Organic vegetable seeds that are open pollinated and have one thing in common, if you save your own seeds from the offspring they will be true to type. That is, if you save seeds from an open pollinated Beefsteak Tomato, the seeds you plant the following year will be the same Beefsteak Tomato you planted the previous year.
Heirloom varieties are open pollinated, but were developed many years earlier, with many heirloom varieties developed over 100 years ago. The advantage of heirloom varieties is that they have been selectively bred for many characteristic, such as taste, color, climate, and growth habit and insect and disease resistance.
I recommend avoiding hybrid varieties completely and instead use organic vegetable seeds that are open pollinated. Hybrids will not grow true to type if you save the seeds and plant them. In fact, you have no idea what you will get planting seeds saved from hybrids. If you relay on hybrid seed you’ll to be dependent on the seed company for your seed source.
Modern store bought hybrid varieties lack taste (my opinion) and are developed for shipping (hard). An example would be modern tomatoes. I personally dislike store bought tomatoes, because they’re hard and tasteless. Nothing like the tomatoes, my grandmother grew from organic vegetable seeds. For me the difference is night and day.
NOTE: You’ll know if a particular vegetable variety is a hybrid, because seed companies are required by law to label the name vegetable with “Hybrid” of “F1”. So if the seed variety has the word Hybrid or F1 in it or next to it, then you know it’s a hybrid.
On the positive side you can de-hybridize your favorite vegetable hybrid variety and create your own open pollinated variety. This is explained in detail by Carol Deppe in her FANTASTIC and inspirational book – Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener’s and Farmer’s Guide to Plant Breeding and Seed Saving.
| Gardens Alive! Gardens Alive! is one of the country’s leading mail order companies dedicated to biological control of garden pests. The seed selection isn’t exhaustive, but I like the varieties they provide. …And they’re backed by a great company.
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| Generic Seeds Generic Seeds.com has a large selection of vegetable garden seeds. They have a selection of heirloom and open-pollinated. They’re vegetable garden seeds are inexpensively packaged that passes the savings on to the gardener. They claim that all of their seeds are non-GMO.
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| Gurney’s Gurney’s Seed and Nursery Co. is a mail-order seed and garden plant company based in Greendale, Indiana. Founded in 1866, Gurney’s specializes in vegetable and flower seeds, gardening supplies and nursery stock, including trees, shrubs, perennials, fruit trees and berries, fertilizers and plant foods. Great heirloom and open-pollinated vegetable seed selection!
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| Park Seed Co A great vegetable seed selection for the home garden. Offering heirloom, open-pollinated, organic, and space-saving varieties. They have been around for over 140 years!
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