Heirloom Gardening
Apr. 21st, 2017 01:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sleepyfairy posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
gardeningHeirloom 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: 2017-04-28 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.