Located in Mineral, Virginia, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is a 72-acre farm and cooperatively run business which sells more than 800 varieties of open-pollinated, organic, and heirloom vegetable, herb, flower, grain, and cover crop seeds. Most of their seeds are grown by a network of over 50 small farms across the United States. You can learn about some of their seed growers here.
Southern Exposure also offers several varieties of cotton, seed mixes, and mushroom spawns as well as seed-saving and other garden supplies. On their website, they have a Garden Planner tool and many different Growing Guides (such as for growing specific vegetable, herb, and flower varieties, seed saving, and fall and winter gardening tips). And they have a blog, too!
You can purchase their seeds through their Catalog and Garden Guide or in retail stores throughout the Southeast.
Rainbow Starters Mix
One of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange’s products is the Rainbow Starters Mix. The Rainbow Starters Mix includes the following seed varieties: Jewel Mix nasturtiums, Autumn Beauty sunflowers, Royalty Purple Pod bush beans, Lacinato Rainbow kale, Easter Egg radishes, Rainbow chard, Cosmic Purple carrots, Lemon cucumbers, Tromboncino summer squash, and Wild Garden lettuce mix. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange donates 30% of their sales of the Rainbow Starters Mix to the Piedmont Environmental Council and Buy Fresh, Buy Local!
Janie Hynson is an aspiring homesteader in North Carolina. She recently moved back to her hometown after living in Boston for six years and then traveling across the U.S. working on organic farms. Janie works in public health and sustainable agriculture and is interested in how health can be improved through homesteading.
Erin Knott says
March 9, 2017 at 10:41 amIt’s hard to choose which seeds are most exciting! The lettuces do look yummy though. 🙂
Soraya Willson says
March 9, 2017 at 10:43 amWe really like their seeds. We have purchased them for years. Highly productive and great variety.
Cindy May says
March 9, 2017 at 10:48 amDo I have to pick just one? I love easter egg radishes – they are so much more fun than the ones (all red) in the store. I’m crazy about kale too so it’ll be fun to try a new variety. I guess the rest fall into second place for me, but I’d love to try them. Purple carrots!
Zoe Madaleine Martin says
March 9, 2017 at 11:00 amOh I just LOVE Southern Exposure Seed Exhange!!! <3 How can I pick ONE thing to be excited about?! I guess the easter egg radishes because I have never grown them and they look like a beautiful addition to salads, pickles, and authentic tacos! Also really excited for the Rainbow chard and Kale!! Oh! And LEMON CUCUMBERS!!!
Paige says
March 9, 2017 at 11:09 amAll the varieties sound yummy and would go great in our YARDen! We started new raised vegetable beds this year and bought our seeds from SESE. <3
Jenny says
March 9, 2017 at 11:14 amThat’s a beautiful mix of seeds. I’m anxious to try the tromboncino because I’m tired of losing squash to bugs.
Heidi Hull says
March 9, 2017 at 12:15 pmLemon Cucumbers. I love cucumbers but struggle to grow them. They are my challenge this year to figure out.
karen f. says
March 9, 2017 at 12:19 pmI love nasturtiums so I’d be most excited about those, although Easter egg radishes would be a close second. 🙂 We have a little enclosed raised bed garden in our back yard, and that’s where they’d go!
April Bailey says
March 9, 2017 at 12:40 pmGardening is my favorite way to relax. Plus nothing more amazing than getting to feed your family from your own garden!
Jacqueline Langeveld says
March 9, 2017 at 12:41 pmI love Southern Exposure Seed Exchange!
Stephanie Keller says
March 9, 2017 at 12:59 pmI like to plant at least one new vegetable every year, so I am very excited by the nasturtiums. What a great givaway!! <3
Keith says
March 9, 2017 at 12:59 pmWhat a wonderful contest. I love that you have purple varieties in the giveaway.
Lena Pilipenko says
March 9, 2017 at 1:13 pmOf course, Lacinato Rainbow kale ! I have been growing green kale, and excited about having it in different colors! So much fun!
Audra says
March 9, 2017 at 2:03 pmWe are just starting our “homestead” and I have been researching who to buy seeds from. I have a 1000sq ft I need to plan and fill with yummy goodness! I would love to try these seeds!
Audra says
March 9, 2017 at 2:05 pmWe are just starting our “homestead” and I have 1000sq ft to fill with yummy goodness! I would love to try out this seed co!
Carol Kuhns says
March 9, 2017 at 2:35 pmI go through so many packets of radish seeds. I use them to mark almost every veggie row.
Sheryle G says
March 9, 2017 at 3:58 pmThanks for the chance.
Sheryle G says
March 9, 2017 at 3:59 pmDidn’t get my comment finished! I’m most excited about the Autumn Beauty Sunflowers. Love sunflowers! Thanks for the chance!
Amanda says
March 9, 2017 at 5:30 pmI’m most excited about the Tromboncino summer squash because they are resistant to cucumber worm that is so destructive here.
Terri Pine says
March 9, 2017 at 8:00 pmI tend to use lettuce as baby vegetables, so I go through a lot of that kind of seed.
Aubrey says
March 9, 2017 at 8:07 pmI love the rainbow starters mix because:
A. I am obsessed with gardening
B. I love plants
C. Eating the natural rainbow is essential for good health
D. Color in the garden is aesthetically pleasing!
Erica Tempesta says
March 9, 2017 at 8:22 pmI’m excited about the rainbow lacinato kale, because I have never seen rainbow lacinato kale but i love all kales so i’m sure it’s amazing.
Patricia Forsythe says
March 9, 2017 at 8:23 pmI love the different colors in this mix, along with all of the seeds offered at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange!
Rana Durham says
March 9, 2017 at 9:00 pmCosmic Purple carrots i will plant it in a raised bed in my backyard. i love the uniqueness of these carrots.
Andrea Fox says
March 9, 2017 at 9:42 pmI would love to win this! Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is one of our favorites!
penny m roberts hyde says
March 10, 2017 at 4:15 amKale, kale, kale…or perhaps carrots…like potato chips, too hard to select one!!! thanks so much for the opportunity
Aleacia Hitchcock says
March 10, 2017 at 5:16 amExcited to try the Easter egg radishes!
Patti says
March 10, 2017 at 5:29 amPurchased Cucuzzi gourd seeds from you this year as I read they flowers attract pollinators.
Heidi Nawrocki says
March 10, 2017 at 6:00 amI’m planting French breakfast radishes, so Easter Egg radishes would be a fun addition to my zone 6 garden 🙂
Robin says
March 10, 2017 at 6:01 amGreat seed mix! Purple carrots sound wonderful!
jennifer says
March 10, 2017 at 7:02 amI love southern exposure seed!!!
Carol A Sharpe says
March 10, 2017 at 7:39 amI Love Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. This would be an exciting package to refresh my aging seed stash.
Barrett Greenwood says
March 10, 2017 at 8:09 amI love Southern Exposure Seed Exchange! If I have to pick just one favorite from this mix it’s the cosmic purple carrots
Erin Adams says
March 10, 2017 at 8:23 amLove supporting independent businesses and heirloom seeds are a big favorite. I’d love to plant the kale and lemon cucumbers in particular.
Christa Lemons says
March 10, 2017 at 8:35 amI love Southern Exposure! Their catalog is one of my fav things to keep. I love all the seeds in the rainbow starter…especially the cosmic carrots! Woot!
Jessica poulsen says
March 10, 2017 at 8:35 amI love the rainbow pack and purple carrots are my favorite!!
Pam says
March 10, 2017 at 9:50 amI am most excited to try the Lacinato Rainbow kale because I have heard so many good things about it. I would plant it in one of my raised beds that gets partial shade.
Katharyn Privett-Duren says
March 10, 2017 at 11:23 amEaster Egg Radishes! Now, that could confuse a bunny. 🙂 I will plant them under my baby fig tree in the center of my mini-farm.
DJ says
March 10, 2017 at 12:33 pmThe sunflowers. I want to plant them in my front yard.
Tex Pasley says
March 10, 2017 at 12:48 pmReally excited about that summer squash!
Michelle Landers says
March 10, 2017 at 1:35 pmOne of my favorite seed companies. <3
Sandra Warren says
March 10, 2017 at 2:57 pmI would love to try the Cosmic Purple Carrots. I have bought from Southern Exposure because they are ethical and care about the earth and our health. Love them.
Cheryl Jacobs says
March 11, 2017 at 5:05 amLove Southern Exposure seeds! Can’t wait to get more!
Daniel Marciniak says
March 11, 2017 at 12:27 pmThis is such a great mix of companion plants. I love the flavor of lemon cucumbers. Thus nasturtiums look gorgeous as well as being a help to everything else. The sunflowers will certainly make any gardener proud. And even the staples of beans, squash, radishes and kale are as ascetically pleasing as they are practical. I’m partial to the beans with their purple pod simply because all my past beans were green or yellows. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange really did a great job on this one. I have even more reason to be appreciative of their work, as they just donated to our new seed library, which I’ve been focusing on starting instead of my own seeds.
Larry Bartenstein says
March 11, 2017 at 12:38 pmI do love SESE seeds of almost any kind. I recently saw Iris on a Virginia
Gardening show and learned a lot about their efforts. Must get up there
for a visit or workshop, soon!
Brandi M says
March 11, 2017 at 5:21 pmI am looking forward to purple carrots and lemon cucumbers. Different variations of old favorites. Thank you for the giveaway!
Peggy Riccio says
March 11, 2017 at 6:36 pmGreat idea, they say it is healthy to eat a rainbow of veggies too. Would love to try these seeds!
Chiriga says
March 12, 2017 at 5:48 amI’m really looking forward to the radishes and kale. The carrots sound good too, but I’ve never gotten a good crop of carrots.
Anna Perry says
March 12, 2017 at 10:17 amThe radish seeds look really fun!
Lauren Evans says
March 12, 2017 at 12:47 pmThe radishes look beautiful, but I’m most excited about the purple carrots and lemon cucumbers. I live on a half acre in a subdivision, but we put it to work with our vegetable garden every year 🙂
LIza Vladyka says
March 13, 2017 at 8:30 amCukes or lettuce but truly love them all
Audra O'Hara says
March 13, 2017 at 9:12 pmI’d be excited to try the Cosmic purple carrots! We do a veggie garden every year and I usually do a few rows of carrots, but I’ve never tried purple. I bet the nasturtiums are beautiful. Those would be pretty around the garden border.
Kathy says
March 14, 2017 at 10:42 pmI’ve never heard of lacinato RAINBOW kale… sounds fun. They all sound fun! We’d plant in our raised beds.