What are Heirloom Plants?
Heirloom plants are specific cultivars which are open pollinated, grown in earlier times of our history, and not used in large scale agriculture. There is no specific age that identifies an heirloom plant, but one widely accepted theory is that any cultivar over 150 years old fits the bill. However, there are some heirloom plants that only originated around the turn of the century. This leads to the theory that cultivars aged before the early 1950s, when hybridization became popular, are heirlooms. There are many different theories about heirlooms, but only one real definition. Heirloom plants are open pollinated cultivars grown in an earlier era, and are not grown commercially. Open pollinated means the plants are pollinated naturally by birds, insects, and the wind. They do not require controlled or manual pollination, as do many hybrid cultivars. Open pollinated plants produce new generations of the same type, but genetic traits will vary widely among them. Heirloom plants are diffe
Heirloom varieties are not genetically modified. We buy them here: http://rareseeds.com/ In previous years, there has really only been one person from the suburbs at Eastern Market with vegetable seedlings, and they are all GMO supermarket varieties. We have the same issue with the DAN garden resource program. I’ve seen a few flats of tomatoes at corner stores, but never more than one variety at a time. I think most people are saving seeds. The underground seed trade is quite established. The perfect place would be the lot on the railroad tracks across from Corinthian Baptist. It would be a quick stop off the highway for someone on their way home from working downtown.
