In the garden – the Ronda De Nice heirloom variety Zucchini
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been taking a lot of solace in my summer garden. And given that Daylesford in Victoria gets freezing cold in winter, I’m getting all the Vitamin D I can, while I can!
When we were choosing what to plant and when, two factors were really important. 1. What’s in season and when, and 2. The seeds or seedlings we choose to buy. This was because I realised that the decision is not only about what kinds of vegetables you want to eat, but also what kind of seeds you want to plant.
After some research, we went with heirloom variety seeds. And here’s why:
With heirloom variety vegetables, I’m contributing to an ongoing story – the story of natural selection. These seeds are created over centuries of open pollination, by natural means. Left to the wind, and to the bees and birds, the genetic information in these seeds have been passed down through generations.
It’s said that a seed must be at least a hundred years old to qualify as an heirloom or at the very least, have originated prior to the industrial hybridised farming practices. This means these seeds are more pest resistant and better suited to the environment they’ve been growing in previously.
Heirloom seeds also ensure that the seed saved from one crop, can be grown again next season. In fact, the seeds inside heirloom varieties can be planted over and over again. (It is important to know that F1 seed cannot be used for seed saving, but that’s another blogpost!)
The French heirloom variety zucchini, Ronda de Nice, was grown from seed in the windowsill inside our factory! Protected from the wild elements, once big enough, we planted them in our raised garden bed and low and behold, now we have delicious zucchinis every other day. It’s a wonderfully productive, easy to grow plant, that creates the most delightful round shaped zucchini – just perfect for stuffing!
If you want to see what we made with them last week, have a look at this post
On The Table | Stuffed Zucchini
And we’ll be sure to let a few of these beauties stay put on the vine, so we can save their seed for next summer too.