Finding The Best Organic Seed Companies

Stop throwing money into the badly inflated stock market. Stop paying a premium on over-priced, under-nourished commercial produce at the grocery store. Start growing your own food. To do this, you’ll need to start reading catalogs from organic seed companies and making some wise selections.

You probably live near someone who can sell you organic seed, or teach you how to save and reuse your own. If there are organic seed companies near where you live, consider yourself blessed; they’ll have a good selection of seeds compatible with your soil and climate. But you should also look into finding the best organic seed companies nation-wide. The Web is an excellent place to start that search; with a few taps on a keyboard and a click of the mouse you can get in touch with a plethora of organic seed companies willing and eager to send you catalogs.

Once you’ve found the best organic seed companies and the catalogs are in hand, use the color-based approach to ordering – that is, try and order as many different kinds and colors of vegetables and fruits that are suitable for your climate. Greens like lettuce and cucumbers and cabbage should be complimented by reds – radishes, tomatoes, peppers – and yellows – such as various squash, corn, and, again, peppers. Remember as well that the Indians built a healthy, self-supporting agriculture system around the “three sisters” – beans, corn, and squash. Many varieties of those staples are available through organic seed companies nation-wide.

Heirloom bulk seeds are pedigreed varieties that come from a time prior to the use of pesticides and herbicides. They are the horticulturalist’s equivalent of the priceless jewelry or works of art passed down from one generation to another. Most heirloom bulk seeds are from strains at least 50 years old; of them are nearly as old as the United States itself. These are not always free seeds, but they are the best if you can afford them – and because you can preserve them, they can be considered free seeds after the first harvest.

Unlike hybrid or Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) seeds, heirloom bulk seeds are natural, and can be collected and re-used for years. Hybrid seeds are produced by splicing together at least two separate varieties. GMO seeds may contain genes from non-plant species – for example, there is a GMO tomato strain that incorporates the “anti-freeze” traits of an arctic fish in order to make it frost-resistant.

Yes, there are advantages to GMO free seeds. However, we don’t know enough about genetic science to understand fully the trade-offs involved in such modifications, particularly with respect to the health impact on those who eat GMO foods. Who wants suppertime to be a science experiment – with the diners used as guinea pigs? Besides, organic, non-GMO heirloom seeds yield produce that simply tastes more like food; they have the full flavor many of us remember from our youth. Heirloom seeds may cost a little more up front, but in the long run they’re free seeds when looked at in terms of cost-to-benefit ratio.