Seed Starting

     As you all know I have a goal this year to grow food in a pot. Obviously it is January so it is not yet time to start actually trying to grow seeds but I have decided that it is about time to start decided what kind of seeds I should try growing, and how I am going to grow them.

     I have decided that I will start out my seeds inside in small pots. This may or not be a good way for me to start my seeds, seeing as I tend to kill plants, but that is what I have decided to do.

     Once the seeds have gotten started I will transplant them to a planter box of some kind, and let them grow from there. Being as they are going to be outside, they will also likely need a netting of some kind to protect them from the squirrels, deer, groundhogs, racoons, and all the other wild things in my backyard. After that, however, as long as I remember to water the plants on occassion, I should hopefully have a crop of something next fall.

     That leads us however to the seeds themselves, more specifically, what kind of seeds? I already know that I want vegetable or fruit seeds of some kind, because how can you have food in a pot otherwise?
Upon decided that I wanted to have a small garden in a pot, I immediately began my search on Google (because where else would you search?) and was flooded with seed types, varities and all that information. The result was some frustration and a headache, followed by a nap. After a few days however, I sat myself back down and started doing some real research and I have decided to go with heirloom seeds.

     I have decided to go with heirloom seeds because of a number of things. The first thing is heirloom seeds are all those variations of a crop that wasn't used for mass large scale agriculture, and so in growing them, it helps preserve the gene pool of this specific plant. Secondly these plants are organic. That the plant itself is organic and not a genetically modified plant is not really the issue in and of itself for me. While some people think that genetic modification is dangerous and bad, I think that its actually pretty cool and could do some cool things. However, when a company makes a genetically modified plant, it then promptly patents and copyrights that plant and it becomes illegal to harvest the seed from the plant to use the next year around.

     Harvesting plant seeds is one of those skills I would like to learn, so a genetically modified plant is definatly not the way to go for me. Also I support genetically modified plants less because the companies control the seeds rights and create cycles of poverty in countries around the world, and I don't support that. The final reason I don't really want to support the companies that genatically modify crops is something called the Terminator Gene.

     If your thinking that a terminator is something metal and scary with an eastern eurpean accent, then you would probebly be correct, and the terminator gene is just as scary, if not scarier. The terminator gene is a gene that companies want to put into their genetically modified crops, so that their plant's are not fertile. Therefore if you save the seed and try and plant it in the spring, it won't work.

    In theory, its not a bad idea for them. It is a good way for the company to force people to buy their seeds from the company year in and year out. So while it seems to be a kinda dirty, low down way to go about making tons of money, I at least get it. In concept. In reality however, genes tend to spread through open pollination between plants, and therefore this could be something that spreads as well. The result would be the destruction of anything from one plant type world wide, to all plant types world wide. That is scary.

     So, end rant, I am going to use heirloom seeds in my pots this year. Which means now all I have to do is decide what kind of things I want in my pots. There will be some herbs and there will be some vegetables. Any thoughts out there?

~Sara