The start of the new season is always exciting. We turn our soil add our fertilizer and make our garden ready to receive new life. But as with anything else the start needs to be healthy for the produce to be successful. We have a short season here and need our plants to germinate quickly and yield quickly. So how do we get them to do that while thinking long-term? What are the kinds of seeds available and how do we get the best?
There are mainly 3 kinds of seeds – Heirloom, Hybrid, and GMO. For home gardeners, GMOs are not relevant as they are not usually available in small quantities. GMO seeds are genetically modified seeds that are usually pest-resistant and have higher yields. However, the nutritional value may not be the greatest and the farmers will need to buy seeds again every year. This is because the plants are sterile and do not produce viable seeds for next year’s planting. Therefore, this is a huge debate on whether this makes sense as so many farmers around the world are smallholding farmers and use the seeds from their own farms to grow again.
For us growing food at home, Heirloom and Hybrid seeds are relevant. They both are seeds that have been harvested but a hybrid seed is one which has been crossed with another strain of the same plant to have the best traits of both parent plants. Hybrids are normally sterile though and may not be viable for next year’s planting. They also may not be suitable for the weather where you are planting them. Hybrids are normally cultivated and pollinated artificially to produce a child with the desired traits. But they do germinate well, are pest and disease-resistant, and have very good outcomes. Hybrid seeds are generally more expensive. Try and get the hybrid seeds from a place where the climate is similar to yours.
Heirloom seeds are ones that are open-pollinated and are collected by the gardener or the farmer and sowed again year after year. Once heirloom seeds are sown for six or seven generations you get plants that are strong and acclimatized to the area. You can also harvest seeds and plant the same in the next cycle and you will get a viable plant with traits close to the parent.
Unfortunately, in the Gulf, heirloom seeds are far more expensive than hybrid seeds particularly as we have the sub-continent so close by. The cost of labour for collecting these seeds is steep and so the seeds themselves are expensive.
In my opinion, supporting heirloom seeds has a multitude of benefits such as saving a strain or a variety of plants that may otherwise die out, and includes the resilience of the plant in our harsh weather. So even if you can’t buy all heirloom seeds to start with get a few and continue to save and share them in the next season.
Expert Tip: To find out whether the seeds are viable or not you can try these three ways. 1) Soak the seeds in water, whatever is floating after 20 minutes will not germinate. Discard. 2) If seeds are hard and you need to nick them, you will find some seeds are brown inside. Discard 3) Germinate some seeds in a wet tissue covered with cling foil. You can find the germination rate in that and sow quantities accordingly.
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