgan Mail Order have deals with good varieties for a dollar. They also sometimes have free shipping. I always ask if I can have free shipping and nine times out of ten they ship free. |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| Try Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Their website is rareseeds.com. They have a nice variety, and although they are not on clearance, you get a very generous amount of seed for the price. |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| This won't help anyone on here, but there is a hydroponics store near me that was giving away free seeds because they were packed for the previous year and they weren't allowed to sell them. I thought that was interesting since I know most stores throw away or return the seeds. |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| I see seeds on clearance at walmart generally from October to December. You might also try the seed exchange on this web forum. Lots of folks will give you seeds for the cost of the envelope. |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| Sometimes the local Ace Hardware will sell 1-2 year old seed packets for 10 cents each. There is not much selection, usually just lettuces and kale, but it is quite a bargain. |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| Our local Rite Aid is selling seeds for 10 cents each. The label is marked $.99, but I found out when I bought a couple (that I wanted anyways) that they were rung up as less. However, the stock is picked over now... They are even this year's seed's - for 12/2008 I'm in Northern Virginia - DC suburbs. |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| Hi, I just wanted to chime in and say I have noticed the same thing the OP said. I used to always see seeds $.10 at this time of year in grocery, drug, and hardware stores. Now they are not marked down at all. I have noticed this with other seasonal items too. I was wondering if it has to do with the economy. |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| Walgreens had them on sale for 12 cents each. The last hundred or so packs were under teh windchimes in a basket. Got what I wanted including sweet corn, zucchini, yellow squash, sweet baby watermelon, peppers, etc. |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| A local grocery store has an outside plant section here. I went shopping for some 40 percent off shrubs and noticed that their seeds were 75 percent off. Well, a week later I decided to get a couple more shrubs and decided to pick up some seeds for next year. I grabbed a couple of packets with my roses and went to pay. I said "These are still 75 percent off, right?" because the sign wasn't up anymore. The cashier says "you can just take them, and go grab anymore that you are interested in..." SCORE! So I walked out with several tomato & pepper varieties...not much else I was interested in (I don't have a huge garden so I try to only plant what I'm sure we'll eat and enjoy and that will save us the most money at the grocery store). But I thought it was awesome and very nice of them to give them to me. They've got my business! |
RE: Do seeds ever go on clearance?
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| from what I have noticed you can find late summer bargains at dollar stores and pharmacys (ive found better at locally owned ones than the big national chains) If you really want a bargain however, check your garden center and nurserys right about the time things are starting to thaw (february in the south, march/april in the north) that is when they are getting thier new shipments in and many will have bargain buckets of last years seeds for 10 cents or so. I lucked out this spring and found a rather large nursery that had 3 shopping carts full of seeds at that price, went home with 20$ worth and just had a ball this year in the garden. There is usually a very wide selection in the bins as well. good luck! |
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