Hullo, Future Me. It’s Past Me again and wow I really messed up with seeds overall. No, seriously–I really messed up!
It’s bad enough that I still haven’t actually started practicing better seed saving storage methods to help preserve them, but right now I have to tell you something I really hope will never happen again in future purchases.
Look. I understand, there was a time when none of the Mes understood how detrimental non native seeds could be. There was also a time when I stupidly believed anyone that told me something was native which turned out to be anything but. There’s also the whole “native to North America” or “native to before the Colonists showed up” and so forth.
I just want to remind you–just in case you’ve forgotten–that today I emptied out THIRTEEN seed envelopes into an old yogurt container to make an “I’m an Idiot” hellstrip flower mix. A fourteenth, because it was the only climber, is now outside in the smaller cold frame in a water bath because I realized I probably only want that growing where I can easily set up trellis.
That’s fourteen sets of seeds that we should have never bought. Given the average cost of the packets, that’s nearly $30 we essentially just wasted when we could have bought something better. (Ok, a few of these packets were closer to $3.50–but whatever. I guess the collective Past Mes are bigger idiots that I realized until this moment.)
I’m begging you–stop buying non food seeds on a whim. If you see something amazing or pretty or interesting but it’s not on the “To Buy” list in your hand? Write down the name in that tiny notebook we keep in our wallet and look it up on GoBotany or Bonap to make sure it’s native and definitely not even a dumb nativar because local critters can’t really do much with them and you don’t want to be like that crazy lady in Maine that almost singlehandedly wiped out the native lupine because she liked the one from the west coast better–and that the poor local larvae that still cannot eat the west coast variant because they are specialists do not appreciate her either.
If you follow the “research first” approach—and totally never again buy something that will turn out to be an invasive and shouldn’t have been on sale in a local shop at all–the local critters will be so very, very happy. We’ve got limited growing space here, and the very not native food crops eat up a lot of room as it is.
Speaking of, yes, yes…some non native flowers are good companions for non native food crops. Sure. Borage is good for tomatoes, squash, cabbage and strawberries. Whatever. But not native and not a companion to one of our food crops? DON’T BUY IT!
Oh…and if any flowers of this rando mix I’ll be sprinkling in the hellstrip that eventually will become sidewalk when they add it are still troubling you later? I am so dang sorry.
