Growing your own - Which Seed?

I love starting my own veggies and flowers from seed. Either I have purchased them, saved them from my own plants, or they were traded or given to me. I have some seeds that I have been saving from season to season for about 10 yrs. They were taken from my very first garden, and every year I would take the biggest and best plants, and save the seeds from them to use the next season.

Now I am sure you have gotten a slew of the “spring” garden catalogs in the mail….I’m sooooo guilty of this. I get tons, all of which I have subscribed to. LOL But in all honestly I always only order from a handful of them. Once I find a seed I like, I usually stick with it.

Now, there are a couple different types of seeds. Those of Hybrids, and those of heirloom. Usually…..(usually) hybrids, when you save seeds from them, your not going to get the same plant. Why, because they are crossed with a number of different plants to get the one your currently growing. They pick plants based on disease resistance, fruit yields, and the like. So if your going to save seeds from these, don’t bother, you’ll probably get an inferior plant.

Heirlooms- and I am saying (usually here) can and will be true. Meaning, that if you save the seeds from an heirloom, more often than not, you’ll get the same plant, as the one your currently growing. There are some heirloom hybrids however.

I have grown both. However, with heirlooms, it takes some trial and error to find the ones you want. I grew some broccoli and cauliflower of heirloom variety and didn’t care for them. Probably because I was used to those hybrid seeds all those years. But that’s not to say If I tried a different variety, that I wouldn’t like them.

So heirloom vs. hybrid,……your choice, its all personal preference.

When I start seeds, I have a rack with fluorescent lights, that my dear hubby made me. It fits 4 flats, 2 on top, 2 on bottom. Works great. But I have and still do, grow seeds on my windowsills (for lack of room).

I can fit a lot of seeds  of different variety into one flat. But I usually mark them, so I know which is which. As I am absent minded most days.  Here are a few links, that I have ordered from in the past and continue to do so. I have had good experiences with them, and they have reasonable prices.

 

Jo.