I have spent half an hour this morning attempting to cross the tall purple podded Lancashire Lad with Oregon Sugar Pod. However, in true 'standing up in a hammock' mode, the Lancashire Lads are at the allotment 300 yards away and the Oregon Sugar Pods are in the back garden veg plot so I had to collect pollen at the allotment and bring it back in a small glass tube. Life's too simple for some people!
I took several Oregon peas in tight bud and, folding back the petals, slit the keel to expose the - sorry, you have to call them - sexual organs. I nipped out the pollen-bearing stamens and dipped my little brush in the pollen I'd collected from the purple peas and wiped it onto the stigma inside. Then I wrapped the bud back up, in some cases wrapping the top leaf lightly around it too, to stop it from drying out. The 'done' buds are then marked with a thread or ribbon so I don't eat them! I suspect one or two of the first I did may have already been self pollinated at that stage. I tried with successively smaller and tighter buds and I did notice definite sticking of my pollen in the last two. I think I'll try again in another couple of days when there will be fresh buds around. I'm sure some of my saved seed will turn out to be true breeding Oregon due to my ineptitude, but if I get a few F1s out of it I shall be pleased.
Big blowsy poppies - essence of summer.
Self seeded foxgloves. It doesn't pay to be too tidy and to remove seed heads as soon as flowers have finished!
I came home from my Ma's this afternoon through the allotments and picked a slack handful of leaves from my bed of Black Tuscany kale. This is growing so vigorously it's trying to push the netting off its cage. First tasting for tea. The Sub-arctic Plenty toms are setting fruit apace there, as are the Tiger Toms. I'd better take the watering can and tomato food along before weekend.
I also checked up on the Latvian peas. These have the lovely two-tone magenta flowers of the Lancashire Lads but the first pea to peek out looks green. I know they all start off greenish and colour up later but it's greener than a young LL shall we say? This pea is a drying pea for winter soups.
The son-of-sungolds potted up yesterday are now standing up like good'uns. Nine strong little seedlings there. Why does everything grow so slowly when you want to find something out?
5 comments:
I'm proud of you for giving this a go! It sounds like you've got the hang of how to do it, and even if the first few seem a bit fiddly and awkward it very quickly gets easier with practice ... and you'll soon find you can tell at a glance which ones have already self-pollinated and which are in their prime. You can also re-pollinate the same flower on consecutive days to increase the chances of a successful cross, if you want to make doubly sure.
As you say, it doesn't matter if you end up with a few pure Oregons as well as F1s, because you will be able to recognise the successful hybrids. You've made a wise choice in using Oregon Sugar Pod as the 'mother', because the F1 plants are likely to show purple colouring (from the dominant purple genes) and will therefore stand out clearly.
Funnily enough I've been pollinating with Lancashire Lad this morning ... just crossed it with the yellow sugarsnap Opal Creek in the hope of getting a red sugarsnap ... we can but dream!!
Ah, Lancashire Lad - I admit I chose it from the HSL catalogue because I'm from Lancashire. I have been here since I left University and don't miss the place but everyone has a little of that word the Welsh use 'hiraeth' which has no direct translation but is badly served by being equated to homesickness. Takes me back!
I'm going to have another go with these 2 parents. I shall end up with a strange little pea patch next year.
It sounds like you're having fun on the allotment, you're friends are all looking forward to tasting your experiments! I've also got a Gertrude Jekyll rose, it's gorgeous. I've got several other David Austin roses too, my favourite is Mayor of Casterbridge.
I rather like Brother Cadfael Sewali, but then I liked the stories too!
I hope you enjoyed your Black Tuscany Kale, mine out grew the netting and is now being looked after by a rather fine scarecrow/palmtree! Tried some briefly blanched then stir fried in a little olive oil with flaked almonds, very nice with trout!
Good luck with the pea breeding.
Celia
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