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Heirloom Plants Now Have Added Benefits

Who says can't teach an old mutt a new trick or two???? Let me tell you about my recent experience at HerbFest 2010.

At the HerbFest we sell organic, heirloom variety vegetables, tomatoes, and peppers that were grown from organic seeds, ie. plants grown organically that produced the seeds. Well honestly one of the problems I've always had with heirloom variety veggies is they generally do not look very appetizing, to protect them from pests and maintain the organic standard is somewhat more work, but most importantly is the shelf life is generally not very long so you better pick and eat or can quickly.

One of our HerbFest customers revealed to me a new interesting fact that is often forgotten on heirloom variety vegetables - they're reproducible!!! Yes many of the veggies etc. you buy in the store now have been genetically altered so all the grower gets is one production cycle from the original seed. The seeds are altered so no one can eat the veggie, say tomato, and then save the seeds to grow their own plants the following year.

I'm not hitting on Monsanto and the other seed companies as they worked hard to come up with plants that produce more fruit, often have some added vitamins/minerals, and may look better with longer shelf life so they are entitled to reap the benefits of their work product, but for the home gardener that wants non-genetic engineered plants the heirloom now has another selling point.

Would be fun to hear from you on any concerns or cares you may have on the standardization of the genetic material and whether that is good or not in your opinion.

Did want to share with you this as many of our customers pointed out to me the produce found in large retailers is no longer usable for future plantings from the seeds.