[Sca-cooks] heritage veggie varieties

[Tara]

"Dunbar, Debra" wrote:
>
> legacy/heritage veggies -
> I too would love to find a place where I could get seeds to grow these.  My
> gardener friends warn me that it's difficult to grow older varieties because
> modern hybridization and pesticide application have made strains of nasties
> that are particularly tough on these legacy varieties.  I don't know how
> true this is though, since my heritage roses do SO much better with pests
> and rot then the horrible modern hybrid teas.
> Wrynne

I don't know about super-bugs, though it's possible.  Some of the
hybridization that's been done is to improve resistance to such pests.
So, some older varieties may not have resistances we're used to.

But, most hybridization has been done to improve things like size of
fruit, length of growing season, yield per square foot, etc.  In these
cases, it is usually done ignoring disease/pest resistance, and in fact
often makes the hybrids more susceptible than their ancestors (i.e.,
higher sugar contents, more yield per area is a stronger biological
beacon, longer growing season means more potential pests.)  This is part
of why modern agriculture is so reliant on chemical interventions.  So,
you'll find that, like your roses, many heritage varieties are much
easier to grow.

Many heritage varieties were also developed in the 1800s to be ideal for
particular climates.  These days, seed companies try to hybridize
varieties that work in a wide range of areas, so they don't have to
handle 15 different strains and explain to people why they need this one
and not that one.  But, while they will grow in many areas, they're not
optimized for any one clmate.

-Magdalena