Growing heirloom seeds in your garden can literally bring the past to life.
What Are Heirloom Seeds?
Either way, like the name suggests, heirloom seeds have been around a long while.
Credit: Carson Downing
A few seed companies and organizations have also helped preserve heirloom seeds and make them more widely available.
Here are five qualities that set these seeds apart and make them well worth giving a try.
When you’reshopping for seeds, you may also find some called hybrids.
Credit: Kindra Clineff
For example, some GMO corn has genes from bacteria to help them resist certain pests.
So, by definition, heirloom seeds can’t be genetically modified.
Organic seeds have to be raised in accordance with organic standards set by theUSDA’s National Organic Program.
Credit:BHG / Jiaqi Zhou
If you want to buy organic heirloom seeds, check the label for the USDA Organic symbol.
Heirloom seeds are easy to find and cost about the same as other seeds.
Some heirloom seeds even come in packages that are pretty enough to be considered art.
