seeds

Today I was busy with planting and harvesting shoots and greens and delivering them to various spots around the island.
Then I picked up another load of big heavy bags of seed from the post office. Mostly seeds for pea shoots, sunflower shoots and various microgreens, about 150lbs. of them.
I’m glad that I’ve found a supplier who carries certified organic seeds that I can use for all of my shoots and microgreens. I keep the seeds in metal bins so I can easily scoop them into bowls for soaking before they’re planted in their trays.

This is the time of year when all gardeners are thinking about seeds.
We’re going through our collections of packets from previous years and ordering new seeds with our hearts and minds filled up with aspirations of beautiful new veggies we’ve never tried before or maybe we’re hoping to be more successful than last year with whatever we were trying to achieve….

But I’ve had a hard time ordering my seeds this year.
This talks a bit about what has me losing my enthusiasm. Especially interesting to home gardeners on this webpage is the link that talks about Monsanto owning about 40% of the home vegetable seed market. Bye bye Big Beef tomato, so long, Red Sails lettuce…..

Monsanto, Roundup and genetically modified seeds involve a complex combination of issues.

But with the USDA just approving GE alfalfa and GE sugar beets and the Bill C-474 debate happening in Canada, it seems like it’s time to really start understanding what’s going on. Since genetically engineered seed for big industrial food crops like corn and soybeans are intimately linked to the herbicide that Monsanto calls Roundup and since many of us still use Roundup, especially on our pathways and driveways….(Oh how I’ve wished that I could use it in those nasty cracks between the sandstone)…but I will not give in!…especially now that I’ve read this article.

If you want more reading on this topic The Organic Seed Alliance website is full of good stuff. (go to their blog too)

Lucky for me in my garden, my enthusiasm will be restored by the many seed companies that are now focussing on heritage and heirloom, organic and open-pollinated seed like this one that’s located in my neck of the woods.

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