Italian Heirloom Vegetable and Herb Seed

The Italians have a great tradition of vegetable growing and have a wonderful range of varieties, many of which have been grown for hundreds of years. The Zatta Melon, for example, was illustrated and described in the early 1600’s.

The Italian Gardener imports seed from Franchi Sementi of Bergamo, a family business that had its origins in 1783, and now sells quality seed around the world. The seed is available from www.theitaliangardener.com.au , at gardening, rural and food events and selected merchants. The great majority of the seed is open pollinating, so the seed can be saved from year to year, and there is a good range of organic seed.

You cannot discuss Italian vegetables without talking about tomatoes and the 19 varieties available, range from large, thin skinned and fleshy salad tomatoes, saucing tomatoes such as San Marzano and Roma, a small plum that is suited to sun drying and roasting, and cherry tomatoes.

Most vegetable varieties that are grown commercially are hybrids and have been selected to meet the growers and retailers requirement to tolerate long transport and refrigeration, and be uniform in appearance. None of these are critical to the home gardener and small holder who seek taste and texture from robust plants. Tomatoes are the classic example, where the commercial varieties and thick skinned, watery and insipid, and the home grown, especially from Italian seed, are thin skinned and fleshy with a wonderful flavour.

The range of more than 200 varieties of vegetables and herbs includes most of the better known ones such carrots, beetroot, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, onions etc but also iconic Italian varieties such as cavolo nero, cima di rapa, chicory, radicchio, endive, fennel and artichoke. Difficult to find varieties such as salsify, lambs lettuce, parsley root and spaghetti squash are also available and the range is being added to all the time.

There is a ground swell of interest in the source of food we eat as promoted by groups such as the Slow Food movement and Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen-Garden Project that is exposing children to the joys of growing, picking and cooking. There is nothing more satisfying than picking your own herbs and vegetables and preparing them straight from the garden, full of flavour and nutrition.

Since commencing about five years ago, The Italian Gardener has been growing quietly based on selling quality seeds and in generous quantity. Customer comments, for example include:

“I am telling everyone about your website. I think the seeds are excellent value and of very high quality. The germination rates so far have been fantastic.”, and

from Maggie Beer “Some of my favourite meals have come from produce grown from seeds from the Italian Gardener- artichokes, cavolo nero and the most wonderful varieties of tomatoes to name a few....”

The Italian Gardener is pleased to support Eco Voice and offers its subscribers a 10% discount on their first seed purchase until the 31st March 2011. Use Coupon Code EV311 at the checkout.