I think they taste better than the grocery store varieties but usually it is more difficult growing them, and they have a lower yield than industrial varieties.
There are also general quirks with growing them. Experience lends me to suggest that heirlooms are more immediately sensitive to the environment that convention varieties. Buying from baker creek who are out in the Midwest, Seeds are going to have a different response in the growing in the SE Atlantic region, that response seems more pronounced although I have no idea of how to quantify it.
Ultimately I think it is worth it, it is fun, and it taps into more of the holistic aspects of gardening. For example, learning how to make quesadillas because your heirloom corn gets infected with corn smut, so instead of an infection you have a product.
That kind of frame-shift i think goes into the nostalgia of Doing It How We Used To.
There are also general quirks with growing them. Experience lends me to suggest that heirlooms are more immediately sensitive to the environment that convention varieties. Buying from baker creek who are out in the Midwest, Seeds are going to have a different response in the growing in the SE Atlantic region, that response seems more pronounced although I have no idea of how to quantify it.
Ultimately I think it is worth it, it is fun, and it taps into more of the holistic aspects of gardening. For example, learning how to make quesadillas because your heirloom corn gets infected with corn smut, so instead of an infection you have a product.
That kind of frame-shift i think goes into the nostalgia of Doing It How We Used To.