Tradition and habit play a big role in gardening. Many of us who’ve been growing for a long time have our favourites, older or ‘heritage’ varieties of vegetables we’ve been cultivating for years. There are good reasons for sticking with these traditional types, some of which have their origins in the walled gardens of the Victorian era or even earlier. Not only do they often have superior flavour in comparison with more modern varieties, but picking is usually possible over a longer period (many recently developed commercial varieties have been bred to crop all at once for one pass, usually mechanical, harvesting) and tolerance of poor conditions and harsher weather is frequently better.
However, it would be a mistake to assume that all older vegetable varieties are superior to modern ones. The truth is some older types have become rare and ‘heritage’ because of characteristics that render them difficult to cultivate. Even some of those still commonly grown have flaws. In particular, many lack resistance to common diseases. In recent years plant breeders have produced a range of new varieties with much stronger resistance to various diseases. These have all been developed through conventional plant breeding techniques; that is no genetic modification or editing has been involved. I now use a number of these and find they generally perform well.
A particular development I’ve taken advantage of is new brassica varieties resistant to the fungus clubroot. This soil-borne disease, common on the ground used for vegetables over many years, can make cultivating quality cabbage family crops difficult. New varieties with good resistance I now grow include, Brussel Sprout Crispus, Calabrese Monoclano, Dutch Cabbage Kilastor (recent replacement for Kilaton), and Clapton and Zaragoza cauliflowers. All have performed well on my soils in which clubroot is present at varying levels of severity.
Another area where modern breeding has made a significant impact is combatting potato blight. When I started gardening getting a harvest of main-crop (late-maturing) potatoes without spraying was a lottery. Blight would frequently decimate crops. At least half the main crops I now grow are the newish blight-resistant varieties Sarpo Mira and Sarpo Axona. Both have stood up to blight every year. And it’s not just potatoes with blight resistance that have been introduced. There are now several tomato varieties for which blight resistance is claimed. As I grow tomatoes undercover rather than outdoors I can’t personally vouch for these but the resistance of Crimson Crush has been enthusiastically acclaimed. The superbly flavoured Mountain Magic, surely a variety to shatter the myth that all modern varieties have no taste, is another newish tomato said to shrug off blight.
It’s not just brassicas and potatoes/tomatoes where new varieties with enhanced disease resistance have been developed. There are mildew-resistant pumpkins and courgettes and canker-resistant parsnips, to highlight a few. In addition, some varieties claim pest rather than disease resistance. The optimistically named Flyway and Resistafly, claimed to ward off carrot flies, are examples. If you struggle with problems like clubroot, blight, or other diseases, it’s certainly worth browsing seed catalogues to see what’s now available that might help give better crops.
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