If you are an avid gardener you already know about “Jalapeno-gate”. If not, it’s an issue many gardeners are discovering in several states involving their pepper plants, specifically jalapenos. Seeds and plants that were labeled as jalapenos, are turning out not to be jalapenos but other different varieties of peppers. Rather frustrating if you were hoping for the warm peppers to make your favorite salsa or spice up your favorite dishes.

How the mistake was made hasn’t been discovered yet. Were seeds mixed up? Plants cross pollinated? Disgruntled workers, shortage of workers, or a whole list of other excuses on how the wrong pepper seeds ended up in lieu of jalapenos?

It’s easy to do, confuse seeds, they look the same for the most part. It’s hard to differentiate one pepper seed from another when jumbled all together. Makes it even harder when huge conglomerates buy up seed companies til the vast majority of seed sources are owed by just a couple of large industries.

It’s a bit alarming when one considers the majority of our food sources are controlled by few. Even more so when you realize those businesses are in the chemical industry. An interesting article I came across while looking up the 10 top seed companies in the world can be found here: The world’s top 10 seed companies: who owns Nature? (gmwatch.org)

Even though it’s an older article, it does give one insight in just how companies merge, work together to help each other stay on top of the tier to their mutual benefit, but not to the consumer. The seed world has become a scary place since Monsanto’s early days of Terminator technology. The bottom line, save your seeds, support other seed saving sources, and be assured of what you are getting.

Another garden issue that seems to be plaguing a lot of growers across the Midwest is an issue with tomatoes. Weather related? Soil related? Seed related? Who knows, but many gardeners are questioning why some of their tomatoes are smaller, with curled leaves. Lots of theories have been thrown around, the most popular suggestions are chemical drift and some sort of nutrient deficiency.

It’s a bit odd though, a whole patch of tomatoes and only one or two or a few being affected. No insects noted, no disease noted with discolorations on the leaves. It’s head scratching, but some gardeners are claiming success with treating their curly leafed plants with Tums, egg shells, and several doses of banana water.

For those who have never heard about banana water, you basically place banana peels in water and allow them to seep for a couple of days and then pour the water on your plants. In other words, they are adding potassium to the water. Waste not, want not, a motto for a lot of garden folk.

It almost makes me wonder if it isn’t also a seed issue? Could it be another seed mix-up? Or worse, could it be a GMO seed issue that has affected the plant in it’s conception? When one messes with DNA, one never knows what kind of result will be obtained.

Gardening can be fun, rewarding, therapeutic, and can be hard work. Even harder work when you already can’t control the weather, the bugs, or the authenticity and reliability of your seed sources.

Happy gardening.