Getting ready to buy seeds?

7 Comments on Getting ready to buy seeds?

1. The list of seeds owned by Monsanto is blatantly false. I work for Mountain Valley Seed Inc – one of the companies listed. We are not owned by Monsanto in any portion. We are a small private company and not related to Monsanto in any way. The author of this web site if flatly wrong. We are considering legal action in this matter.

2. I don’t know if this was a way to avoid the problem, but with my eggplants, bell peppers, and tomatoes, I bought the organic veggies in the grocery store and harvested the seeds from them before I cooked with them. After air drying them, I’ve started them to grow for my garden. For some other things, I bought organic seeds. I saw the video about the things that Monsanto is doing to small farmers and was appalled! They won’t be stopped, but maybe for at least a while we can work around them.

3. Thanks for the post, you’ve just shown one simple, cheap and effective way to avoid the problem! You only have to do this once then you can supply your own seed!

   I think the film you refer to is http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

   We may not stop Monsanto but we can stop them getting such a huge market share by signing petitions http://www.organicconsumers.org/monfax.cfm and refusing to buy GM or in countries such as the USA campaining for labeling
   – the Insitute for Responsible Technology is a good place to start http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/Home/index.cfm

4. Collect, save and share seed, pass it on to others. Even start a seed exchange.
   Try looking for heirloom or heritage varieties.

   It is REALLY important to preserve a seed bank of different varieties! When you see what we have lost in just a short time…it is shocking and frightening.
   Approximately 75% of the world’s genetic diversity of agricultural crops has been eliminated since 1900, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

   We are losing hundreds of varieties of plants and vegetables, often unique, locally adapted strains.
   The genetic diversity and variability that is being lost is very valuable, it took many, many years to produce. ~ In only a few decades we have gone from having hundreds, and in some cases thousands of varieties, to having only a handful.
   It has happened almost by stealth; most people don’t realize.
   In the EU it is only allowed to market listed varieties, all else is consigned to oblivion and extinction or the efforts of determined amateurs.

   As large seed companies develop and promote particular strains and cultivars, these are what is made available to us, and the choice is becoming increasingly limited.

   Save seed, Save our heritage!

5. I’ve posted this before, but this seems the right time to do it again.

   Merv

   The life of a seed

   You have in your drawer since Candlemas day,
   All the seed packets you daren’t throw away,
   Seed catalogue cometh as year doth it end,
   But look in your drawer before money you spend.

   Throw out ye parsnip, ‘tis no good next year,
   And scorzonera if there’s any there,
   For these have a a life that is gone with ye wynde,
   Unlike all ye seeds of ye seeds of the cabbagy kind.

   Broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, cabbage and kale,
   Live long like a farmer who knoweth good ale;
   Three years for certain, maybe four or five,
   To sow in their seasons they stay in ye drawer.

   Kohl-rabi lasts with them and so does pel-tsai,
   The winter cos lettuce to sow in July,
   But short is the life of ye turnips and Swedes,
   Sow next year only, enough for your needs.

   Mustard and cress for when salads come round,
   Sows for three seasons so buy half a pound,
   Radish lasts four years, both round ones and long,
   Sown thinly and often they’re never too strong.

   Last year’s left lettuce sows three summers more,
   And beetroot and spinach-beet easily four,
   But ordinary spinach, both prickly and round,
   Hath one summer left before gaps waste ye ground.

   Leeks sow three Aprils and one has gone past,
   And this is as long as ye carrot will last,
   Onion seed keeps till four years have flown by,
   But sets are so easy and dodge onion fly.

   Store marrows and cucumbers, best when they’re old,
   Full seven summers’ sowings a packet can hold,
   Six hath ye celery that needs frost to taste,
   So hath celeriac before it goes to waste.

   Broad beans, French ones, runners, sown in May,
   Each hath a sowing left before you throw away,
   And short peas, tall peas, fast ones and slow,
   Parsley and salsify have one more spring to sow.

   Then fillen your form that your seedsman doth send,
   For novelties plenty, there’s money to spend,
   Good seed and good horses are worth the expense,
   So pay them you poindies as I paid my pence.

   Lawrence D Hills, 1963
   From “Grow your own vegetables” 1971

6. PS.

   If you are hoping to eventually collect your own seeds then never buy an F1. They will not breed true. In fact you only have a 40% chance of getting anything decent from them.

   Merv

7. Hi just came across this thead as i am starting to source seeds for the next growing season. Just wondered if anyone could suggest a seed swap/bank to source from ?