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"Preserving the future,
We are an early signer of the Safe Seed Pledge All of our rare and heirloom seeds are public domain, open-pollinated, non-hybrid and chemically untreated. No chemicals, unstable hybrids, patented or genetically engineered seeds! |
Why should you grow "heirloom" tomatoes? If you love tomatoes, you probably already have a lot of good reasons for raising your own. If you don't like the taste of tomatoes, perhaps you have actually never tasted a good one! Commercially grown tomatoes are both a blessing and a curse to the home gardener. The goals and objectives of commercial food producers and those of home gardeners are quite different. Along with breeding for traits that are beneficial like disease resistance, commercial breeding programs focus on traits such as skin thickness, consistent maturity, delayed ripening, etc. If you notice a pattern here, these are traits that are important for growing large scale, harvesting at one time, and transporting long distances to processing plants and distribution houses. Taste and nutritional value are secondary traits in this scenario. Small market growers (like the folks you should buy from locally or at Farmer's Markets) and home gardeners have a different agenda when raising tomatoes and other produce. We typically want the freshest, best tasting and most nutritious food we can muster. We also don't want it all coming fresh at the same moment but instead, spread out over the growing season. The commercial seed industry caters to where the money is and that is in big scale agriculture. Most university and private seed company breeding programs are now focused on this market. And since they are the suppliers to the main stream seed industry, these are the same varieties that are available to the large packet seed companies. Fortunately, small companies like the Victory Seed Company are working against this trend. Our focus is not on breeding new varieties. We work to maintain the quality and availability of old tried and true varieties. Some have their origins as family heirlooms. Others are good old, classically bred, commercial releases. Click here for a great selection of good tomato varieties.
For additional information about gardening with heirlooms, refer to "A Case for Gardening with Heirlooms" and "Why Should You Grow 'Heirloom Seeds' and Save Seeds?" |
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Images
courtesy of Oregon
State University
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