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Re: '98 Garden Plan

"Heirloom" is a rather vague term that refers to older varieties of a
plant.  They are virtually always "O.P." which means "Open Pollinated"
as opposed to hybridized.  Hybrids are simply plants which have
controlled pollination.  (Kind of like monogamy, as opposed to the
promiscuous nature of OP's.)  Hybrids are *not* genetically engineered
or in any way genetically different from OP plants.  (Except, of course,
inasmuch as any two plants of the same species are genetically
different.)

That being said, many people take great effort to avoid hybrid plants
for many valid reasons: they are likely to be bred for certain specific
climates and won't do well in others, some hybrids don't have the full
range of flavor of their OP cousins, they may be succeptible to certain
pests, or they may be prone to suffer from weed competition.

On the other hand, many hybrids have better vigor in marginal
conditions, produce larger quantities of food and have greater disease
resistance than their OP cousins.

You live in a somewhat cool, short season region, and many tropical
plants, such as tomatoes and peppers, don't do well in your climate. 
Several hybrid varieties have been developed that help overcome these
limitations.

My suggestion is to find out what some other people in your region have
success with and experiment on your own with both OP and hybrid
varieties.

Steve  (Maritime Climate -- USDA Zone irrelevant)

Marlon wrote:
> 
> Hi Catherine,
> 
> I had a hit with the tomatoes last season.
> It's -20 deg cel. tonight BUT I still have tomatoes
> in the fridge from last season.    I'm looking
> for a  breed of tomatoes that will survive our
> harsh climate, please let me hear from you.
> 
> Here are a few questions for ya.  I hope you have time for them.
> What are " heirloom tomatoes "
> What are O.P variety peppers ?  I'm in southern Ontario
> or zone 6 and would love to grow peppers next season, please advise.
> 
> regards,
> Marlon Rose-Mighty
> marlon@idirect.com
> 
> ----------
> > From: Catharine Vinson <cvinson@cris.com>
> >
> > After growing about 75 kinds of heirloom tomatoes last season, I'm going
> > to cut back on the tomatoes this year <bg>. But I'm up to 7 kinds of
> > eggplant, 25 kinds of lettuce, 12 different peas (one day I will find one
> > that does really well in Atlanta!), 13 peppers. And so on.
> >
> > As far as possible, all are O.P. varieties. It's been great fun making out
> > the plan and getting the seed orders done. If there's interest, I'll post
> > the final list....
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