Kitchen Garden Forum

Someone has given me a large quantity of mustard which was intended for green manure.

Is this the same mustard that combined with cress makes the mustard and cress that I used to have on my egg sandwiches?? Or has it been treated in some way that its not edible??

If i were you I would play safe and only plant as green manure they might have been treated, better safe than sorry.

Hi NB,
Whereas you could be right that the seed may have been sprayed with something I somehow have my doubts. Green Manures are really an intrinsic part of organic growing and to spray the seed intended for that market would be against all the rules. I just cannot see a seed company wasting money in this way. When commercial seeds that have been sprayed or treated with any chemical a clear warning is given and the seeds are generally treated with a dye.
JB.

Hi,
I know our local farmer sows treated wheat seed since we find it lying pink in the road - anyway I assume you are going to eat the green and not the seed so once germinated I wouldn't think you had problem. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

Hilary

Hi Hilary,
The pink seed that you find has been treated to prevent fungal infection during storage and is not present in the crop at harvest time.
Your bread will not contain any of this fungal treatment and it is only used on seed that is to used as seed-wheat.
JB.

Thanks JB,
I just sometimes think that we can all get too hung up on the organic question. I was told by a member of the RHS that is how you grow the veg which is important not whether the seed was organic or not - he said made no difference other than the price you paid for it.
Hilary

As one who tries to grow organically, I agree with you, Hilary. Seed can be treated quite harmlessly and if I run out of seed I will as soon go to the garden centre and get some as send of for organic sed.

I agree, whatever the seed its how you grow it that matters, if your soil is fertile and well cared for non organic seed is OK, if you garden organic and save seed it soon becomes organic anywaY.

Thanks guys, I will grow a little tester first.

Now to be strictly organic, to be true to the cause, Organic Growers are supposed to use organic seed and if you were an Organic Accredited Grower the use of non organic seed could lead to them be disqualified.
My thoughts on the subject are that it is the plant that you grow that is organic and really the seed that you grow your plant from is immaterial.
I know full well that there are those who subscribe to this forum who will vehemently disagree with me. At this stage I will say that if you feel comfortable with using non-organic seed but consider yourself as an organic grower I feel that should suffice. Organics is a method of growing and it is not a religion.
It is well known that I class myself as a 'Pragmatic' gardener but 99% of my plants are grown without the use of anything artificial and to me it is good wholesome food. Because you use non-organic seed or the odd dose of man made fertilizer does not effect the quality of you food. You still produce good wholesome food whatever is said by certain people and you should never be persuaded otherwise!
JB.