What are Heirloom Vegetables?

Heirloom vegetables are different from modern mass grown seeds or plants for a simple reason; they are genetically the same as the parent plant. Mass quantity grown seeds like those found in most stores and well known seed catalogs are hybrids. There is nothing wrong with growing hybrid plants. In fact we grow and plant many hybrid seeds ourselves. So what is the big deal?

Well, all hybrid seeds at one time were heirloom seeds. Hybrids are the combination of the best attributes of heirloom seeds. Let’s say you have a few tomato plants that you grow that are of the heirloom variety. Plant number one produces large meaty tomatoes that are a bit acidic. Plant two produces smaller fruit that is sweet, but kind of watery. If you combine the two plants for a hybrid, you should end up with a tomato that is sweeter than plant one and larger and meatier than plant two. Ideally you end up with the best of both plants.

This is what the large seed providers have done for years. It helps you grow vegetables that are consistent in size, color, taste and texture. Not a bad thing by any means, but it does create a few issues. Perhaps the most notable issue is saving the seeds from the vegetables that are harvested.

Because a hybrid is grown by combining two or more different types of plants, the seeds will not grow the same type of vegetable that the parent plant did. It may lack the sweetness or color that the original joining of plants created. This means you need to buy seeds every year to grow the same type of vegetable that you started out with. Not a bad deal for the seed companies!

Heirlooms eliminate the need to repurchase seeds every year. An heirloom variety consists of one genetic parent only. So, the vegetable that you harvested this year will grow the same type of vegetable next year. There does need to be some care taken when planting vegetable of the same family near each other, Mother Nature can make hybrids on her own. But, with a bit of planning it is possible to save seeds for next year’s garden quite easily.

Heirloom vegetables also allow a person to grow things that are unique in size, taste or appearance. As our country moved to purchasing its food from supermarkets, the local varieties of vegetables became obsolete. Every store wanted to sell vegetables that were consistent in size, color and appearance all year long. It became impossible to distinguish between something grown in Michigan or Mexico. It became difficult to find things like tomatoes that were black, yellow or even white.

For many years there have been those people who enjoyed saving seeds from vegetables that were becoming more and more difficult to find. Some liked growing the vegetables that looked different from others or had a taste that could not be found in hybrids. Other people liked the idea of not buying seeds every year or saving the genetic line of a vegetable that was in essence going extinct. Whatever the reason, many people felt it important to continue to grow these rarely seen vegetables.

As you can imagine, seeds that are rare or hard to find have value. Some are rare because they grow in small geographical areas, others because they do not have many seeds that can be harvested at the end of the season. The end result is heirloom seeds are more expensive to purchase. We have seen some seeds that sell for as much as $1.00 per SEED. You read that right. We do not grow anything that expensive, but our seeds still cost up to 20 times more than a hybrid seed to purchase.
That is why our plants cost a bit more money than a hybrid plant would. The seeds are more expensive to purchase and they take a bit longer in the greenhouse than hybrids do. Now you are asking yourself what the reward of the extra cost is. Some of it can be explained, some is not so tangible.

Imagine saving seeds at the end of the year and starting your own plants from them next year. Sure it will cost us some business. As hard as it is to believe, we get more satisfaction from creating another heirloom gardener, than making a few dollars selling them some plants. We also know that once the heirloom bug bites, most people will be back to try another variety.

Variety is a great reward. There are thousands of different vegetables that the average person has not heard of or seen. They can give you bragging rights because of size or appearance. It may be because of a unique flavor that you or your family loves. It is fun just to try new things that that you will not find in the supermarket.

The last reward may seem intangible. Something that you cannot really explain, but it is there none the less, is the knowledge that you are preserving a bit of the earth’s history. We have seeds that come from vegetables known to have grown 1000 years ago. What other living link to history can the average person hold in their hand and grow in their backyard? That is a part of what is so satisfying when growing heirloom vegetables.

Seeds that came from the “Old Country” carried in the pockets of immigrants to their new home or seeds that a family has not shared outside the community for many years. Wherever the seeds may have came from, growing heirlooms is preserving a bit of history. In our opinion a critical bit, because you can eat this history. Try that with a marble statue. Whatever reason convinces you to try our heirloom plants, thanks for the business. Most important of all, we welcome you to the Heirloom Family.

Cold Weather Crops

It’s that time of year in Mid-Michigan to start planting the cold tolerant crops. Vegetables such as Beets, Carrots, Turnips and Peas can be planted as soon as the ground can be worked. They will tolerate low temperatures and light frost very well.

The biggest issue is when is the ground workable? There are a few considerations. Soil type really helps determine these issues. We are predominately on clay. Clay is not very porous, so it holds water very well. Wet, cold soil will rot seeds before they can germinate. After germination there is still the chance the plants will rot if they are in constantly wet soil. Lighter soils such as sand will drain more rapidly and help with this issue.

We use a combination of low-tech and high-tech to figure out when to plant. The low tech method is the mud-ball test. Grab a handful of soil and try to make a mud-ball out of it. If it packs tightly and doesn’t easily crumble it is too wet. If it does not pack easily, on to the high tech.

With the advent of the internet it is much easier to see what kind of weather to expect for at least a week. If the soil is ready and there is not heavy rain predicted for at least 7-10 days, we will plant.

On occasion, no matter how careful we are, we will lose a planting for various weather related reasons. It is not the end of the season by any stretch. We just replant what was lost.

With the weather we have been experiencing, now is a great time to start planting those cold weather crops. This early in the season there is still the threat of a hard frost killing everything. In a small garden this can be countered to some degree. If a killing frost is predicted, the plants can be covered to protect them. Blankets, plastic and landscape fabric are things we have used in the past.

Time to get the garden worked and some seeds planted!

Roger

Planning Your Garden

Planning your garden is both exciting and frustrating at the same time. Most gardeners start planning their next years garden while they are planting this years. If you are new to gardening, planning may not seem like a big deal. Put some plants and seeds in the ground and away you go. This method will work but it does have a few short comings.

If you look at the back of a package of seeds it will list the best method to plant the seeds. It will tell you how deep, how far apart to plant the seeds and how far apart to plant the rows. The same goes for plants. As with most things in life, it is not written in stone.

Lets use green beans as an example. The package will tell you to plant them about an inch deep, space the seeds 1-3 inches apart and the rows about 18-24 inches apart.

I plant wide rows instead. I will plant a swath about 24 inches across. I do this for several reasons. It uses less space overall, the ground is shaded helping retain moisture, it helps control weeds and I can pick more sitting in one spot.

Beets are another vegetable that can be packed closer. Each beet seed can produce several plants. No matter how carefully you plant the seeds you will need to do some thinning.

If you are growing for baby beets you will be picking them before space becomes a real issue. Instead of 24 inches between rows, close them in to 6 inches. As you thin the plants you can eat them or replant them if they are too small. As you pick, you allow more room for the beets to grow larger.

Some items can’t be crowded like this. Tomatoes are a good example. The average spacing is about 3 feet between plants in a row. You can save a bit of space by staking the plants.

Corn needs to be planted in blocks at least 4 rows wide to insure pollination.

So, make a list of what you would like to grow. Determine the size of the garden you will have available. Next is the hard part. A piece of graph paper will make the next part a little easier.

The width between rows is the first number you will need. If you plan on using a rototiller between rows to control weeds you need to know how wide the tiller is. Keep in mind, as the season progresses the plants will encroach into the pathways.

Lets use 24 inches as a width for the tiller. The average tomato plant will take up an area about 3 feet in diameter. So about 1 1/2 feet on either side of the row the tomato is planted in. A walkway between 2 rows of tomatoes would need to be 5 feet wide to use a tiller later in the season. If you plan on using a hoe the walkway can be narrowed. Just keep in mind the room plants will need as they grow.

Got your paper? First you need to decide how large of an area each square will represent. Lets go with one square foot for now. Outline the dimensions of your garden.

Now you need to give a value to each row of vegetables. Tomatoes would be 3 feet wide. For beets, peas, radishes and such figure 1 foot. Cucumbers and squash would take about 4 feet. 4 rows of corn would take about 4 feet. Now you need to figure space between plants in the same row. 3 feet for tomatoes, 4-6 for cukes and squash etc.

First decide what your outside row will be. Lets say beets. Since you won’t plant at the very edge of the garden, move in 1 foot. Block out a row 1 foot wide for the beets. Now block out your walkway. If you plant something like tomatoes next, add half the diameter of the plant to the walkway to keep your walkway width.

Now the next thing is how much can you fit in a row? You can fit about 6 tomatoes in a 20 foot row. If you want 12 plants, then you would need 2 rows. Remember to block out the space a full grown plant will take.

Generally by the time you finish the plan you will realize you have to much to fit in the space you have blocked out. Welcome to my world.

At this point you need to decide what to cut down on or expand the garden. There are a few ways to fit more in a small space. I will cover this in another post.

Planting Has Begun

Hurray for warm weather! Yesterday we began our outdoor planting. We were able to plant beets,radishes,turnips,peas and carrots.

This is the earliest we have been able to plant in a long time. Our soil type is clay. There is a reason that clay is used to seal ponds to keep them from leaking. It holds water on top very well. Normally our ability to plant is dictated by the amount of moisture in the ground more than by temperature.

We have several sections of the field that are better than others. This is the result of adding tons of compost to the soil to break the clay up. The section we started the planting in is a bit higher and more heavily amended than other spots.

Our main growing plot is about 3 acres of separate growing areas. In those 3 acres there is about 6 very different and distinct growing areas. After 30 years of growing on this land we know which will dry out first, where there is a bit more sand and where the richest soil is.

Getting to know you land is very important. It will take a few years to really get a feel for it if you are new to gardening. Don’t let that slow you down though. I have learned more from what did not work than from what did!

Roger

When to Plant

Two of the more common questions we are asked are: When can we start planting and What can we plant?

Keep in mind that we are in Mid-Michigan and our planting schedule will vary from other locations. The first place to start is at this link

Frost Dates

Select your state and a list of cities will be displayed with spring and fall frost data. Pick the city closest to you for your data.

The data is broken into 3 temperature ranges and 3 percentage or likely dates you will see those temperatures. Here is an example:

EAST LANSING Michigan

% 90 50 10

36 May03 May 21 Jun09

32 Apr19 May04 May20

28 Apr11 Apr25 May08

Going by the chart there is a 90% chance there will be a 28 degree night on April 11th. There is only a 10% chance of seeing that temperature on May 8th. The significance of 28 degrees is that temperature enters into the killing frost range.

Vegetables such as peas, beets and carrots will tolerate cold nighttime temperatures and even a light frost. These can be planted as soon as the ground can be worked. There is always the chance that you will lose the planting because of excessive rain or a really hard frost.

We sell our produce at farm markets so early planting has a financial reward for us. If you don’t want to risk losing a planting simply pick a later planting date.

Other plants need warm soil and warm nights to survive. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant would be examples of this. The highest temperature listed in the graph is 36 degrees. That is about as low of a temperature that you want to expose an unprotected plant to.

On June 9th 2008 we had a hard killing frost hit the area. That is the latest date I have ever seen a killing frost hit in 30 years of growing. Before that year we would start putting plants in the ground on Memorial Day weekend. We lost thousands of plants that year.

So, it comes down to a few factors. Not the least of them is how much of a gambler are you? Obviously you won’t want to put a warm temperature vegetable like tomato in the ground in April. But if the temperatures are looking good in the beginning of May will you risk a few plants?

In the future I will cover season extending methods that will help get crops in earlier and keep them in the ground later.

Roger

Welcome to The Garden Spot

Hello,

Thank-you for stopping by The Garden Spot. Here you will be able to follow the growing season of Halls Heritage Horticulture. We are a 3 generation family run farm.

Over the course of the season I hope to be able to pass on knowledge and ideas to those who are new to gardening. I will be the first to admit that I do not know everything and every year I need to learn and unlearn things all season long.

Please check back often and don’t be afraid to leave a comment or suggestion.

Roger