Hybrid Seeds, or Heirloom Seeds?

If you're thinking about planting a garden, the winter months are the time to get started planning, plotting, ordering seeds. Browse through some catalogs or look online for ideas.  One question ask is whether you want to use hybrid seeds or non-hybrid/heirloom seeds?

Hybrid seeds are created by artificially cross-pollinating two plants to create an improved plant. Perhaps one that has greater resistance to disease, or tolerates drought. However, a major drawback is that you cannot "save" seeds from hybrid plants because they don't reproduce reliably. Instead, you have to buy new hybrid seeds every year. And, hybrid seed plants often need special fertilizers and chemical pesticides in order to flourish. One other reason I don't prefer hybrids is that due to the time it takes to create a reliable hybrid seed, there aren't that many varieties of each type of plant available, so your gardening choices are limited.

Heirloom seeds, on the other hand, can be saved from year to year, allowing you to save money and also invest yourself more deeply into your gardening. Heirloom seeds tend to adapt to their environments as well - learning to fight off pests, or withstand a drier climate, and so on - they tend to be hardier. Also, heirloom seeds come in lovely varieties, so the choices of colors, sizes, and flavors of your flowers and vegetables is nearly endless. Heirloom seeds can make experimenting in your garden much more fun!

We'll talk more about the benefits of heirloom seeds, and how they can be organically gardened as we go throughout the year.