An heirloom plant (more often than not a vegetable) is a cultivar that was commonly grown in earlier times but, for some reason, is not now used in today’s modern large-scale commercial agricultural production. And, therein lies the major reason for the loss of these exciting cultivars.
In modern agriculture within the industrialised nations, food crops tend to be grown in large monocultaral plots. In an attempt to maximise the consistency of supply and reduce the chance of crop deficiencies, a smaller number of varieties of each cultivar are chosen. These varieties are often selected for reasons other than TASTE and FLAVOUR. Productivity, ability to be mechanically-picked and capability of withstanding long-distance transportation have become the priorities for the modern cultivars. Their ability to withstand more challenging conditions such as frost, drought and the application of powerful pesticides have also become important considerations.
The wider use of heirloom seeds is seen as a common response to this growing trend of producing vegetable crops that generally look great on the supermarket shelf but actually have very poor taste and flavour. This trend of choosing to grow heirloom cultivars has grown considerably throughout the United Kingdom and the USA over the last decade. I believe that this trend will continue to grow, as supermarkets take a greater and greater slice of the food supply chain and the purchasers of these products realise that their vegetables really do have very little flavour compared to previous varieties or home-grown produce.
Many heirloom vegetables have kept their original traits as a result of open pollination whilst many fruit varieties have been propogated for many centuries using grafts and cuttings and only a small number of the varieties of potato are commercially grown, the rest being heirloom.
Buy non-hybrid seeds, also knows as heirloom seeds. These are tried and true. These are the plants whose seeds were saved from generation to generation.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds » Veggie Gardening Tips
Baker Creek always does things in a big way and touts themselves as the “Largest Heirloom Gardening Resource,” carrying an inventory of over 1200 different heirloom seed varieties.
Seed Collection and Saving – Tomatoes
Make sure the seeds you use for your garden are organic heirloom seeds. These seeds can be purchased at a number of online retailers specializing in organic seeds.
Wretha’s Adventures Living Off Grid: Heirloom vs Hybrid Seeds
Heirloom vs Hybrid Seeds. Now is the time to choose. If you are a gardener, especially if you grow a vegetable garden, you should be receiving all of those shiny new seed catalogs…
Looking for Heirlooms? More Heirloom Seed Catalogs
I’ve mentioned a few of my favorite heirloom seed catalogs before, namely Select Seeds, Seed Savers Exchange, and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.
Country Whispers: Heirloom Seeds & Wishing for Spring
Heirloom Seeds & Wishing for Spring. I spent several hours on Friday looking & searching for seed companies to place my order with.
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