In My BackYard is a vegetable growing plot!
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In My BackYard is a vegetable growing plot! |
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Where is the best place to get home vegetable seeds?The very best place for vegetable seeds is your own garden, from the plants that grow best there. You know what you are growing, and you get a puff of pride knowing it is your own variety. There is nothing like improving a variety in your own garden. The next best place is a local seed savers network. In Australia, the Seed Savers Network (www.seedsavers.net.au) can put you in touch with any local groups. The seeds from a local network are varieties that will do well in your region. There are also several "home-grown" seed suppliers in Australia. Eden Seeds in Gympie (www.edenseeds.com.au) and Greenpatch at Taree (www.greenpatchseeds.com.au). Both specialise in non-hybrid seeds. You can also find seeds in the supermarket and garden centres. Yates is the most well-known Australian name and DT Browns and Mr Fothergill's are also popular. There is some concern about genetic modification (or GM) of home vegetable seeds. While Monsanto and others are working on GM of broad acre crops such as soya beans, maize canola and cotton, there is no evidence of this on the home garden level. Having heard this theory a number of times, IMBY's head gardener wrote to both Yates and DT Brown seeking their clarification of GM in home garden seeds. Is there really a conspiracy in the home vegetable seed market? DT Browns and Mr Fothergill's stated they only supply true-to-form or naturally hybridised seeds. Yates replied that they only sell seed that has been bred using traditional seed breeding technologies. This means either true-to-form or naturally hybridised seeds. The preference for home gardeners is not to use hybrid seeds. A hybrid is a natural selection to produce a plant with particular qualities. The problem is that the seed produced by the hybrid may not produce the same results as the first hybrid. So home gardeners tend to use varieties that remain "true to form". |
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