There was a time when this was a simple
task of going to the nursery and buying the seeds you wanted from what was on
the racks.
I suppose if you are older than me you may
remember a time when friends would share seeds over the garden fence or you
could take seeds from the grocery bought vegetables and plant those and they
would produce a vegetable just like the one they came from.
Nowadays you hear people saying are these
non-GMO or certified organic seeds? Are these seeds hybrids or heirloom?
I asked myself this when I started growing
veggies from seed in 2008 and have finally settled on organic heirloom seeds. I
have found that there are some drawbacks to this pure type of seed, but in my
opinion the negatives of hybrids and non-GMO seeds outweigh them.
Most hybrid vegetable seeds are
specifically bred for resistance to disease and for pest as well as aesthetic
appeal. Nutritional value of the end product vegetable is not on the agenda
with hybrid seed companies. While the original plant seeds used in this cross
breeding is done extensively to keep the most desirable finished product, there
are not the same nasty effects that you find in research done on foods grown
from GM seeds.
The problem with hybrid seeds when used in
the home garden is that you cannot grow the same crop from the seeds next
year…so you have to buy again and again as the vegetables that come from any
self seeding hybrids will be a deformed one from the parent.
Genetically modified seeds on the other
hand should never be used and you should not consume foods that come from GM
sources. Genetic seed engineering companies are able to patent their “new
creations”. Initially it started out as a high tech form of hybridization where
plant genes were crossed with one another and a new mutation was created.
Currently these companies are using animal
genes in their fiddling with seeds DNA that has got to the extent that plants
can create their own “pesticide” which the consumer ends up eating. Studies
have been done on pig’s livers that have eaten GM corn and soy and the
degradation of one of the most important organs in a creature is horrendous.
So that’s the bad news…but there is good
news!
Wise people before us, seeing the way
things were heading, have been collecting seeds that are untampered with and
will produce crop after crop from the original parent plant. These seeds are
called Heirloom Seeds…after the way they have been handed down generation to
generation.
Heirloom seeds are also generally open pollinated
but not necessarily so. Open pollinated means the way God created it to happen –
with wind, birds and insects moving from flower to flower and mingling the
pollen. This creates a wide gene pool of DNA.
Where to buy heirloom open pollinated
seeds?
Thank goodness for people like my friend
Sean and his family who run Living Seeds
and how he has created a storehouse for people wanting heirloom open pollinated
seeds. 90% of the seeds that they sell are grown on their own property in
Gauteng and the rest bartered from around the world.
Then there is The Gravel Garden here in
the Western Cape who has a delightful selection of seeds for sale.
You can also buy non GM non hybrid seeds from
some international sites still as customs do not yet stop seeds coming
in.
Mike the Gardener is a new favorite as his seeds are of a massive variety and the prices
reasonable with the current soaring exchange rate. If you live in the States
you should consider his seed of the month club, which looks great! I bought
loads of seeds from him this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment