Hello and welcome back to the EB podcast! We’re so excited to be back and we’re looking forward to a full year of podcasts in 2017. It’ll be fun to start right at the beginning of the year and talk about the season as it progresses!

Growing from seed can have the potential to dramatically increase your opportunities for better yields by allowing you much more control over the varieties of each crop that you can plant in the garden. Keeping a well-stocked seed library also allows you to take advantage of production opportunities on your own schedule throughout the season.

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In this episode, we discuss:

• How to choose your seed supplier

• Seed definitions such as organic vs. non-organic seed and open pollinated vs. hybrid and what they mean for you and your garden.

Important Take-aways:

• Growing from seed can have the potential to dramatically increase your opportunities for better yields by allowing you much more control over the varieties of each crop that you can plant in the garden.

• Keeping a well-stocked seed library also allows you to take advantage of production opportunities on your own schedule throughout the season.

• Certified Organic refers to seedstock that was harvested from plants that were grown certified organically. Certified organic seed can not be sourced from plants grown with synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides. Not all varieties are available in organic seed stock so you can still grow non-organic seedstock organically in your garden - it's just that the source wasn't organic.

• Organic seeds definitely cost more than other types, but are worth buying when possible to support the expansion of organic seed production.

• Open pollinated vs. hybrid: Open pollinated seeds, which are often distinguished by the abbreviation OP, are those that 'breed true to seed' meaning that the seeds collected from the plants will produce a crop the next year that is very similar to the parent. Using open pollinated seeds provides you with the option for seed saving in your own garden.

• Some seed catalogs will indicate which varieties are 'Heirloom.' There is not a defined age a variety must be to be considered heirloom, but varieties considered heirloom tend to be at least 50 years old; and heirlooms are also open-pollinated types.

• Plant breeders sometimes produce hybrid (F1) varieties by crossing two distinct or 'pure' genetic lines. Each of these pure lines exhibit one spectacular trait: one of the lines may produce high yields, while the other may produce resistance to a common disease. The crossing of the two lines creates a plant with both high yields and a resistance to the disease. This has obvious benefits. The downside of hybrid seeds is that they don't 'breed true,' so you cannot save your own seed.

Heard on the Episode:

“...Grow what you like to eat. So if you're not a fan of kale, that's okay, but don't grow kale!.” - Kellie Phelan

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