It’s January and that means it’s garden planning time.
At our house January means vegetable garden planning time because this is when all our vegetable seed catalogs begin to arrive in the mail. Saturday mornings in January are often spent browsing through these over a steaming cup of coffee or two.
Cherry Belle is a wonderful radish that I never realized was an heirloom.
This year we are planning to grow a few more heirloom varieties. These old-fashioned varieties have become more popular and have been steadily creeping into the pages of the seed catalogs; heirloom tomatoes, heirloom beans, heirloom carrots, heirloom squash …
There are heirloom varieties of almost every type of vegetable. We’ve actually been growing some of them for years – I just never knew it because they weren’t listed in the catalogs as such.
What exactly is an heirloom plant? The answer isn’t truly clear cut. I have seen heirlooms defined as varieties that are more than 50 years old, more than 100 years old, varieties grown before World War II, but in the simplest terms, these are open pollinated varieties where the seeds have been passed down for many generations. These are the vegetable seeds that our ancestors planted back in the days before commercial chemical fertilizers and pesticides were commonly available. The seeds from the most successful, most flavorful plants were carefully saved and replanted from season to season and passed on from generation to generation.
Regardless of their age, heirlooms are plants that are open-pollinated, meaning they are pollinated naturally and grow true from seed year after year. This is in contrast to hybrid varieties which are the result of the intentional cross pollination between two related but distinctly different varieties. Seeds from hybrids are often sterile or, if they do grow, they produce plants that don’t have the same characteristics as the parent plant. This is great for the seed companies because it forces the gardener to purchase new seeds each season – the seeds can’t be saved and replanted from year to year.
Rattlesnake beans are a delicious heirloom pole bean - my favorite.
Why grow heirlooms? Some people swear that the flavor of heirloom vegetables is far superior to that of the hybrid forms. In my (so far) limited experience with growing heirloom tomatoes and beans, I have found this to be quite true – which is why we have vowed to try more this year.
The modern hybrids were created to promote certain traits; disease resistance, uniformity of shape and size (often for ease of shipment), uniformity of color (for marketability), ability to keep for a long time without spoiling, and a larger per plant yield. Unfortunately, it seems that for some of these F1 hybrids, flavor and texture may have been lower on the list of desirable characteristics. Go figure!
A colorful salsa made from various heirloom tomatoes - beautiful AND tasty!
Heirloom varieties have had the benefit of generations of gardeners who hand selected the seeds of the most successful and tastiest of the harvest to keep for the following year. Over time this careful selection has yielded delicious results and wonderful diversity; purple carrots, striped beans, black radishes, round zucchini, pear-shaped tomatoes …
While they may not have a perfect shape with uniform color and smooth skin like many of the hybrid varieties and though they may be more prone to some diseases, heirloom vegetables are definitely worth growing for their outstanding flavor and unique characteristics.
Here are some interesting heirlooms we want to try this year: ‘Ronde de Nice’ (a small, round zucchini), ‘Delicata’ (a cream colored winter squash with dark green stripes and sweet orange flesh), ‘Tennessee Sweet Potato’ (a large, pear-shaped winter squash), ‘Pruden’s Purple’ tomato, ‘Kellogg’s Breakfast’ tomato (an orange colored tomato that just sounds cool!), and ‘Black Krim’ tomato. We’re still looking but hope to make our final decisions this weekend and place our orders! I’m looking forward to a great gardening season!
Check our website for a list of our recommended seed catalogs including many that carry heirloom seeds!
Until next time – Happy Gardening!
