Which veggies can you grow this winter in Brevard? Here’s just a taste

Heirloom vegetables are open-pollinated plants from generations past, allowing seeds to be saved and replanted.
While once diverse, only 3% of food plant varieties from 1900 are commonly available today.
Hybridized plants were developed for traits like durability but their seeds cannot be replanted true to type.
Central Florida’s primary vegetable gardening season runs from August through April.

We have entered our cool season for growing vegetables, so it’s time to germinate some broccoli or lettuce seeds (just to name a couple), so you can grow your own food!

Vegetables are typically grown in all states north of us from May through September. However, here in central Florida, our primary vegetable gardening season begins in August and lasts through April, although some vegetables continue to grow throughout the summer. Starting plants from seed is a lot of fun, and heirloom vegetables are a great choice to grow in both the garden and containers.

Heirloom vegetables are plants that were brought over from other countries generations ago and have been grown here in the United States ever since. In addition to heirloom vegetables, they also brought herbs and flowers. Therefore, these varieties represent our gardening heritage. Most records of early vegetable varieties date back to the first part of this century. Another characteristic of heirloom plants is that they are open-pollinated (OP), which means the seeds can be saved and, when planted, will grow “true to type” and look and taste like their parents.

The choices of heirloom vegetables still seem quite large when you start to look at all the seed catalogs out there, but the selection is much smaller now than in years past. The most common food plants available today represent only 3% of those present in 1900. Since the time that Columbus roamed the seas, 75% of native crop varieties in the Western Hemisphere have disappeared. When commercial hybridization of plants began, many people started buying hybridized seeds instead of heirloom varieties. A disadvantage of hybridized plants is that their seeds cannot be harvested and sown the next year because they do not grow “true to type.” This means that every year, new seeds must be purchased to grow hybridized plants.

Hybridized plants were initially desirable for several reasons, including their ability to grow over a larger area, attractive fruit, and the ability to be shipped over long distances without damage. These traits replaced the evolutionary and traditional importance once held for the heirloom vegetables’ genetic diversity, viability, nutrition, and flavor.

Of all the vegetables, tomatoes are probably the most popular. Though we shouldn’t be planting tomatoes now, with winter coming, this is a great time to plan for spring! The large selection of heirloom tomatoes can be divided into groups by their uses, such as fresh eating, good paste for making sauces, or large-sized fruit to enter in the county fair. Tomatoes can also be divided into groups depending upon their shapes and colors, so as you can imagine, the list is huge when just looking at tomatoes.

Gardening: a great hobby for the whole family

There are numerous books on heirloom vegetables, and one of them that just covers heirloom tomatoes is “Smith and Hawken: 100 Heirloom Tomatoes” by Carolyn J. Male. Some heirloom vegetables are known to grow better in certain areas, so if you are interested in the names of heirloom tomatoes that are listed in our Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide, they are Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, Eva Purple Ball, Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter and Delicious. There are possibly a hundred more heirloom tomatoes that could grow well in your garden, so go ahead and experiment!

Gardeners who want to help preserve heirloom varieties should check Seed Savers Exchange. Seeds can be purchased directly from their website, and memberships are also available, offering complimentary seeds, discounts, and additional benefits. The Seed Savers Exchange has compiled an inventory of all non-hybrid vegetable, flower, and herb varieties available for mail order. Motivated gardeners can purchase and maintain these varieties and then share the seeds with other gardeners.

One of the first heirloom seeds that I grew and enjoyed eating was Waltham 29 broccoli. It produces gorgeous heads that are delicious because you can harvest, prepare, and consume them fresh from the garden. That is the best way to attain the maximum level of nutrition from your food. The benefit of broccoli plants, which can’t be said for cauliflower, is that once the main head is harvested, side shoots will continue to be produced. Though the side shoots are smaller, they are just as delicious! To save seed for the next year, let one plant continue to grow, flower, and set seed. Don’t harvest the seed pods until they are brown because only then will the seeds be viable. You will have enough seeds to share with family, friends, and others!

Another great heirloom, cold-season vegetable is Nero Di Toscana kale. This kale is a lacinato-type (which is considered to have a texture more tender than other kales) and is also known by other names, such as Dinosaur kale, Dino kale, Tuscan kale, Lacinato kale, Black kale, and Cavolo Nero (which is Italian for “black cabbage”). The narrow leaves grow 2 to 3 inches wide and up to 10 inches long. The leaves are a great cooking green, and because they aren’t tough, they can also be eaten raw. The leaf texture is a cross between kale and cabbage, and the plant is extremely cold-hardy, becoming sweeter after a freeze. The flavor is relatively mild when compared to other kale varieties and may be more appealing to people who don’t typically enjoy kale. As mentioned earlier, the texture is more tender because the leaves are slightly thinner than curly kale. Therefore, it cooks more quickly and requires less massaging when eaten raw.

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