Heirloom Gardening
Apr. 21st, 2017 01:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Heirloom plants are those that haven't been standardized by scientists or commercial growers, but that come from small communities and are bred manually and naturally, so they may not be uniform. They're usually defined as plant varieties that existed before the 1940's when people began looking for more uniform produce that can be farmed for a bigger yield at the expense of taste (which is why I think any supermarket vegetable advertised as "GMO free" is a misnomer, but that's a subject for another time).
A lot of heirloom strains are dying out because in a lot of places it's illegal to sell the seeds (particularly in Europe), which is a shame because even though they tend to be more varied in output they're often much more flavorful than the commercial varieties.
Does anyone here focus on heirloom vegetables? Over the last couple of years I've taken an interest in it and this year I procured a number of seeds from one of the local mennonite families. The girl said that she's glad more people have taken interest in heirloom growing in recent years. They're only labeled like "carrot" or "cabbage" so I'm really looking forward to seeing what I end up with! If so, what do you grow?
A lot of heirloom strains are dying out because in a lot of places it's illegal to sell the seeds (particularly in Europe), which is a shame because even though they tend to be more varied in output they're often much more flavorful than the commercial varieties.
Does anyone here focus on heirloom vegetables? Over the last couple of years I've taken an interest in it and this year I procured a number of seeds from one of the local mennonite families. The girl said that she's glad more people have taken interest in heirloom growing in recent years. They're only labeled like "carrot" or "cabbage" so I'm really looking forward to seeing what I end up with! If so, what do you grow?
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Date: 2017-04-21 05:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-04-21 05:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-04-21 07:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-04-22 05:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-04-21 11:17 pm (UTC)In tomatoes, I'm very partial to Brandywine and Green Zebra, but they aren't wilt-resistant and die mid-summer in our garden, so we're only planting one of each. One of our new audition tomatoes is a Mortgage Lifter that's supposedly wilt-resistant, and Ten Fingers of Naples, which might be.
We're trying a whole bunch of lettuces, machĂȘ and claytonia (miner's lettuce), Zucchini Rampicante, and a couple other C. moschatas.
We're also growing Marketmore 76 for cucumbers; Cossack Pineapple ground cherries; Tonda di Parigi carrots; onions: Walla Walla Sweet, New York Early, and the ones that aren't Red Winchester; and some other things I'm not remembering right now.
I'm Mennonite! But not the kind who farms (despite what my neighbors would have you believe).
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Date: 2017-04-22 12:03 am (UTC)I want to grow brandywine tomatoes next year, but sadly I need some new grow grates for them, so it'll have to wait. I just moved my entire garden so I need to get it established before I try anything too new. We once had farm fresh brandywines from a side-road stall a couple years ago and they were amazing, so I've been wanting to look into that.
Which is your favorite lettuce to grow? :O
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Date: 2017-04-22 12:11 am (UTC)Be warned: Baker Creek is dangerous. So many seeds, so many colors . . .
We just got the lettuces last fall and didn't get them in the ground soon enough to get a fall crop, so I don't actually know. Baby Oakleaf (I think) was the only one that grew at all, and then most of that died when it got covered in snowmelt ice, so we are eagerly anticipating our first spring harvest. I'll keep you posted.
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Date: 2017-04-22 12:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-04-27 12:11 am (UTC)And Shronce's Black peanuts, which so far have produce very, very small harvests, but that we keep planting for the cool factor. (Weird-looking plants. And we grow our own PEANUTS!)
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Date: 2017-04-22 01:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-04-22 05:39 am (UTC)The problem with the heritage zucchini plants was that we ended up with six of them, and they went absolutely wild. We were supplying the entire town's zucchini needs at one point.
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Date: 2017-04-22 06:10 am (UTC)If you remember what strain you were using, I'd be utterly fascinated to learn that.
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Date: 2017-04-22 08:50 am (UTC)Oh, we made so much zucchini bread. And muffins. And cakes. And pasta sauce. And pasta. And had a big basket of zucchini at work for customers to take whatever they wanted, once all our co-workers were saying no more!
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Date: 2017-04-23 09:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-04-28 12:08 am (UTC)I've also gotten heirloom vegies from Southern Harvest (in Tasmania, at the Salamanca Markets), and from Eden Seeds...actually most of the seed companies that I order from have some heirloom seeds in their catalogues. Or maybe that's just me, instantly attracted to anything with the word 'heirloom' in it.
As to the ones I've grown...well, the pumpkins are going kind of crazy, and while I'm not certain that these ones are the heirloom mix that I tossed into a seedling tray back in spring, chances are pretty good that at least one or two of them are...
I have an heirloom italian eggplant that I'm growing - it's not doing too badly (last year was the Summer Of The Zucchini; this year is the Summer Of The Eggplant).
For next summer, I've managed to get hold of a packet of 'Mountain Glass Corn' which is the brilliantly coloured kernel corn. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it since it's best used for grinding rather than eating, but...I'll work something out.