Heirloom, which are open pollinators ("o/p's") are plants that have bred true from seed for at least 50 years. They seeds are viable - will sprout and grow - and through the hand of man, will always grow up to be identical to it's parent. Heirlooms have unique qualities - their genetics will change over a few seasons, a few generations, to adapt to the local growing conditions. They learn how to survive, if they don't get wiped out beforehand.
Heirlooms often have tastes, colours and forms that are 'different' from what we are used to experiencing. The characteristics can vary from plant to plant, zone to zone, even from fruit to fruit. They have a history to them - when they became 'publicly known' and named, they are like a photograph from that period of time, having what the people growing them desired of the variety. Indeed, even the very names reflect this. 'Aunt Esther's Cherry' tomato; 'Jacob's Cattle' beans; 'Homesteader' peas; 'Mandan Bride' flour corn; 'Dutch Flat White' pumpkins - all of these names are descriptive of the produce, or reflect the era and people that bred them.

Taste is usually a prime reason for growing heirlooms. Another is the sense of history these plants have. It is estimated that thousands upon thousands of heirloom varieties, since man first placed seed in the earth or harvested food from the wilds, have been lost to the present day people. Some causes were simply like the dinosaur - they were no longer able to survive, whether from climate, location changes, natural disasters, to man-made extinctions like the Dodo. There is something very organic in growing heirlooms. In fact, many are tied hand in hand with each other.

Hybrids, sometimes noted as F1, F2, are crosses between o/p's. They are like mules (the offspring of a mating between a horse and a donkey). The have characteristics of both parents, but are true 'children'. Hybrids, like mules, are sterile - they will not set viable seed. They are often genetically enhanced or altered to produce the exact same qualities, no matter the location. Their fruits are very uniform in colour, shape and size. You can predict when the plant will mature, and the quantity of fruit or flowers you will get with 'x' amount of plants. Hybrids are often superior in disease resistance - in many cases, they are almost immune. They will give you exactly what you paid for, in most cases. However, hybrids are rigid - they must have the growing conditions they were designed for. A 130 day pumpkin will not make it to ripeness in Zone 4. A Zone 8 area is too hot for some hybrid apples. If your garden does not match all of a hybrids' needs, you will have nothing come harvest time.

Individual hybrid popularity reflect the qualities most desired in the majority of the population. We have come to expect our tomatoes are red, our carrots are orange, our marigolds are fully double and available in many colours, but in two height classes. Our receipes and cooking methods have changed, we know that two cucumbers called for in a recipe from Kansas will be the right amount for the cook in Alaska, because the available vegetable is the same in both. We have demanded our corn be able to come out fresh and tender when zapped in the microwave for four minutes. When we shop for produce and flowers, we are casting our votes in what is desirable and what is not. Big, round grapes, sweeter than sugar, are favoured over the small, nippy black ones. Watermelon needs to show green stripes on it. We want our ginger fresh, not powdered or dried, preserved. We want oranges in Sweden. Hybridizers have met our demands, developing strains that can meet our criteria; can withstand the shipping gauntlet and land on our plates in perfect-looking condition.

The way we grow has changed. Earlier in our history, one grew what you needed, for yourself, or you traded for them with other goods or skills. If you wanted to have lettuce in December, you got smart and learned how to have them survive in a cold frame. If you planned well, you remained well-fed and content in the winter, the off-season. If you didn't project or had success, you did without, or died. Your home and the land it stood on was your very life. You didn't know what an orange was, or it was a delicacy shared only amoung the wealthy.

Now there is too many of us occupying the same space - there isn't enough land, where we want to live, for all of us to be self-sustaining. Farms have gotten fewer, but larger, specializing in one or two crops, flora or fauna, and we have a global pantry, at least in the Western world.

Farmers depend on success of their crops, and science has contrived to virtually guarantee that, through equipment, hybrid seed, chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

How does one choose between the two, which class to grow?

If you absolutely need a bumper crop of paste tomatoes, ready in mid-August in Delaware, choose a hybrid that meets your conditions. If you are a 'new' gardener, and really need to have a victory, F1's are your seed.

If you don't mind getting perhaps one or two tomatoes off your first-year-growing-from-seed heirlooms, and you want that sharp, acidic flavour unavailable in a hybrid, then look into o/p's. Would a accordian-pleated, yellow paste tomato be welcome in your kitchen, even if some are bigger than others? Heirloom. Do you need or want to be able to be self-sufficient, growing your own seed from season to season, avoiding the cost of purchasing packet after packet every year?

Are you concerned with the extinction of a wide seed pool, or fascinated with the idea you can grow the same cantaloupe your great, great grandma did? Or are you just plain hungry?

It is an individual's choice, and there is no right or wrong answer - it is what suits you and your skills the best. Never apologize for opting for a hybrid, and don't be ashamed to say you want only Brandywines for your tomato selection. In the end, food is food, whether it is a feast for the eyes and soul (floral), or smoothes out the crinkles in your tummy, food is food. It is the same as some will not eat beef, pork or cat, while others have no such reservations. The reasons to choose heirloom over hybrid is entirely up to the grower and his location.

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