There is a great trend with Heirloom vegetables that we totally embrace here at Vintage Hill.  Kind of like chickens, the old home grown kind are the best in flavor.  Not unlike chickens that have been bred to become a boneless breast in a frozen package, many modern vegetables have been bred for a trait or group of traits- usually disease resistance or keeping qualities.  Depending on who had the idea, and what they were trying to accomplish, taste may or may not have been the priority in breeding.  The surge in popularity of heirloom tomatoes for instance is mostly about taste and of course variety. 

It’s important to remember the reason the hybrids became popular was disease resistance.  In my own trial garden of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes last year it was pretty obvious that those with the best flavor were not necessarily the best producers and since it was a wet summer here in MO, those tomatoes with disease resistance bred in were the best producers, not necessarily the heirlooms.  My favorite tomato of last season though was without a doubt, Pineapple.  It's an heirloom, yellow with a tinge of red in the center and sweet with a firm flesh.  It produced well all summer and the taste was the best!  Black Krim was a close second.  Funny story about that. One of my customers shared with me how they took a plate of Black Krim to a carry-in supper.  No one would touch it. Black Krim is a dark red; almost purple in color, but on a plate by itself looks like they may have been left over for a week or so!  Lesson of the story, mix them with a yellow tomato on a plate!

f you want to collect your own seeds, which is how heirlooms have been preserved for years, remember that a hybrid sometimes does not come "true" from seed, it often reverts to either of its parents or some distant relative. If you have a relatively remote location, your heirlooms can remain true, however pollen from adjacent plants can give you a little surprise in next years crop.

For more about Jeff's nursery Vintage Hill Farm follow this link: www.vintagehill.com