Is Buying Heritage & Organic Seeds Important?

[Flummery]

The only F1s I have at the moment are those I've crossed delioberately in my garden. These aren't the purpose of the experiment though. the aim is to grow the F2 generation and select from there.

I like Heritage varieties and am a member of the HSL and I also swap with people here - and distribute them amongst friends. It's great to have people in the village teling me they've got purple podded or salmon flowered peas up in their garden and are really pleased with them. I noticed a little block of crimson flowered broadies on one of the neighbouring allotment plots too.

Like Snadger I grow organically as far as possible but don't particularly look for organic seeds. Those I and fellow growers here have saved are pretty much organic anyway.

[pdblake]

I grow as organically as possible (my only sin is strictly controlled slug pellets), but I won't go out of my way to buy organic seeds, just like I won't buy organic veg in a shop, simply because the 'organic' tag on anything these days just serves as an excuse to double or even triple the price of things, and what organic means to shops isn't necessarily what it means to you and me.

I don't buy F1s (but will accept freebies) but I do have some in my seed box and will use them up rather than waste them.

I tend to buy from places like TRSC or swap saved seed with others.

I think heritage varieties are more important than organic for the simple reason of keeping the strain going. Whereas if you get a heritage variety and grow it organically for a few seasons, you have your own organic seeds

[Alison]

It's great to have people in the village teling me they've got purple podded or salmon flowered peas up in their garden and are really pleased with them. I noticed a little block of crimson flowered broadies on one of the neighbouring allotment plots too.

I got congratulated for my lovely sweet pea display by one of the other plot holders at the weekend. When I told her they were yellow podded sweet peas which have a lovely purple flower she was very impressed and got dead excited when I told her she could have some seeds in the autumn. Doesn't cost me anything and made me feel good.

[zazen999]

My purple podded from both Flum and the HSL are the talk of our lotties....I'e got a list of people who want to grow them next year. Beautiful flowers on both.....

[HeyWayne]

I'm only a relative recent grower and didn't really understand what F1 actually meant until even more recently.

Even now I'm not sure I fully understand - open pollenated?

Every day's a school day.

[Flummery]

I'm only a relative recent grower and didn't really understand what F1 actually meant until even more recently.

Even now I'm not sure I fully understand - open pollenated?

Every day's a school day.

F1 is the opposite really Wayne.

[Snadger]

Anyone else smell Fish ?

Probably my socks!

[solway cropper]

I wouldn't buy anything labeled as organic because the term is largely meaningless and an excuse for profiteering. My own gardening practices are fairly close to soil association standards but i do use slug pellets and the odd handful of growmore. I grow F1 cucumbers because they work well for me. I also grow a few heritage varieties but i've discovered that some stuff is 'heritage' because it's no good for whatever reason. I can't see the point of having a tomato which tastes nice but has no disease resistance and produces very small crops....other than to maintain a gene pool.

[glut]

The book 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle' by Barbara Kingsolver gives a sobering account of the controlled diminishing of seed gene pools for commercial ends and some actual prosecutions of seed savers in the states by big producers . (Its a really good read about spending a year only eating local food and therefore very big on veggie growing and not all serious at all!). I'm very much just learning, but am becoming more interested in heritage seeds...I need to learn lots more about how to get involved, where to source and how to save seeds to pass on to others.

[zazen999]

Glut -

a few linkies:

Great Vegetable Seeds from The Real Seed Catalogue they have good instructions and explanations on their website

Thomas Etty Esq. - Heritage Seedsman and Bulb Merchant

And in my sig is the Heritage Seed Library - have a furtle on there and see if it takes your fancy.

And google Heritage Seeds - but some are jumping on the bandwagon so make sure they are genuine and not just smoke and mirrors

[glut]

Thanks, I'll have a look.

[miffy]

I think it is important to ensure that the diversity of seeds is protected and that we ensure that there is a broad genetic bank of seed there. I tend to buy what i fancy which is a mixture, i have some organic seeds and some not, i have just choosen what i would like to grow.

[squashman]

I've never really understood why this question polarises some growers. For me, there is a place for all types, heirloom, F1's and yes...even genetically modified, provided the seeds/bulbs are clearly labelled and you know what you are buying.

Personally I have bought mostly heirloom types, primarily because I want to grow things that aren't readily available or that I simply haven't tasted before.

By the way, I can vouch for realseeds.co.uk linked by Zazen, good service and quality product.