Heirloom vs. Hybrid

I feel invigorated and alive! Everyone has their “thing” that re-energizes them…for some it is tennis or golf, for others reading a good book and for me…I love gardening! And the weather is perfect for 4 hours of weeding, tilling, and harvesting. My father in law, Tom, and I are pretty pleased with the aesthetics of the garden…it is beautiful! I can’t believe I am still cutting zinnias, picking green beans and eggplant, peppers and tomatillos! And, better yet, the seeds we planted are starting to sprout!

About 10 days ago Tom and I pulled up all the tomatoes and squash leaving lots of room for new plantings. I am very excited about using heirloom varieties of vegetables, so I chose to only plant them. Heirloom varieties are non-hybridized and not genetically engineered. They are the plants of yesteryear…the vegetables our grandparents, great grandparents and great-great grandparents planted and ate. They are diverse and often are more disease and pest resistant than hybridized varieties because of their diversity. And they taste amazing!

Okay, so now I’m going to get on my soapbox for a minute…and I promise it will only be a minute.

Many of the vegetables and fruits we buy in the grocery stores are mass-produced from hybrid varieties of seeds. Hybrid plants have been hand pollinated instead of open pollinated (think bees) and they are genetically identical to every other of their variety. They are not genetically diverse. When we rely on one variety of a seed for a particular fruit or vegetable and a virulent disease or pests destroy that plant…that’s it. The plant ceases to exist. (Think Irish potato famine…) Planting genetically diverse vegetables and fruits is good for our future, our health and the health of the environment. For example: There are only a few varieties of hybrid apples, but in the world of heirloom plants there are 10,000 varieties of apples. If you want to know more on this topic, check out

http://www.seedsavers.org/Content.aspx?src=aboutus.htm

So back to the garden and those heirloom seeds we planted about 10 days ago that are beginning to sprout. The list is long…we got caught up in the act of planting! But, the names tell you a lot about the uniqueness of these varieties. I bet they will have one-of-a-kind tastes, too.

Black-seeded Simpson, bronze mignonette, butter crunch, Lolita and sunset lettuces, arugula, and spinach varieties New Zealand and strawberry

Mammoth melting sugar peas

British wonder peas

Lucullus, flamingo and oriole swiss chard

Chioggia (looks like a bulls eye to me), early wonder and bulls blood beets

Little finger and coreless carrots

Hollow crown parsnips

Black Spanish and brightest breakfast radishes

Lacinato kale

Georgia collards (I make fabulous ones for Thanksgiving every year!)

And an experiment with Pinkeye/Purple Hull peas