I'm now debating whether to spend the extra money to ensure that the seeds
are clean from insecticides. Any opinions?
The amount of residual herbicide or pesticide on seeds will be
inconsequential. Buy seeds that give you the food qualities you want.
Heirloom has become a marketing buzz word. You want non-hybrid seeds, so
you can save your own, which saves you money, makes you more
self-sufficient, and ensures a supply of the seeds that produce the veggies
you like to eat. The big seed companies sell hybrid seeds. Hybrid seeds do
offer disease resistance, but that's another issue altogether; I'll start a
separate thread on that. The big seed companies want you to reorder with
them each year. They will produce seed only because of profits. So they may
well stop selling seeds of something you especially like.