Heirloom Vegetables

An heirloom vegetable is an open-pollinated cultivar that was grown during earlier periods in human history. Most popular heirloom plants are vegetables. The trend of growing heirlooms has been growing in popularity in the United States and Europe over the last decade and heirloom vegetable seeds are avaliable in many shops.
Before the industrialization of agriculture, a much wider variety of plant foods was grown for human consumption. In modern agriculture in the Industrialized World, most food crops are now grown in large, monocultural plots owned by corporations. These varieties are often selected for their productivity, tolerance to drought, frost, or pesticides. Flavor, and variety are frequently secondary. Heirloom gardening can be seen as a reaction against this trend. Heirloom growers have different motivations. Some grow heirlooms for historical interest, while others want to increase the available gene pool for future generations. There is no consensus as to how old a plant variety should be before it can be considered an heirloom. Many gardeners consider 1951 to be the latest year a plant can have originated and still be called an heirloom. To be an heirloom, a plant must be "open-pollinated". That means it will grow "true to type" from seed.