Seeds are such an important part of our gardens that I decided to tackle them first as we get into the meat. That is because without seeds, there are no plants and without plants, there will be no harvest of the vegetables we are after or flowers we want to delight the eyes (there are such things as edible flowers as well we'll get into as another topic). Of course, because of their importance, they are also something which can be quite intimidating as anyone walking into a store soon finds out
Yes, even that simple act confronts us with a bewildering array of seeds to choose from of different kinds. We find hybrid varieties, open-pollinated varieties, heirloom varieties, some labelled non-GMO, and organic seeds. And all of this in addition to the varieties themselves! And one's selection can have a real effect on the price of the seeds we buy. So how do we know what is what and what are the pros and cons of the different seed types. It is my hope to simplify the matter a good bit today and boil it down to the information you can use, thus leaving it down to the varieties themselves.
Hybrid Seeds
These are the backbone of the seed industry and by far the bulk of whiat is sold. That is because they come in varieties bred to flourish in hot weather and cold as well as resist various diseases. Because these seeds tend to be lower in cost than the others because of the bulk of sales most gardeners will use them for the short-term savings. Those would be the pros. The con side comes from the fact that these seeds are developed by taking and cross-pollinating different varieties with desired characteristics to produce a new proprietary variety the company patents. Hybrid varieties, as the name implies, are really only good for the current season. when one saves the seeds and sows them the next generation they start a process of reverting with some plants being the original variety and other the parent varieties. For this reason, one has to go back year after year and purchase new seeds of the varieties they like. So the savings is short term only.
Open-pollinated Seeds
Simply put, open pollinated seeds are the kind of seeds which can be saved and planted from year to year with the anticipation of harvesting the same variety of vegetable every generation. These are the stock from which hybrid varieties are bred. open-pollinated seeds include the heirloom or legacy varieties we'll talk about next as well as new varieties. The Oregon State University recently developed a line of tomato plants known as the Indigo line, the most famous of which is the Indigo Rose at the right. The entire line features tomatoes which have that dark blue coloring and are high in antioxidants making them a healthy part of a diet. The upside to the newer varieties which are usually called open-polinated is that like hybrids they are often bred specifically for certain traits, such as sun resistance, or the health factor such as the Cyanins in the Indigo line. The downside is that these varieties are often hard to find and among the more expensive seeds because of their scarcity. However unlike hybrids, they don't have to be purchased every year if one saves and uses their seeds. That is the big advantage of all open-pollinated varieties. If one collects the seeds and processes those which require special handling correctly one then quickly finds their seed cost reduced to nothing but a few new varieties now and then to tweak one's garden.
Heirloom Vegetables
Back before seed companies started introducing hybrid varieties in the mid-twentieth century all seeds were open pollinated. Although there was a thriving seed business because folks could always use varieties of vegetables resistant to such diseases and early blight, the tobacco mosaic virus etc, most varieties of vegetables were basically vegetables which were selected by individuals and localities because of certain traits or taste and handed down for many generations in those groups. One such variety is the Moon and Stars Watermelon grown by the Cherokee Indians which almost went extinct and is the one above and left. The story of how that watermelon was found and rescued from extinction and how that helped lead to an organization dedicated to preserving these old varieties was told in Readers Digest years ago and introduced this author to Heirloom seeds. It led to me wanting to grow that variety, and I have one sitting on the kitchen counter right now for my family to eat. Heirloom or legacy seeds are seeds from open-pollinated varieties with a known history as a variety stretching back more than fifty years and now include many old commercial varieties our grandparents planted. But they also often have a history stretching back into the mists of time, such as the Zapoteca Tomato from Mexico below the watermelon. Scientists think that variety goes back some six thousand years and that it is the ancestor of all modern beefsteak varieties of tomatoes.
After they were introduced hybrid vegetable seeds quickly dominated the market as the family kitchen gardens declined due to the new industrialized modern lifestyle which didn't leave much time for a garden as folks had been taught to grow a garden. We have no idea how many older varieties of vegetables became extinct during that period when garden hobbyists bought hybrid vegetable seeds and simply sprayed herbicide to cut down on weeding and pesticide for garden pests. The plant industry brought down the cost of that way of doing things enough to make it viable for folks in the fifties and onward and it is thought that thousands of varieties of vegetables were lost that way.
But around the late 1970s to the early 80s, a small but avid group of seed collectors started collecting these varieties and cultivating them to preserve them. One family started a seed exchange as well and since then the movement has grown as folks seek out heirloom varieties of vegetables and make them available to a growing market of home growers who want their food to be organic and now prefer to avoid modern hybrid varieties in favor of the old legacy kind. I am in that group and all the vegetables I grow are open-pollinated and skewed towards the older legacy types.
The pros of heirloom vegetables are that they are often proven performers in all kinds of growing conditions. Remember, these are old family varieties primarily and were cultivated in specific localities, often in specific growing zones over many centuries. So they are maximized for the conditions in the areas and planting zones they were raised in and often resistant to the diseases natural to those areas. So it is possible if a new disease is somehow brought in from one area to another to find an heirloom variety resistant to that disease from another area with similar growing conditions and grow it. Some heirloom varieties, such as the old Arkansas Traveller or the Riesenstraube at the right, are quite happy in areas with very different conditions from where they were bred and resistant to a wide variety of diseases on top of that. The Riesenstraube is an heirloom tomato brought to the Pennsylvania region by German immigrants in the mid-1700s which did well in the new world. However, it is comfortable in the Deep South here in the United States and produces prolifically.
Heirloom and legacy tomatoes also tend to be tasty and are available in a wide variety of tastes. Our ancestors wanted to taste their food and often selected seeds based on the taste of the fruit. In modern times vegetables are bred by the commercial market for handling as well as growing in specific conditions. These fruits in the case of the fruited ones are often harvested befoe they are ripe and handled by machinery. They are also expected to have a long shelf life to accommodate the modern supply line from the farm to the market. So the taste has been bred out of most varieties and this trait has also slipped into the hobby gardening market as well. Scientific studies are mixed on the matter so it seems the jury is still our, but many claim modern hybrids don't have the nutrient value the old heirloom varieties do. That is probably so in some cases, such as tomatoes, peppers, and other where the dark red to black fruit and leaves contain more antioxidants than even most heirloom varieties.
The disadvantages. Prices and rarity, which are related. As some old varieties and some newer ones come on the market they command a premium price because the supply is low and they are hard to find. The variety known as Glass Gem Corn, pictured above, is one of those exciting finds from a collection of Indian corn varieties which came into the market in the last several years. It is basically a popcorn variety also good for making cornmeal but is primarily prized for its wonderfully beautiful appearance of the cobs when harvested. So it is grown by many as an ornamental Corn. it is also quite pricey. Prices for open pollinated and heirloom seeds can run double, triple or even more than hybrid seeds. Although that cost can be brought down by saving the seeds and using them in the future, some people either cannot or will not make the extra effort to save those seeds. This can be an added concern for those of us who are disabled and the effort really is too much. So a disabled person living on government income or a tight lower income might be better off sticking with hybrid varieties which are now getting some taste back as consumers demand it.
Choosing Seeds
I hope I've been able to clear up some of the confusion about seed types. I've only left out one, but that's simply because some seeds, mostly heirloom, are certified as organic which means they were produced under a very strict set of regulations for certification for organic gardeners and have no coatings or any of the like on them. But that's one of the many considerations one must factor into their decisions. So let's look at some of those factors.
Of course, we've already mentioned the matter of hybrid or open-pollinated. Price and availability could be an important factor. In the case of hybrid varieties, they are all over the place. If one has soil that is good and all they have to do is plant the seeds and tend the garden the convenience of hybrids. In most cases, the seeds one will find in most hardware or big box store will already be varieties optimized for one's growing zone and locale. So much of the need to research specific varieties to find out which are the best for one's area is eliminated. The pricing may also be a selling point. Since they tend to be much lower in price the beginning gardener might want to concentrate on learning how to grow a garden first instead of perpetuating it through saving seeds and propagation. Given the aforementioned factors are also taken out in the case of store-bought varieties the seeds should germinate and grow easily and the plants should also grow well and easily. Those are prime factors for disabled gardeners.
Many varieties of vegetables are also available as seedlings in various stages of growth at various prices and the smaller ones are the most reasonable. This takes some of the uncertainty out of getting the seeds started. However, there are some caveats to that which we'll cover when we talk about growing pregrown seedlings and plants.
Buying Seeds And Plants
We've already mentioned that all you have to do to purchase seeds or plants is to go to the and hardware store or a big box store with a lawn and garden center to buy seeds and plants. They usually have hybrid varieties, however, the growing popularity of heirloom varieties is causing them to now include many of those varieties among both seeds and plants to cater to the organic market and the curious. There are other options, though.
Buying online is another option and a good one for those who can't get into the stores for whatever reason but still want a garden. Commercial seed companies, such as Burpee's, are online. So are heirloom seed companies. Baker Creek Seeds, Annie's Heirlooms, and MIgardener all deal in heirloom seeds only. And Territorial Seed Company sells both popular heirlooms and F1 hybrid varieties. By the way, the F designates the variety and the number how far it is generationally from the original. I happen to have some F4 seeds in my collection as part of an effort to stabilize a rather interesting and rare hybrid tomato into an open-pollinated variety. I also haven't mentioned GMO seeds up to this point because they are not in the small gardener market yet. GMOs are varieties which have had genes from other plants or even animals inserted into their DNA to produce some desired traits. Right now those are only in the commercial farmer's market, so they aren't a concern yet.
All of the companies mentioned except MIgardener also offer catalogs and Baker Creek's is a really nice one. All of those companies except MIgardener also ship some of their varieties as plants as well. Baker Creek and Annies take some of the guesswork out of choosing by offering package deals for vegetable seeds put together for specific regions such as the South, Pacific Northwest, etc. Those packages run anywhere from $20 to $40 but are worth it for the beginner since we're talking about a basic garden with varieties specific to the region and easy to grow comparatively speaking.
MIgardener's appeal is in that the seeds he sells are all $.99 and the seed order also has a single shipping cost no matter the size of the order. This year he offered a $10 beginner's collection of vegetable seeds in cooperation with a YouTuber called Calikim, who walked a friend of hers who wanted to start a garden through the process this year using that pack. I don't know if he is going to keep on offering that collection every year but it would be something to check on.,
One can also get seeds through E-bay and Amazon and with a little comparing and savvy one can get them pretty cheaply. However, one needs to be careful. I ordered some seeds of a very rare variety I wanted which were reasonable in price only to have them seized by customs because the overseas vendor didn't file the right paperwork on them. So I had to find and get that variety from another source and lost what it cost me to buy the seeds on top of that. The price had been low enough I didn't lose that much at all, but that illustrates the need for caution.
So there you are. I hope I've taken some of the confusion and mystery out of the subject of seeds for you and that you are now in a position to start thinking about what you want to plant. The companies I mentioned can all easily be found by using a search engine on the internet. They will deliver right to your door, another advantage for the disabled. As you start your new garden one thing to mention. Order only what you like to eat in the beginning. If one chooses a package deal because it takes some of the guesswork out of the decision-making, that's fine just give it away to somebody who will grow and eat it. The simple fact is that if you don't like it, then it's a waste of money and space to grow it.
As always,
Smile!
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