Explaining Garden Terms

Explaining Garden Terms

Have you ever noticed how happy gardeners tend to be? Perhaps this comes from communing with nature, sharing nutrient-rich harvests with others, or knowing that every increased amount of food-producing greenery helps battle the environmental problems our world faces. For Dave and I, gardening– a.k.a. playing in the dirt - is just that. Play time, time for meditation and to listen to the birds. Yet, gardening can mean so much more.

About 25 years ago our family became members of Canada's Heritage Seed Program - now known as Seeds of Diversity Canada - and have never looked back. This organization works with hundreds of seed-saving groups, government departments, individual gardeners and farmers all over the world to preserve a vast global seed bank. We have been proud to help save several varieties from extinction, forever, through our donations and activities for this organization. 

In various discussions over the years we have noticed that there is a lot of confusion out there over terms used to describe seeds, such as Heritage, Heirloom, Open-pollinated, Hybrid, Microclimate and Genetically Modified - so let’s go over some basics:

Heritage varieties (known for at least 300 years) and heirloom varieties (known for at least 50 years) are both open-pollinated crops. Open-pollinated crops are pollinated naturally (by the insects and the wind). This natural pollination process sometimes creates a new variant (a Hybrid) that produces disease resistant and environmentally compatible traits for your region. Hybrids are often selectively created on purpose by growers looking for particular traits in future crops, this is done by hand pollinating the flowers and then covering them so that pollinators cannot taint them with other pollen. Seed savers sometimes use this same method to ensure there will be no crossing with other plants.

To be environmentally compatible the plant must have the ability to thrive in each area's unique growing situation (known as the Microclimate). This means that a seed-saver in one area will, over time, have a variety that will adapt to that locale’s climates, soil conditions, pests, pollution, extreme weather conditions and wind exposure. It is also important to keep in mind that when plants are weakened or stressed, the seeds will also be compromised. Purchasing seeds from suppliers closest to your area will ensure that those seeds are the most environmentally compatible to your microclimate.

Certain aspects - like hardiness, ripening dates, larger, more nutritious or sweeter fruits - can be encouraged by saving seeds from ripe produce that shows the desired attributes. However, some seed-saving enthusiasts prefer to save all the seed from all the healthy harvests so that they have the most complete genetic pool available for that strain. 

Genetically Modified seeds are most often created in special labs and are done by highly trained individuals looking to introduce traits from other species that will enable the crop to endure extreme weather, need less water, increase seed storage duration, or will produce crops that need fewer sprays. They are created to endure shipping and warehousing or to be harvested green and ripen on the way to the store. They are created to help nutrient deficient areas, or regions experiencing extreme conditions. They are also created to evolve with modern agricultural requirements, technologies, food supply demand, and farming methods used in certain areas. 

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