On heirlooms and hybrids

The Seeds of Change garden catalog I just got is beautiful! It is full of earth friendly, 100% organic seeds. You can request one at www.seedsofchange.com. Some of the other catalogs that have found their way into my mailbox this season include Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds which specializes in rare, ethnic and endangered varieties and Underwood Gardens, whose catalog is called a compendium of hard-to-find, open pollinated and heirloom seeds.

You can probably tell by now that I like the idea of seed saving to preserve plant species for future generations. Also, I believe it is important to be good stewards of the resources Yahweh gave to us. This includes the food supply and the many aspects of nature. That's why I think the seed offered by these companies-which doesn't contain genetically modified organisms, is organic and open pollinated, and helps preserve old varieties rather than support new hybrids- is the best choice. That being said, I used heirloom seeds from Underwood Gardens in 2004 and wasn't impressed at all. Many plants didn't come up or produce well and everything seemed so foreign and unfamiliar: I don't want Scarlet Beans for canning! I want green beans!

So unfortunatly, last year (2005) we switched back to NK seeds from the store, and, for better or for worse, our small garden produced more than it ever has before. Mom canned quarts and quarts of green beans, the tomatoes did excellent, we actually received a harvest of peas and lettuce, mini pumpkins were climbing over everything and we got a lot of carrots.

What will we poke into the soil next spring? That's up for debate.