NOSTALGIA YOU CAN EAT

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3) The variety must have a history of its own. Perhaps the variety was brought to America by immigrants, or saved and improved over the years by a single family or a religious group such as the Amish. Perhaps it figured importantly as a staple or ceremonial crop for indigenous peoples. Or it has simply become well-suited to the climate and growing conditions of a particular region.

The heirloom vegetable hobby is filled with stories of great rediscoveries. Take the Anasazi bean, a meaty, red-and-white mottled legume from the Southwest, once long-lost lint now grown even commercially. Legend has it that Anasazi beans were rediscovered by archeologists on a dig sometime during the early decades of this century. The beans had lain dormant for 400 years, but still germinated.

As dramatic as such tales can be they leave Craig Dremann cold. He,. along with thousands of other heirloom growers. are more impressed with "true" heirlooms, those that have been passed down, one generation to the next. "That is the more exciting thing," he stresses. "That somebody has been growing these varieties continuously for maybe 2,000 years."

Tips for the Heirloom Gardener

For all their appeal, these are some challenges that come with growing heirlooms. For starters, they are with rare exception fertilized by wind or insects. This means that if you grow more than one variety of a species, there is the danger of cross-fertilization, unless you separate them by quite some distance - often far more space than a home gardener has. With some species, a mile or more is the recommended separation.

Alternatively, you can use various isolation techniques to assure purity. Covering plants with screened boxes is a common method. Plants of different varieties are exposed on alternate days, thus ensuring that insects do not cross-fertilize them. This strategy is often used with peppers and similar species.

Bagging is another approach, often used for crops like corn. The entire bloom is covered with a paper bag to isolate it from insects or wind. This requires. however, that you hand-pollinate the flowers - most easily done with a soft paintbrush.

Taping blossoms dosed is yet another technique, most often used with squashes. Here, again, hand-pollinating is necessary, clip the very tips of the blossoms, pollinate them with a paintbrush and tape them closed. When pollinating squashes it is best to use male and female blossoms from different vines.

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