Two years ago I took the kids to a pumpkin farm and bought some of those cute mini pumpkins. I decided to save the seeds and grow them in my garden. (I think they make fun teacher gifts) Last year when we planted the seeds we got half cute mini pumpkins, and half warty gourdy pumpkins. This year we tried again and only got these warty gourdy pumpkins.
This is what I have learned the hard way about hybrid seeds. They are created with two different varieties of plants, a mother and father of different characteristics. The offspring is a perfect blend of the two. However the offspring of the hybrid (the grandchild) is totally unpredictable. It could be characteristics from both grandparents, just one or a complete dud. They want you to keep buying the seeds. Great marketing scam huh?
Now an heirloom seed is a seed that will guarantee the same crop year after year (unless it accidentally crossbreeds but that can be avoided.) These are the seeds that have been passed down from generation to generation and have stayed out of the laboratory. These are self sustaining and hearty. I have heard these terms before but didn’t really understand what they meant. Thought I would pass this info along to any fellow gardens. I for one will not waste my time saving hybrid seeds any longer.
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