While you hear plenty about eating organic or using organic products, not many people outside of major organic farmers often have to consider the benefits of buying organic seed. Often a bit pricier and limited in their varieties, many casual gardeners may wonder what the benefits are to buying organic seed – can one tiny little seed really make such a difference when you’re going to be growing the whole plant organically otherwise? The arguments for buying organic seed are both numerous and varied, but here are some of the major reoccurring themes:

Being Organic Means Beginning Organic

To have a fully organic garden, you have to start at the beginning – with the seed. The organic farmers who grow the food you buy in health food stores are actually required in most cases to grow only from organic seed if they want to be certified. Buying organic seeds helps support organic farmers who have to do the same. It also means that you’re not starting off your garden on the wrong foot – several non-organic seeds are pretreated with chemicals that you can actually see on the outside coating, contaminating your garden from the word go with potentially harmful and certainly unnecessary chemicals.

Organic Seeds Adapt to Organic Conditions

The ultimate goal behind organic seed cultivation is to create seeds that are hearty enough to produce a good crop under organic growing conditions. Buying organic seeds encourages plants that are naturally going to be better at resisting pest infestation and disease, growing through environmental extremes, and thriving despite weeds without the help of chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. Organic seeds typically produce plants with better roots systems and more heartiness, all the while keeping an evaluating eye on the flavor and color of the produce. By buying organic seeds, you help to create a better overall organic product.

Increase the Demand

Heaps of gardeners might overlook the need to buy organic seed, and as such the demand is constantly shifting. Planting organic seed ensures that these remarkable seeds not only stay on the market, but will continue to diversify in availability as the demand for them increases. This means more tasty produce for you and more options for the hard working farmers who grow it. It supports the current organic farming system as well as the future of organics as a whole. By starting off organic, you can look forward to not only this year’s home grown crop, but all the varied years to come. 

Growing plants by seed is the cheapest way to get fresh, organic fruit and vegetables. Plus if you buy organic seeds, you will know exactly what will have been used on your fruits and veges from start to finish. You are in complete control and can keep them 100% organic.

When growing veges (or any plants) from seed, you have two planting options; plant the seeds directly in the soil in your garden or plant them in seed boxes which, when the plants are established, can later be transplanted into your garden. Planting the seeds directly in your garden can work well for some types of veges (eg. carrots, lettuce, onion) but the seedlings are at risk of attack by predators, such as snails, as well as the weather. Using a seed tray reduces these risks, however, you can lose some of the seedlings when planting out due to transplant shock.

So what is the best solution? Use individual seed boxes which can be planted directly into the ground. This way there is no transplant shock and the seedlings will be strong enough to survive being out in the open. The seed boxes just need to be made from an organic biodegradable product and you’ll be right.

Make Your Own Seed Boxes

You can buy seed boxes or containers from garden centres but they can be quite expensive which kind of defeats the purpose of growing your own plants from seed. If the purpose is to save money, that is. The cheapest and most eco friendly way is to make your own seed boxes. This is a quick and easy job which is not as inconvenient as you might think. To start with, you can try using egg boxes or the cardboard from toilet rolls or paper towels. These will work. The other option is to make origami seed boxes. It will take a little effort to make them but once you get the hang of it you’ll get them done in no time. Small Meadow Farm also has some info on making newspaper pots.  Try it and you’ll see just how easy it is.