Easy Gardening

A generation or two ago, heirloom seeds were a bit of a mystery.

“Nobody knew what heirlooms were a piece of jewelry from Grandma?” John Torgrimson says. “Now it has a certain panache.”

Torgrimson is the executive director of Seed Savers Exchange, a nonprofit organization that over the past 35 years has helped create that panache by educating gardeners about heirlooms and preserving the heritage of hundreds of vegetables. Seeds from its collection have ended up in gardens around the world, whether sold directly to gardeners or to seed companies.

“I think we helped develop the heirloom concept for people,” he says. “More recently, with the whole food movement, you can’t watch a TV food channel show without some reference to heirlooms.”

But just what is an heirloom seed? Some definitions say the seed variety has to be 50 years old. Others ascribe “heirloom” to any seeds that have been handed down through a family.

Heirlooms are also open-pollinated. As Chris McLaughlin explains in “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Heirloom Vegetables,” that means the seeds breed true:

“Baby plants that come from the seeds of an open-pollinated plant will produce seedlings and fruit that resemble the parents.”

That’s how they can get handed down generation to generation.

Why plant heirlooms?

They’re just cool. Enough said.

“We say that with heirlooms, every seed has a story to tell,” Torgrimson says. “This variety was created somewhere by someone and was maintained over time, so there must be a reason. I think the most common reason is it was saved because this is a tomato somebody liked, and it was saved by a family.”

Adds Ethne Clarke, editor of Organic Gardening magazine:

“I think a lot of it has to do with the romance of history, growing something that perhaps grew in your grandmother’s garden or came from your native country. I just planted some peas that came from Ireland; they’re native to Ireland. My grandfather was an Irish farmer.

“Then there’s also the environmental concerns. The same reasons people are driven to conserve the rain forest, we need to think about conserving the biodiversity of plants that grow in our gardens. One of the best ways is growing heirloom varieties.”

Another reason is the chance to grow something you can’t find at your local supermarket. Just look at some of the tomatoes available from Seed Savers: Aunt Ruby’s Green, a family heirloom from Tennessee; the Black Sea Man, a Russian variety with brownish-pink fruits and olive green shading; the Cream Sausage, a fleshy yellow plum.

“In the public’s eye, when they think of heirlooms, they think of tomatoes. I think we have 73 varieties in our catalog,” Torgrimson says.

He says people come for the tomatoes after hearing or reading about them or tasting them. Then they step up to other vegetables, including peppers, corn, lettuce, onions, cucumbers, leeks, peas, squash and the rest.

Heirloom pros

In his book, McLaughlin points out that heirlooms were bred for flavor. Not for uniformity of size, color or the ability to sit in a vegetable bin for days without going bad. These tasted good, so the seeds were saved.

“No one would keep the seeds belonging to poor-tasting vegetables or wimpy varieties,” he writes.

Aside from taste and the geeky look-what-I-grew aspect, there’s so much to choose from. It gives gardeners a chance to play around a little. Torgrimson says it has been his experience that gardeners will try several varieties at once.

“Just the other day we were talking about cucumbers,” Clarke says. “You can grow wilt-free (mainstream) varieties, but that’s no reason not to try some old varieties. Tend them well and learn a little bit about horticulture and the science behind it.”

Heirloom cons

Heirlooms weren’t bred for looks.

“They are ugly, some of them. Scarred and cracked, all these things,” Torgrimson says.

Certain varieties also might not perform well every summer.

“You have to put up with a certain amount of mystery, if you will. How’s it going to do this year?”

And some have been passed down despite not being the tastiest varieties.

“I remember one of the first things I grew was a Siberian tomato,” Clarke says. “I was terribly excited. The seeds come out of Siberia, and everyone is talking about this new tomato. But they tasted like cotton wool.”

The future of heirlooms

New varieties show up every year, either from families offering a favorite vegetable or from other seed aficionados around the world. Seed Savers also has a huge collection of seeds in its vaults that it dips into. And there is more to come.

“I think there’s still a lot to be found, in grains in particular,” Clarke says. “Amaranth, quinoa. They’re beautiful in the garden and also nourishing. Also, there are a lot of native American food varieties we can try. Root crops. Go to France and you’ll see all sorts of carrots and parsnips to be tried out.”

For the near future, heirlooms should continue to be on our plates.

“They’re popular right now, which helps,” Torgrimson says. “You go to any farmers market and I think you’re going to find the bulk of products offered by growers are heirlooms. And I think growers are marketing them with that in mind.”

Tips for a bountiful heirloom crop

We loved these tips from Organic Gardening’s website to maximize yield:

1. Build your soil. The key to great plants starts with the soil. The authors especially love raised beds, which reduce weeding and give gardeners more control of the soil makeup.

2. Round out beds. “Raised beds are more space-efficient if the tops are gently rounded to form an arc, rather than flat,” they write. “A rounded bed that is five feet wide across its base, for instance, will give you a six-foot-wide arc above it, creating a planting surface that’s a foot wider than that of a flat bed.”

3. Space smartly. By staggering plants in triangles, not square patterns or rows, you’ll fit 10 to 14 percent more plants in each bed. Just don’t plant too close together, they caution; some plants won’t reach full size if they’re overcrowded.

4. Grow vertically. Grow space-hungry vining crops (think tomatoes, pole beans, peas) on trellises, fences, cages or stakes. This also improves air circulation, reducing disease.

5. Interplant compatible crops. Some examples: corn, beans and squash; tomatoes, basil and onions; leaf lettuce and peas or brassicas; carrots, onions and radishes.

Similar Posts:

• Embrace Your Heritage! 6 Places to Buy Heirloom Seeds
• Garden or Museum – what’s the big deal with heirloom veg?
• Growing Micro-Leaves
• The Grafted Tomato Challenge
• Top 10 Easy Flowers To Grow