What Seeds Are On Your Plate

Hello Lovelies!

Lets talk about the difference in seeds! Heirloom, hybrid, heritage, GMO, organic whats the difference and does it really matter? All this depends on your gardening plan, why your gardening and if you want to save seeds.

Lets start with heirloom seeds! When I first heard "heirloom seed" it made me think generational non modified I would be growing the same seeds that had been grown hundreds of years ago... Which is something the case. You can find heirloom verities that have been preserved up to 300 years. But really thats not the case for most heirloom seeds. Most heirloom seeds where hybrids at one point. But they receive the heirloom title once they’ve been found "stable" producing the same plant year to year for a minimum of 50 years.

These soon to be heirloom seeds are only harvested from open pollinated plants. Open pollinated plants will produce a "true" plant. The new plant is considered true because it is genetically the same as the parent plant that the seeds came from. The seeds develop consistently the same from generation to generation.

Now Lets talk Hybrid VS GMO... Most seeds you’ll find at big box stores and hardware stores are hybrids and thats not a bad thing! Hybrids aren't scary a hybrid is typically a cross between two heirlooms. A hybrid contains the best traits of the parent plants. Which could be better pest resistant or producing more blooms. It could a verity of wonderful things. Most hybrids have sterile seeds so they’re not the best for seed saving. They can also be labelled as F1 hybrids. If you decide to save the seeds and give it a try they may grow and be perfect or they’ll take on the characteristics of one of the parent plants or not grow at all. At this point they’re unstable for future generations. But an F2 or F3 plant will produce a stable seed good for saving!

A GMO are not typical found in seeds for the gardener. What I mean by that is when your purchases seeds form you local hardware store or from a big box store they’re not going to be GMO. Why? Because its not necessary GMOs are typically reserved for large scale agricultural. A GMO is a genetic modification of the actual seed where as a hybrid is a cross. If I was to have a child they would be a "hybrid" of my husband and myself. If I was to say clone my husband and give him blue eyes and blonde hair he would be a "GMO". As his genetics would be altered to make him different. Large scale agricultural goes to GMO seeds for the same reason we as gardeners plant hybrids. We as gardeners want better tolerance to things a nice yield and so on. For a large scale farmer they want the same so the seeds are genetically modified to grow fast bigger be tolerant to difficult weather and pests.

When this occurs your end product will be lacking not in size or growth but in nutrition.

For most of us we garden for our health. To avoid pesticides and chemicals to know whats on our plate. Thats where organic comes into play. Have you ever wondered why shopping organic at the grocery store is so expensive? "If your like me thats probably why you wanted to garden to begin with." When large scale farmers grow organic there lots of loss no different than in our own garden. So price per unit goes up considerably when your losing crops to pests and a plethora of other reasons.

I hope this has helped clear up some of your questions about seeds!

Happy Planting!!