By Marion Woloschuk, Master Gardener with Vancouver Island Master Gardeners Association (VIMGA)
It’s essential to know a few things about the seeds you are going to start - the more you know, the easier it is to spend your hard-earned money wisely, and successfully grow that precious crop of lettuce or bush beans. A pretty picture of radishes or sunflowers might entice you to buy a package of seeds, but you really need to look beyond this. After all, we know that beauty is only skin deep.
Different seed companies list different information on their packaging; some a lot and others not so much. A typical seed package will help you make choices on what to grow. You should find such basic information as type and variety and a general description of the mature plant, and whether the plants are perennials, annuals, or biennials. Perhaps you’ll be given some general growing instructions such as when and how deep to plant, sun/shade requirements, soil type preferred, and resistance to diseases.
It is also helpful to see information such as days to maturity (from either direct sowing or transplanting), and whether you are choosing an open pollinated (OP) or hybrid (F1) variety (if you want to save your own seed, you need the OP as hybrid seed may not come true to type). If your seed package lists the germination rate for their seeds as 80%, that means that an average of 8 out of 10 seeds should sprout. There are “heritage” and “heirloom” seeds (which are seeds for varieties of plants that have been around for a long time, generally 50 years or more), and organic or non-organic “treated” seeds (chemically coated to deter fungus and insects). And so on and so forth.
Just keep in mind that growing conditions vary from garden to garden and year to year, and many factors can influence such things as germination rate and days to maturity. Use this information as a rough guide, don’t assume it’s all written in stone. Also remember that those glowing descriptions provided by the seed companies may be, shall we say, a tiny bit of an exaggeration when it comes to the reality of the actual plant.
If we know the cost of a package and the weight or number of seeds, we can determine cost per seed if we want to compare costs with another seed company’s offerings. Given the number of seeds per gram, we can figure out how many we are getting in a package that contains, say, a half gram of seeds – quite a lot of lettuce, not so many runner bean seeds. On some packaging you may see something like “10 seeds” per package. If the package costs $5, you’re paying 50 cents per seed. They’d better all germinate and grow into healthy plants to recoup your investment.
New and fancy varieties tend to be pretty pricy. You might want to think twice about buying that $7 packet of 10 cauliflower seeds if there’s a chance that only 8 will germinate, 4 will be eaten by slugs, another two decide not to head up due to adverse weather conditions, and one gets forgotten in the back of the fridge after harvesting. Make a trip to the farmers market and save yourself the grief. Or go with a tried-and-true variety that is less costly. Many companies offer different size packets, and generally you can save money if you buy larger sizes. If you want to buy in bulk, be prepared to share with friends, plant a lot yourself, or save the seeds to sow over a number of years (some seeds are viable for only a year or so, others for much longer).
Different companies may offer different varieties of the same potential plants; few of us buy all our seeds from just one supplier. Try to buy seeds, bulbs and plants that are produced locally, if possible, for a number of reasons. These are more likely to be better adapted to our local conditions and you’re supporting local families and farmers. By the way, if you save your own seeds, it’s a good idea to put as much information on your own packaging as you can - by the next year you might not remember everything you need to know about your precious supply.
By arming yourself with a little knowledge before buying your seeds, you can save money and be well on your way to getting the results you’re hoping for from your garden this year.