VEGETABLE HEAVEN

Growing and eating lovely food. Trying something different. Saving seeds, breeding my own varieties. Gardening isn't dull!



Tuesday, 5 May 2009

Seed and 'own brand tomato' update

I've sown some Sweet Dumpling squash, some more Bird's Egg climbing beans, a few White Emergo runner beans (I'm not fond of runners but Father-in-Law is so I've set a few for his garden) and some of the climbing bean I got from the dwarf heritage bean Soldier. It looks to me as though Cherokee Trail of Tears might have been a parent - the seed is very similar to look at.


Many of my experimental tomatoes are now in flower - I got them on early! I'm pleased to say that the Sungold F3 (above) have a small and dainty flower which is much different to look at from the cross breed tom (below) which has Sungold as the fruit parent - a heritage tom is the pollen parent. This cross has a much bigger flower, although not as huge as the beefsteak types.
I confess to having had a sneaking fear that the fruit, which grew and ripened on a Sungold plant and looked identical to the others, might have already been self pollinated by the time I tried to pollinate it with the heritage pollen. I emasculated it before its own pollen should have been viable - but as you can't see these things, you go on trust until the new plants grows and produces its own fruit. Here's hoping!

I think you can see - with fingers to give scale (and to concentrate the autofocus!) that the first ones are smaller than the second. Also the stigma seems to protrude slightly in the second ones - something you get more in heritage toms and I must be careful not to let cross pollination happen again by accident! All the Sungold F3s that are currently in flower also have more reflexed petals than the cross. Interesting - and I can't wait to see and taste the fruits!

9 comments:

TiaChica said...

Oh,.. I like following your trials! Looking forward to seeing what will happen!

Matron said...

Such an interesting project! I am looking forward to hearing about your sungold experiments. My sungold F3 F4 etc just got progressively worse! and F1 seeds are so expensive I'd love some input.

Paul and Melanie said...

Interesting.... :)

We're just about to get our first greenhouse and I'm keen to grow some weird and wonderful tomatoes in it (next year now I guess) so I'll be following your progress with interest, I love the idea of keeping heritage varieties going and experimenting like you have. :)

Paul

Kath said...

TiaChica, I love the idea of trying things out. Even if you don't get the best results in the world, you can still eat them - and the mistakes generally taste better than supermarket stuff!

Paul and Melanie, you'll love having a greenhouse. It makes so many more things possible.

I remember your last year's Sungold Un-hybrids Matron. I don't know if mine will go like this or not - but if I don't try I'll never find out. If I get anything good and reproducable I'll send you some seeds!

BilboWaggins said...

As all quilts have to have names, and obviously the Rock Chicks too, then what areyou going to call your very own Tomatoes?

They deserve more than Own Brand {giggle}

Kath said...

Well now, they do have working titles, but as with the chickens, I shall wait till I get the real thing before I use a name. So when I have a good tomato that I can rely on to reproduce each year - then the names come in. I have a tomato cultivar list in my favourites to check that I don't use a name already in use - thousands of them!

Some of my friends on the GYO Grapevine have taken to calling the unhybridised Sungold 'Flumgold' since my user name there is Flummery!

TiaChica said...

Flumgold sounds good! Looking forward to seeing this new tomatoe! Mhmmmm....

Lavenderblue and Storm said...

oh you have inspired me to do my own mini experiment with tomatoes - I was given some blaby tomatoes for Christmas (yes, actual tomatoes) I seed saved them and planted them this year. I have about a 70% germination rate, disregarded 2 weedy, rubbish plants and am waiting to see what will happen. The Brandywine you gave me are doing well, I have 8 little plants growing away happily - thanks!

Kath said...

Blaby is sad to be a very good flavoured tomatoe. I haven't tried it myself though. I'm sure your own saved seeds will do very well.