Everything You Need To Know About Heirloom Vegetable Seeds

What Are Heirloom Vegetable Seeds?

Heirloom vegetable seeds come from plants that have been grown and selected over many decades for specific characteristics such as flavour, colour, productivity and resilience. Unlike modern hybrids, heirloom seeds are open pollinated, meaning they rely on natural pollination methods such as insects and wind.

Where Do They Come From?

Why Are They Special?

Due to this, heirloom vegetables produce seeds that are genetically stable. When you save seed from a healthy plant, the next generation will closely match the parent plant, making heirloom seeds ideal for gardeners who want consistency and long term sustainability.

Latest Heirloom Vegetable Posts

Our latest articles and growing guides explore heirloom vegetable varieties in more detail, offering seasonal advice, sowing tips and practical guidance for UK gardeners. These posts are regularly updated to reflect the growing calendar and common questions we see from our customers.

Why Grow Heritage Vegetable Seeds In The UK?

Heirloom vegetables are particularly well suited to UK gardens because many varieties have adapted over time to cope with cooler summers, variable rainfall and shorter growing seasons.

By choosing heirloom vegetable seeds, gardeners benefit from plants that are more resilient, more diverse and often better suited to small scale growing. Many heirloom varieties also mature over longer periods, spreading harvests rather than producing everything at once.

Growing heirloom vegetables also helps preserve plant diversity. Each variety carries unique genetic traits that may be lost if only modern hybrids are grown. For gardeners interested in sustainable growing and food heritage, heirloom seeds offer a meaningful way to contribute.

Our Best Heirloom Vegetable Seeds

We've created a list of our favourite heirloom vegetable seeds to grow for your convenience, in no particular order.

Climbing Beans Seeds

Climbing beans are open pollinated heirloom varieties grown for flavour and productivity, including runner beans, French climbing beans and heritage types such as Rhondda Black, Sunset and Blauhilde. They prefer a sunny position, fertile well drained soil and strong supports, growing up to 2–3 metres. Regular harvesting encourages continued cropping throughout the season.

Chillies & Peppers Seeds

Heirloom chillies and peppers are open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties preserved over generations for their flavour, colour, aroma, cultural heritage and reliable seed saving.

They include sweet peppers, hot chillies, and unusual heritage types with distinctive shapes and heat levels. Popular heirloom examples include:

Chillies: Bishop’s Crown, Thai Dragon, Jalapeno, Anaheim.

Peppers: Violet Sparkle Sweet Pepper, Blot, Padron, Red, Yellow and Orange Bell Peppers along with Red Romano Sweet Pointed and Cubanelle.

Herb Seeds

Heirloom herbs are traditional open pollinated varieties of culinary and medicinal plants passed down through generations. They are valued for the following qualities:

• Superior or distinctive flavour

• Stronger aroma compared to many modern hybrids

• Reliability and adaptability in a wide range of growing conditions

• Ability to save seed from many annuals and some biennials

• Rich cultural or regional heritage

Cucumber Seeds

Heirloom cucumbers are open pollinated varieties valued for their distinctive flavour, crisp texture and unusual shapes and colours. They are typically less uniform than modern hybrids but are often more tolerant of variable weather and richer in flavour. The varieties below are all heritage types well suited to UK gardens, polytunnels and greenhouses.

• Dragon’s Egg

• Crystal Apple

• Crystal Lemon

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