Seed Supply

[HTRN]

Well, New Jersey is called the garden state.

There's a fair amount of farming there outside of the Suburban/Urban "strip". Alot of farming, but it tends to be smaller scale than the farms you see in the Midwest.

Bakers' Creek has a good rep, also see SeedSavers

You guys may want to look at Countryside magazine - select articles from past issues are available free online, and are aimed at the "homesteader" culture.

[Johnnyreb]

You want to get heirloom seeds. These kind of seeds predate the early 1950s, predate genetically modified seeds. A GMO seed has been modified with genetic materiel from other plants and even animals such as fish. A GMO seed will grow fine, but using seed from that to grow the next crop might, or might not, get you the plant you thought you were planting, and the seeds might not grow at all. If you were trying to grow a pumpkin, you might wind up with a gourd, etc.

An heirloom seed is an unmodified strain that will get you that same plant, time after time. But unlike GMO seeds, it won't do well with many pesticides. If you have heard of a "Roundup ready seed" that is one that has been modified so Roundup will kill the weeds and not the crop. But that's more of a big farm thing than a backyard garden thing.

The other thing is, you ever bought a tomato that tasted like cardboard? GMO seed. Heirloom seeds don't do that.

There are some folks here in Arkansas that do this, been at it for the past year as a business. And they've come to our Tea Party meetings to speak on the subject as well.

http://hickoryridgeseeds.com/index.html

[TheIrishman]

People don't realize that more New Jersey land is dedicated to agriculture, than industry.

You mean the opening credits of "The Soprano's" and what you see on "Jersey Shore" isn't the whole state? I'm shocked!

[Aglifter]

That various hybrid strains don't reproduce has nothing to do with being a GMO - hybrid strains don't breed true (think mules), but can often get hybrid vigor - again, think mules

[Evyl Robot]

Emergency Seed Bank. Jennifer got a sample pack from these people [strike]because she's cute[/strike] for review. All the seeds (all heirloom) are mylar packed with planting, harvesting, and seed collection instructions in a waterproof plastic ammo container and come with a guarantee. When we run out of these, I will gladly pay the money to obtain the same kit again. Speaking of spinach alone, when we convinced the rabbits not to eat it (a .22 can be pretty convincing to rabbits), the surviving plants survived all Summer (up to 120-degrees one day), and are still alive even after the couple of freezes we've had this Winter. We have a load of carrots and parsnips still in the ground that we've been grazing on for months. We haven't planted everything that came in the kit, but what we have has been hearty and delicious. I can't recommend these people more. Apparently they now sell stuff that you might be interested in beyond seeds too! Again, Jennifer received seeds from them for review that we did not pay for. Beyond that, we have no profiting interest in the company.

[Rumpshot]

If you like cucumbers, check your local source of vegetable seeds. Get some Lemon Cucumber seeds. They are the best cucumbers I have found. Easy to grow. Heirloom. Taste good. Make great refrigerator pickles. If you don't clean up the garden thoroughly, they will reseed and you will have a new crop next year.

They are best when just about golf ball size and are overripe when they reach softball size and turn yellow-orange.

And they are burpless. (Mixed blessing in my opinion. )