Why You Should Go Heirloom
Many small time growers will, around this time of year, will be looking at seed purchasing. Most will simply go to their local garden centre and pick up a few packets of whatever suits their fancy from people at Suttons or Marshalls and that's all well and good.
But I have an alternative for you... Heirlooms!
What is an heirloom?
Very basically an heirloom plant is an older, more robust plant. It's not a cultivated hybrid, it's totally NON-GMO, it's not been tampered with in any way other than through careful cross breeding over time.
Heirlooms are also good because they are open pollinated, so at the end of the growing season you can collect any seeds you get to replant next year. These seeds will breed true, meaning you won't suddenly get strange strains of crop!
If you want a better, more in depth explanation, look here.
Why not go the heirloom route?
Many people today are concerned about organic gardening, GMO crops, unknown risks and rightly so. With the cornering of the big consumer market, Monsanto have kinda butchered their way into the big agri-seed buying market. Well... Although we can't do much for those guys, we can do a lot about what you and I do at home or in your allotment, and this is where heirlooms come in.
Another good reason to buy heirloom seeds is that you will generally be buying from smaller, more local suppliers. Many heirloom seed vendors are growers themselves and so will be more than knowledgeable about requirements and limitations.
The other thing is that you know that seeds will be adapted for YOUR local climate.
So give it a go, try an heirloom tomato I'm sure you will be glad you did!
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This is the place I'm thinking of buying from this year.
In you are in the ol' US of A, I know someone who swears by Renee's Garden.
But feel free to Google something closer to you. Don't go by my recommendation, send them an email yourself and talk to them, make sure the seed you are buying is what you want to grow.
Good luck!
#Gardening #GYO #GrowYourOwn #Seeds #Heirloom #Veg #Food #Agriculture #nongmo