On June 1st, 2026 David decided to be more transparent with the seeds he is offering.

In the description you will see these words: Germination rate about 60%. Tested 04/26. With this information you will be able to make a smarter seed buying decision. For instance, you will be able to do the math. 25 seeds in a pack x 60% = 15 tomato plants. You will be able to decide if the $2.96 you paid is worth getting 15 plants with the possibility of hundreds of tomatoes. I think it is. 

I will usually subtract 10% virality for each year passed the test date. For instance, if in 2025 the germination rate was 80% then I will subtract 10% and come up with the new rate of 70%. There is no science to this, but it has worked pretty good for me when gardening.

We will also use the initials of the company we purchased the seeds from. TLM would be True Leaf Market located in Utah. JSS would be Johnny's Selected Seeds located in Maine. AWSC would be Applewood Seed Company located in Colorado. DK would be Douglas King Seeds located in San Antonio, Texas. WILL would be Willhite Seeds located in Poole, Texas. WSF would be Wild Seed Farm located in Fredericksburg, Texas. NAS would be Native American Seed located in New Braunfels, Texas. SMS would be Strictly Medicinal Seeds located in Oregon. And last but not least, ours which is DGS would be David's Garden Seeds located by Rossville, Texas.

It will take us several months to get the information updated so bear with us.

Once a product's germination information has been added, we will add this logo:

Have you heard of the Safe Seed Pledge? David's Garden Seeds® wants our loyal customers to know that we have taken this important Pledge. This pledge was created in 1999 by ten different seed companies to take a stand against genetically engineered seeds.

The Safe Seed Pledge

"Agriculture and seeds provide the basis upon which our lives depend. We must protect this foundation as a safe and genetically stable source for future generations. For the benefit of all farmers, gardeners and consumers who want an alternative, we pledge that we do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants.

"The mechanical transfer of genetic material outside of natural reproductive methods and between genera, families or kingdoms poses great biological risks, as well as economic, political and cultural threats. We feel that genetically engineered varieties have been insufficiently tested prior to public release.

"More research and testing is necessary to further assess the potential risks of genetically engineered seeds. Further, we wish to support agricultural progress that leads to healthier soils, genetically diverse agricultural ecosystems and ultimately healthy people and communities."

Take the Safe Seed Pledge

We at David's Garden Seeds® took the Safe Seed Pledge on January 24, 2009. We provide seeds that are safe for growing food. We plant them, grow food and feed our family from our backyard garden. We would never sell anything that we would not grow and eat ourselves.

UPDATE ON THE SAFE SEED PLEDGE - November 27, 2024

This morning, we opened an email with an update to the Safe Seed Pledge, asking us to sign the new Seed Integrity Pledge. We signed it and were happy to do so.

Here is the new pledge that we signed:

Seeds are essential for the provision of healthy food, our well-being, and that of our environment and planet. We must protect the diversity and genetic integrity of our seeds to provide the foundation for a stable, safe food supply for us and for generations to come.

The mechanical alteration of genetic material outside of natural reproductive methods within or between genera, families or kingdoms, poses great biological risks as well as environmental, economic, political, and cultural threats.

New methods of genetic engineering such as CRISPR and other genome editing or gene silencing technologies are touted as precise and safe by the biotech industry. Independent studies, however, document the same risks of off-target and unintended changes to the organism as older genetic engineering methods. Yet, the U.S. and other governments have declined to regulate organisms produced with newer genetic engineering technologies (also known as New Genomic Techniques or NGTs) and no safety testing is required prior to their release.

An ever-increasing number of organisms are being genetically altered in labs and are quietly making their way into our gardens, farms, and food supply. The increased pace of commercialization of whole foods that are directly eaten by consumers such as salad greens, tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms, pineapples, apples, bananas, and chestnuts, as well as flowers such as pollinator-favorite petunias, increases the urgency of protecting the genetic integrity of our seeds.

We wish to support agricultural progress that leads to healthier soils, genetically stable and diverse agricultural ecosystems, and ultimately people and communities.

For the benefit of all farmers, gardeners, and consumers, we pledge that we do not knowingly buy, sell, or trade genetically engineered seeds or plants created using transgenic, cisgenic, RNAi, CRISPR/cas9 or any other genetic engineering technology.