heirloom or reproducing seeds

[Guest ochretoe]

Who has seeds that will reproduce fertile plants? I am looking for companies, I guess, that sell plants that I can harvest some seeds for the next years garden. I'm thinking of setting up a seed bank in my freezer.

[kckndrgn]

Baker Creek Seeds (http://rareseeds.com/)

Victory Seeds (http://www.victoryseeds.com/)

Google (or your favorite search engine) will bring up several to choose from.

Do you want seeds or plants? Most plants you buy will be hybrids, not necessarily a bad thing

I have grown plants from HD/Lowes and saved the seeds and replanted the next year without too much fuss. Since they are hybrids you sometimes get funny results, but then again, even your heirloom seeds MAY produce hybrid seeds (you can't always control where the pollen came from that fertilized the flower).

[gjohnsoniv]

Baker Creek, Hart Seed Company. Both of those are heirloom seeds and what I use.

[Jonnin]

freezing may kill them in some cases. We kept a lot of our seeds in a cool dry storage year after year and they always worked. If they get wet they may sprout of course.

[Caster]

http://www.arkinstitute.com/

[Jamie Jackson]

While I agree that a seed bank is a good idea, I think planting and growing heirloom seed fruits and vegetables now, while our lives don't depend on the results, may be a better option.

This allows us to work through the learning curve, (and there definitely is one), find the plants that grow and produce the best in our location, and save the seeds from the best of our production.

I have used Baker and Victory in the past and have been pleased with the results.

While I haven't joined Seed Savers (but probably should), I have done some "horse trading" and sharing with like minded friends as regards seeds.

I'd also like to recommend a book, Gardening When it Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times by Steve Solomon. It's less than $15.00 on Amazon and is one of the best investments I've made.

Baker Creek

Victory Seeds

Seed Savers

[Guest USMC 2013]

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/default.aspx

http://www.seedsofchange.com/default.aspx

http://www.non-hybrid-seeds.com/

http://www.adaptiveseeds.com/node/50

Johnny seeds is my favorite, but the other have some seeds I cannot get elsewhere. I found a site once that listed how to get seeds from every type of plant, distances from other varities that needed to be kept, etc... If I find it again I'll come back and post the link. Semper Fi,

Joe

[RichardR]

I always allow a couple of each plant species to "go to seed" in my garden so I can replant them the following spring, it's really not rocket science or anything so long as you keep them stored in a sealed, dark, dry, climate controled (room temperature) container they will stay viable for a couple of seasons.

The longer they sit on a shelf the fewer of the seeds will germinate though, so it is always best to collect a new batch of seeds every or every other season, I have had really good luck with both heirloom and hybrid species, in fact almost all of my heirloom have become hybridized at some point or another simply due to the fact that it is impossible to prevent or control cross-polination in an outdoor "open air" garden.

Fortunately for me all of my heirlooms & hybrids have all produced viable seeds, with the exception of some commadore beans about 4 years ago, which I couldn't get any of the seeds to germinate (not sure what they crossed with but the resulting seeds ended up being non-viable).

[Guest dmarcin]

I have some open polenated dent corn ( field corn ) that I purchased to grind into meal and to plant next spring. I bought both white and yellow corn. I have more than I need of both. I will sell a quart freezer bag full of either for $4.00 plus shipping or if you live near Sunmer county you can pick it up. I have about 4-5 bags of each that I won't use and can let go. Please send me an email to ' dmarcin@ aol.com ' if interested.