(Heirlooms or O.P.s will allow you to save seeds from the fruits and veggies to plant the following year ...you can´t do that with hybrids.)
Very in-depth article! I´ve ordered seeds from almost all of the ones they mention. At first, I was surprised ...after all, it´s AUTUMN here in Argentina. I´ll never get used to that. April will always be spring in my head.
Not only that, I had to remind myself that the reason I´m seed shopping right now ...is because this is the time of year that the big seed houses have their full selection. If I do it in the Argentine springtime, they won´t have some of the beauties that I love or want to try.
Sure, I know the backlash against folks that are devoted to open pollenated ...even though those ol' timey beauties can be problematic (not so disease resistant, lower yield, late season fruit, etc.) But I think that the author might have skipped over a couple of things.
I really like saving seeds from plants that I really like ...because being in South America I might not be able to order seeds by mail or friends every year. That´s big for me.
The other thing the article didn´t go into very much is the difference between hybrids for commercial growers and "truck patch" guys like meself. Hybrids for big growers concentrate on fruits and veg that are tough enough to stand up to brutal picking and shipping ...but still look like supermodels on the store shelves.
Hybrids for small growers can still have delicate and delicious produce AND have higher yield and early fruit and disease resistance. That´s cool ...but I can´t save the seeds.
And although they touched on it a bit, not every plant from 100 years ago is wonderful. But you can bet your ass that if an unruly, late, too delicate to ship, sometimes ugly, disease susceptible garden vegetable is still getting raves after 100 years ...there´s gotta be a reason!
The reason is usually flavor.
It´s kinda cool ordering seeds in the Argentine fall: my memories are still fresh from all the incredible goodies I just picked this month! Up North, people have to wait months before the seed companies are ready to start shipping their full line.
And seriously, we´re talking incredibly delicious. The French melons knocked the socks off even die-hard carnivores like the veg abhorent gauchos! The Delice de la Table will be back again next season ...but even more so. Country folks said they couldn´t remember ever eating such a delicious melon.
And, of course, the tomatoes. I was born and raised in Indiana and can remember wandering into a tomato patch with a salt shaker in my pocket just to sit and eat warm, vine ripened tomatoes from ANYBODY´S garden. But those were hard to find in Chicago. I think that it´s been more than 10 years since I tasted anything like the Brandywines we grew this year. Oops! My wife remembers eating tomatoes like that at my parent´s house once. We both were knocked out by the flavor ...both then and now. Gotta put more of those in next spring ...and tend them the way a fella should!
I hope you groove to the NYT article, it´s good ...and, of course will be behind a paywall very soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment