A List of Some Seed Companies Owned by Monsanto Or Sell Monsanto And Seminis Seeds

[LancetChick]

24. What?

What you are calling "heirloom" varieties are simple old varieties that used to be more widely grown than at present. Some people enjoy growing old varieties of tomatoes. Certainly it's an entertaining thing to do, and some of them even taste pretty good. However, none of those varieties are of GMO origins. Rather, they were developed using traditional selective breeding techniques. They don't reproduce true from seed, because that's their nature.

Generally what you end up with if you plant the seeds of varietal tomatoes is something a lot like cherry tomatoes. Small fruits.

Heirlooms are open-pollinated, breed true and are generally better tasting vegetables than hybrids (although there are LOTS of hybrid vegetables that are great tasting) because most modern hybrids are developed not for the home gardener, but for the commercial farmer who needs varieties that ship well and are disease and fungus resistant.

I plant Parisian Pickling cucumbers which were developed in the 1800's and make them into cornichons. Delicious. And I save the seeds and plant them the next year. What I get the next year is Parisian Pickling cucumbers. Heirloom seeds come in every size, shape, flavor and color. They're generally not as disease and fungus resistant as hybrids, or as vigorous and productive, but if you want some great vegetable varieties and a huge selection of them, heirlooms are wonderful.