Buying Certified Organic Seeds for Your Garden Contributed by  Lauri-Ann Deakin of Agrestal Organic Heritage Seed Company Pictured here is the author's daughter, Annabeth, picking Brandywine Tomatoes

Choosing organic seeds
The act of planting a garden and connecting with the earth not only beautifies your landscape, it also provides a delicious host of vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. Choosing certified organic garden seed, produced without chemical fertilizers, weed suppressants, fungicides, or GMOs enhances the health of your garden patch.

What makes a garden seed organic?
As a producer of certified organic seed, we at Agrestal follow organic farming practices by using crop rotations, cover crops, and balanced insect host/predator relationships. Organic residues and nutrients that are produced on the farm are recycled back into the soil. We follow the same rules as organic food production prohibiting the use of highly soluble or synthetically compounded mineral fertilizers, synthetically compounded pesticides, growth regulators, antibiotics, hormones, colouring or other artificial additives, ionizing radiation, and recombinant genetic manipulation of plants or animals. By choosing to grow certified organic garden seed, you are ensuring that the seed you plant has not been produced by any of the above methods.

Heirloom seed
You may also consider trying some open-pollinated, non-hybrid, heirloom seed when planting your garden. As the world becomes faster, and faster, fewer people have the advantage of consuming vegetables that not only look good, but also taste good, and have a history to boot. Gardeners like you and I are among those lucky folks who not only get to admire these treasures, but also have the opportunity to grow them. The reward is in the journey, and never is that journey more rewarding than in the act of connecting with the earth.

Note: To find Agrestal and other seed companies that offer organic seeds, visit www.theorganicpages.com.