I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I’m a Mormon. We like to call ourselves Latter Day Saints or LDS for short. Unlike my rant on hormones, being LDS has a lot to do with gardening. Mormons tend to be very big in the arena of food storage and emergency preparedness, with gardening being a huge part of that arena. Our women’s organization, called the Relief Society, has a person who handles emergency preparedness for us. Our EP specialist is Linda. Linda is awesome. She makes sure we get the best deals on water barrels, dehydrated foods, portable toilets and even a handy emergency “washer” for laundry. It was really a stick with an odd looking plunger thingy on the end. We all laughed at it and then bought it. The latest and greatest from Linda was this huge bag filled a bunch of smaller bags of non-hybrid seeds. One interesting thing about LDS women is we set our own trends. Back in the ‘70's no self respecting Mormon mom was without her glass grapes and wheat grinder. Enter the‘80's and most LDS women had a quilting frame (that didn't mean they were quilters). In the ‘90s scrapbooking started, resurrecting much needed kindergarten skills. Although food storage/emergency preparation has always been a hot topic in the LDS community there are "sub" trends. Not to be left out of the latest "sub" trend, quite a few people bought these bags of seeds. It really was a great deal and I’m sure there is real support for being prepared and for gardening. But! if I were a gambler (Mormons don’t gamble) I would bet some serious cash on the fact that half of the people who bought these seeds did so because they thought they should. Many of my friends won't even use them. Others will plant only a fraction of what they bought. Most won’t store the seeds properly and they won’t keep. Still others will plant but will eventually neglect their gardens. Proving that blind obedience won’t get you fresh veggies or save your butt in an emergency; only planning and hard work will do that. Gardening can be simple but it will always be hard work.
Hey you non-Mormon readers don’t get off the hook. I bet (not really, I don't gamble) that you have your share of seeds that you bought and ended up never using. And should we take a poll to see how many of you are plant killers? If you aren’t careful you are going to end up just like the Forever Gardeners above.
What is a Forever Garden? The Lord created non-hybrid seeds. In that context they are perfect. Then man got scientific and created hybrids. Man never does anything as well as the Lord. Non-hybrid seeds reproduce. See after you harvest your vegetables, fruits etc. a plant can be left to continue to grow until it “goes to seed”. Seeds that you can harvest, dry out if necessary and use to plant for next season. (click here to learn more). Hence the name Forever Garden. And you thought it had to do with eternity. Nope. Eternity has more to do with life after mortal life. Sorry but I’m pretty sure the garden falls into the “can’t take it with you” category. We have no time to cover eternity here but if you want to know more http://mormon.org/ may help.
Hybrid seeds are not bad they are just one hit wonders. You won't get as much bang for your buck but there are really cool varieties of hybrid plants that I would encourage to try. Think about what your needs are, what you have time for and choose accordingly.
If you already have seeds then check the dates on them, they do expire. If you aren't sure how long you have had them and/or you didn't store them properly, throw them out and get new ones. Old seeds, improperly stored seeds won't grow well, if at all. The worst part is, you may end up thinking you did something wrong and it has nothing to do with you. Your seeds are just bad. Good garden seeds are worth investing in. I did get the Forever Garden bag this year but I usually buy my seeds from a catalog or online. I think you get a better quality from online companies than you do from the local stores. Also most of the store bought seeds are hybrids and therefore don't reproduce. There are many web sites to choose from and I don't really have a favorite.
The next post will be coming soon because I know many of you are ready to plant. I will be discussing what to plant and what not to plant for the summer season. You may want to wait for the next post before you go seed shopping.
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