It's fascinating to think that many of the vegetable varieties we grow today are over 100 years old and have stood the test of time for flavour and reliability.

Heritage (Heirloom) vegetable seeds are growing in popularity and a topic of much debate as to what a 'heritage' variety is. But it is generally accepted that a 'heritage' vegetable is open-pollinated, so the seed produced will breed true i.e. just like its parent and it was in general use before the 1950's.

Unlike F1 hybrids that will not breed true from their own seed these were bred commercially from the 1950's to satisfy a need to produce lots of uniform veg that would store well & travel well to supermarkets many think at the cost of flavour.

It's fascinating to think that many of the vegetable varieties we grow today are over 100 years old and have stood the test of time for flavour and reliability. With this in mind we have selected 12 of our old heritage favourites that produce valuable, reliable, tasty or sometimes just unusual veg for the home-grower.

Box contains one individual packet of each of the following seeds:

• Asparagus Pea (1597)
• Beetroot Chioggia (1850's Venice)
• Borlotto Bean Lingua di Fuoco (1859 Italy)
• Carrot Early Nantes (1867 France)
• Courgette Tromboncino Albenga (mid 1800's Italy)
• French Bean, Blue Lake Climbing (1885 California)
• Kale Black Tuscany (Nero di Toscana 1885 Italy)
• Perpetual Spinach (1790)
• Radish French Breakfast (1865)
• Tomatillo Verde (1500's Mexico)
• Tomato Black Russian (1800's Ukraine/Russia)
• Tomato San Marzano (1927 Italy)