It's seed time!

I was perusing my facebook account earlier today and came across a link one of my friends posted. It was a coupon site telling us about free shipping from Burpee, the seed company. I'm a total garden newbie. I've only had a garden one year where I can say I really took charge of it. I had helped with one a few years earlier, but it was not in our yard and other people ended up doing most of the work. I started with the containers last year and was semi-successful. This year I hope to be more knowledgeable about my seeds and plants.

Just within the last week, I feel I've learned a lot about plants. I learned all about heirloom vegetables and why they are better. I've also learned a little about genetic modification in plants, which is exciting and a little disturbing at the same time. It's exciting because in areas around the world in which populations couldn't grow anything can now have a sustainable source of food. It is disturbing because this kind of technology is also used to make a lot of money without regard to what they are doing to the consumer and the plant. For example, I read that in a lot of hybrid varieties of plants and seeds, the company has planted a "terminator" gene into the plant's DNA. This allows the plant to flourish when you plant it and it produces as promised. However, you can't keep the seed. If you save the seeds for the next year, they will not grow or will not produce anything, making it necessary for you to buy seeds from that company every year.

I've also read about the company that makes Round-up, a weed killer. They also own seed companies and they've genetically engineered crops to be resistant to round-up. How convenient. We buy their seeds and also their weed killer. They also have patents on these resistant plants, so if they happen to blow into your yard, you can be held liable for them being on your property without the company's permission. Something does not seem right with that.

Because I've learned this, there's a good chance I will be sticking to hierloom varieties. These have been cultivated naturally over several decades. You can save the seeds for your garden the following year with reliable results and these plants have withstood the test of time. I've got four "Mortgage Lifter" beefsteak tomatoes planted this year and I'm hoping to save some of the seeds to plant next year. I was perusing the burpee catalog and practically salivating over all the vegetables I could plant, but alas, my space is limited, so I'll have to stick with the tomatoes this year and hopefully expand next year. If you haven't got seeds for your garden yet, I recommend visiting the Burpee website today or tomorrow when you can order them with free shipping.