What Kind Should I Get?
Sometimes it can be confusing as to what to look for when choosing the best survival seed to store (or use)for emergency survival gardening purposes.
While normal seeds can still be good after a year or so of storage, if you want to stock up some garden seeds, and want them to GROW after being stored awhile, it’s important to do it right.
Because of the uncertainty of things in our country, and abroad,many folks are not only stocking up food but also things like garden seeds, and other essentials with long term preparedness in mind.
If you are looking for a good garden seed source that stores well for years,Emergency Seed Bank is what we recommend.
Because of the way this seed bank is packaged, it stores for a number of years until you are ready to use them.
It is very important to know what to look for when searching for the best survival seed as there are several varieties of seeds out there.
You will see: open pollinated seeds hybrid seeds non hybrid seeds heirloom seeds
So how do we know which one is best for survival gardening?? In my opinion, they ALL have their place in our gardens, and basically we just need to understand how each one works so we know how to use them all.
Heirloom Seeds
The reason they are called heirloom is because the seeds have been passed down for many years and have been preserved and kept true in a particular region. These seeds tend to yield a superior product when it comes to taste, color,flavor and texture.
And as long as there is no cross pollination, you can harvest them for the next year and expect the same results.
These seeds are a good choice for survival seed especially if you can get them from a company that will vacuum pack them in a way that they are preserved for as long as you need them to be. Some of the not so good aspects of heirloom seeds is the fact that they are not as disease resisitant as the hybrid seeds are.
Open Pollinated Seeds
These are very similar to the heirloom. In the case of Open Pollinated seeds they are pollinated by wind or bees and their traits are relatively fixed within a range of variability.
Both heirloom and open pollinated are excellent choices for survival gardening.
Hybrid Seeds
I like the hybrid seeds because in many cases they grow faster,and living in the Northwest, we need as short of a season as can get on veggies! They also yield more for te most part, and that is because they are bred to do so…
Hybrid seeds are developed with the commercial growers in mind, short seasons, large crops, and disease resistant.
The disadvantages of hybrid seeds is the lack of distinguishable varieties and colorful produce that many gardeners prefer. But probably most significant disadvantage of hybrid seed is the inability to harvest seed and have it have the same characteristics as its parent.
So basically they both have their place in our gardens but each has it’s own unique purpose.
If you are looking for survival seed, don’t wait too long to get yours. Right now there is more available again, but at any given moment, with any kind of pandemic emergency crisis, panics hits and the seed companies are wiped out in a hurry!