Old Country Seeds presents

Welcome to Old Country Seeds! You made it! We hope you're as excited about your garden this year, as we are about ours. Spring and planting season is around the corner! And we're grateful you took the time to find us online, and look forward to offering our new website to you soon. Keep coming back!

Our company - Old Country Seeds - was formed to contribute another source of high quality heirloom vegetable seed to the hungry gardeners and cooks in Canada. With that in mind, we are very happy to present ourself as your Canadian home and source of seeds from Franchi Sementi, a 7th generation-run, family business from Bergamo, in northern Italy.

Franchi Sementi was formed in 1783 in Parma, Italy, by Giovanni Franchi, who grew and collected seeds locally, and sold them from his cart in the squares and streets around the region. Now, his 7th generation-son, Giampero Franchi, runs a modern company that has grown to be one of the largest seed companies in Italy. For over two centuries, Franchi Seeds has been selecting and saving the traditional varieties from their own region as well as around Italy, maintaining relationships with some of their contract growers from generation to generation.

Discriminating cooks and gardeners have specially selected these varieties for taste and vigour. None are genetically engineered. Most are open-pollinated, heirloom varieties with regional provenance - if it says Chioggia in the variety name, it is from Chioggia. So, in our list, you will see many varieties from northern Italy, where the subalpine conditions make them ideal selections for Canada.

No seed is chemically treated, and all are hermetically sealed in plasticated paper packets. Many are double-bagged in an internal foil sachet as well. The packets are European-sized, generously filled for gardeners and farmers, community gardens, and folks who like to share, so you can grow more food than you thought possible, for less money than you expected, because value for dollar is important in this time we live in. And everyone can appreciate high germination rates, and excellent viability that makes for a long shelf life.

You'll also find that we are now carrying Franchi Sementi's entire Biologica Line of 49 varieties of organic seeds, and a few selected varieties from the Magnum Line of larger packets geared for larger market gardens, restaurant growers, and farmers.

Please enjoy the catalogue and we look forward to serving you. Our contact information is below, and it's there because we like to be contacted! We want to know what you want to grow and eat, and if there are any other varieties you would like us to carry.

Happy gardening! Happy eating!

Jeff Wright
Old Country Seeds
#8 - 106 - 4480 West Saanich Rd.
Victoria, BC V8Z 3E9

Email: jeff@oldcountryseeds.ca
Phone: +1 (778) 678-2255
Skype: jeff.ocs
Facebook: Old Country Seeds

The Canadian home of Franchi Sementi (est. 1783) of Bergamo, Italy