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Heirloom Seeds

© Murdo Morrison

As I write this in New Jersey, the temperature is in the 60's and the recent snow and ice have vanished. A few brave little crocuses are in flower in advance of their companion bulbs who are optimistically sprouting. Such is the nature of the dance between Winter and Spring in my adopted state.

Understandably, my thoughts are focused on the approaching Spring and the annual dilemma of too little space versus the many plants I want to grow. The seed catalogs are stacked on the table waiting for me to go through them and pencil in the 'definites' and the 'maybes', a winnowing process that still seems to result in too many seed packets for the space available.

Regardless of what seeds make the cut, of one fact I am certain. Heirloom seeds will play an important role in my selection. What are heirloom seeds and why should we use them? The term 'heirloom' has come to be used for older (generally 50 years or older) non-hybrid seed varieties of flowers and vegetables. Many of these were favorites of previous generations of gardeners. By growing them on a regular basis, gardeners are helping to preserve many valuable and interesting types of plants that might otherwise disappear.

In a time when plants are being genetically altered and large areas of the world's farm lands are devoted to just a few hybridized species, it is more important than ever to preserve the genetic diversity represented by heirloom seeds. While seed banks do exist, to remain viable, seed stock needs periodically to be grown out. Therefore, gardeners can play an important role not only by growing heirloom varieties of plants but by saving and exchanging the seed.

Because they are not hybridized, it is possible to save the seed of heirloom varieties for use next year. Hybrid seeds will produce unpredictable results whereas non-hybrids will generally breed true to type.Therefore gardeners, with a little effort and care, can collect and preserve their own seed stocks. Contrast this with recent developments where some large seed producers are genetically reengineering and patenting food crops to make the seed sterile and to prevent farmers from saving seed from year to year.

Although many of the smaller local seed producers have been bought up by larger companies, there are still many sources of heirloom seeds which continue to grow in popularity following their 'rediscovery' in the last few years. One of my favorites is Seeds of Change, which specializes in certified organic seeds. Founded in 1988 by Kenny Ausubel, the goal of Seeds of Change is "to reintroduce a biological diversity of crops into the food chain." Those of you who would like to find out about the history of Seeds of Change can read Kenny Ausubel's fascinating book, Seeds of Change, The Living Treasure, Harper San Francisco, 1994.

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