Ask Jackie: Gardening by Clay-Atkinson Jackie

Author:Clay-Atkinson, Jackie [Clay-Atkinson, Jackie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Backwoods Home Magazine
Published: 2012-07-31T18:30:00+00:00

Pure, hardy seeds

Any information on hardy seeds that are pure (not hybrids) so that I may save and replant them year after year would be useful.

That’s probably enough for now. I am in New York State. I’m trying to get my garden started this year and am looking for practical advice, so I came to you!

Terry J. Ziellinski

Seed saving is not only a good idea on a self-reliant homestead, but it’s fun. I’ve been hooked on heirloom Native American (and other) open pollinated varieties. These old, non-hybrid vegetables were saved because they are hardy, taste good, and store/process very well. Today, with hybrid seeds and genetically altered varieties, these old-timers seem outdated. But sometimes new is not better. With expensive hybrid seeds, you can save seeds, but those seeds do not reproduce the parent plants. You may get edible crops, but they may be more foliage than fruit or produce irregularly. And as for genetically engineered crops, well, we won’t even go there. (I don’t want to eat corn with fish genes.)

There are several fine books on seed saving available to you. Backwoods Home Magazine’s bookstore carries several.

Seed saving is interesting, easy, and practically addicting. And it completes the gardening circle. It doesn’t make sense to buy garden seeds, year after year. That’s a lot of money that could be better spent elsewhere.

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