Yard MD blog: The lost ones

Modern agriculture and genetically modified crops squeeze out traditional favorites

Feb. 3, 2014

Countless varieties of heirloom tomatoes may be lost forever as fewer and fewer varieties are focused on for mass food production. Help save treasured heirloom crops by growing them in your garden and saving seeds to pass down between generations. ROB ZIMMER/Post-Crescent Media. / Rob Zimmer/Post-Crescent Media

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Post-Crescent Media

Half a century ago, growing vegetables and fruits in the home garden, as well as for feeding the masses, was a whole different era and style of planting and nurturing.

The selection of plants available to home gardeners was richer, with traditional heirloom favorites forming the vast majority of garden crops. Richer in flavor, more nutrient-dense and more colorful, heirloom vegetables and fruits for the garden were in real danger of being lost forever. Many hundreds probably are forever gone.

Modern agricultural practices, and mass gardening have squeezed out many of these heirloom favorites in flavor of just a few fast-growing, watered down, cheap to grow varieties of fruits and vegetables, removing hundreds, if not thousands of years of botanical history from the books.

A movement to bring back and preserve hundreds of the best heirloom fruits and garden vegetables has swung into high gear, as a movement away from genetically modified crops continues to swell.

The definition of "heirloom" varies depending upon who you speak to, but generally, these are open pollinated plants that have been preserved and passed down by seed through generations of family gardeners.

As heirloom plants were lost and the variety of garden crops available shrank, many gardeners and small organizations became determined to bring back and preserve these treasured plants.

Growing heirloom plants in your garden is a great way to preserve the tradition. Save the seeds, as our relatives did 100 or 50 years ago, and pass them on to your next generation. Share them with friends and neighbors, or heirloom seed exchanges, of which there are many online.

Try growing a garden of heirlooms only this year and see why these colorful, flavorful, nutritious and delicious fruits and vegetables are making a comeback.