This book could change your life!

I have been inspired by this book - as many have before me - to breed or select plants for my own use which have the characteristics I want. I have and love Sue Stickland's 'Back Garden Seed Saving' and she mentions this in her bibliography. It is an American book and it took Amazon a couple of months to get it for me but it was well worth the wait. It's been a while since I've been so fired up about anything (though I am a person of enthusiasms!)


My first project is to 'un-hybridise' the Sungold tomato - the only F1 hybrid I buy. My other tomatoes are open pollinated and as tomatoes are in-breeders and pollinate themselves, they all come true. The seed from an F1 hybrid is the seed from a first generation cross. This is done artificially and the F1s (first filial generation) are identical to one another but will not breed true. The F2 generation (second filial) will be very varied and will have different characteristics. The usual reason for breeding F1 hybrids is that this crossing produces 'hybrid vigour'. Out-breeding plants can lose their vigour over the generations and crossing will produce a good strong strain. This crossing needs to be done afresh each year. However, open pollinated tomatoes are already stable and vigorous. The suspicion is that the seed company can make you buy seed each year if you want the characteristics of the hybrid so you part with your wads of cash. The reason I buy Sungold is the fantastic balance of sweetness and acidity in the fruit. I find the favourite tomato, Gardener's Delight, sweet but rather bland. Yes, it's nice that Sungold are cherry sized, it's cute that they are orange. However, if they tasted like that they could be sky blue pink with a finny-haddock border! I would eat them!


So I intend to grow seeds of this year's first Sungold straight away and get a taste crop this year. I wouldn't have thought that was possible but our neighbour had a disaster with his greenhouse in last summer's flooding and on June 25th his greenhouse filled to a depth of 4" with flood water and over the next couple of days he lost his tomatoes. He sowed more at the end of June and got a small, late crop. However, now I know it's possible!



Carol Deppe's book tells of a tomato breeder who reckons to grow several plants in a 12" pot and when the first truss is forming, he removes lower leaves and pinches out the growing tip. The plants don't shade each other out and a single truss of fruit ripens quite quickly. It requires careful feeding but I'm going to see if I can get enough F2s from my Sungold crop to do a taste trial this autumn. It doesn't allow to to select for high cropping of course, because you have no idea how well the whole plant will do if allowed to go for it!



As it happens, I was weeding in the greenhouse border yesterday and found, in the border that had not had its soil changed this year, but HAD had the Sungolds last year, 2 little seedlings. They must be F2s of last year's Sungold crop. They are my first experiment! They are potted up, above, and will get the one truss treatment for a taste test. I may have to go for several dozen till I get a flavour I'm happy with. As I said, I am not looking for shape, colour or even size (though a slicing tom with that flavour would be a taste of Vegetable Heaven for me!)


Meanwhile, back at the plot! The Lancashire Lad peas are blooming gorgeous and are setting little dark pods. It's going to be a week or so for the first taste. I wonder what grand-daughter will make of them? I have in mind a pea crossing experiment, but I need to equip myself with a sharp scalpel to cut through the flowers in order to get at the pollen. I also need to cut off the male parts of the mother flower because peas self pollinate usually and you need to get at them early to stop them doing it. This is a project for later in the week I think. It needs careful handling and it's better in cooler weather. We are having hot and lovely sunshine at the moment!



Speaking of grand-daughter, here she is with her Daddy helping Gran to plant and net up the purple sprouts and scarlet kale. As you can see, she's a true grand-daughter of the soil and likes to work with her sandals off!