Plant Breeding Ideas

Plant breeding projects I'm interested in tackling...

Carrots:

I am interested in a wider, more interesting range of Carrots. More colours, more flavours. I am particularly interested in one or more varieties that are specifically grown for juicing. They would need to be juicy and somewhat sweet; colour would not matter very much, but a touch of anthocyanin would be a good thing for its nutritional advantages. On the other hand, people might be put off by a "Carrot Juice" that is not orange... (People are funny that way.)

Cabbages:

I'd love to see a purple-leaved Savoy or conical Cabbage. Its flavour should be sweeter than most Cabbages, somewhat along the lines of Red Russian Kale, and I'd like it to have a tender, succulent texture. More of a salad Cabbage than a cooking variety. Size should preferably be a bit small so that we don't have to keep chunks of partly-consumed Cabbage hanging about in the back of the fridge because they're way too large to use all at once. This variety would definitely be a "use fresh" type. Heat tolerance while growing would be a big advantage, because Summer is when we would want these, though I guess it might be good in Winter soups, too.

Parsnips:

Just interested in working with them, since there don't seem to be too many varieties available (at least locally.) Only "Hollow Crown", in fact.

Chiles:

I'd like to once again taste the Jalapeno x Habanero type I accidentally got a few years ago. Had the size and general shape of a Jalapeno, with the dimples characteristic of Habanero, and a flavour that was a fantastic blend of the two. If all goes well with our weather and water I'll be trying that cross this year.

Then, too, I'd love to see whether C. Baccatum "Amarillo" (Aji Amarillo) will cross with anything else. It's a pretty wide cross, so likely nothing will come of it. Crossing C anuum, chinense and frutescens at least stand a chance; according to my books they share a common ancestral gene complex that allows some of the crosses to work. I'll probably be shooting for crosses between (at least) Purple Jalapeno, Jalapeno, Sweet Banana and Amarillo.

Another accidental cross some years back resulted in a Chile I called Hot Banana: Sweet Banana with something warmer crossed into it, probably Serrano, but maybe Jalapeno. I'd like to try and stabilise something like that. The heat was not very great, perhaps about 4/10, but the Sweet Banana flavour really worked very nicely with a touch of heat.

I'd really like some thin-skinned drying varieties, but with better and more interesting flavours than the commonly-available Long Thin Cayenne. Then, too, ALL varieties could do with better UV-tolerance and drought-resistance than I have seen to date. Another interesting direction could be for better Wintering: most varieties that I have were sourced from the US, frequently from higher latitudes, and they have mostly had their cold-tolerance destroyed or diminished - mostly, I suspect, through it being unattainable under any circumstances in those climates - and I'd like to get it back in. There's no reason for Chiles to be anything but perennial here, since we have no Winter frost at all.

Potatoes:

I'd like to see more varieties, and more specialised varieties than the generic "potato" varieties available locally - fryers, boilers, mashing potatoes, salad types,... Greater disease resistance is always of interest, particularly in our climate and soil. Would also be interesting whether one could breed a good-tasting and nutritious Porcupine-resistant variety. :-O

Mostly this means growing from true seed, and few of the commercially available varieties set seed. Challenging...

Beets & Chard:

Interested in where they can go - wild crosses. I'd like to get back to some Sugar Beets, Fodder Beets, Fodder Chard, as well as new, interesting eating varieties. Chard in more colours. Chard grown primarily for its stem, which would need to be flavoursome and stringless. Worthwhile, since Chard lasts so well in the ground, and just keeps on coming while we harvest leaves. Nicely< trouble-free under my growing conditions, too.

Grains:

Maybe not so much a breeding project as maintaining some of the older
varieties. Modern agribusiness grains are very monopurpose - grain only - and terribly vulnerable in the face of anything but the Full Monty of fertilisers, supplements, and drug cocktails. Not at all suited to permaculture, organic or self-sufficiency setups. Older varieties tended to be more multi-purpose; straw was used for animal bedding, mulch, roofing material, chaff for mulch and composting, sometimes feedstock, fuel. Not to mention that there's a genetic heterogeneity there that's worth preserving, propagating and playing around with in its own right.

That's probably enough to be getting on with for a while... Anybody who can help source genetic material that might be interesting for these, please get in touch with me!

Catch-up: WinterSeason09

The Winter season has been an almost total write-off due to the still-continuing drought. Good rains (46mm) last week might be the break we've been looking for.

In the ground currently:

• Self-sown Deer Tongue Lettuce and Cimaron Lettuce for seed;
• Kabouli Black Chickpeas, Winnifreds Chickpeas and (ordinary white) Chickpeas from the health-shop, all for seed;
• Spelt in 2 locations, doing quite well;
• Beets for eating;
• the Chenopod grex, which, though not doing particularly well, plods on;
• Amber Globe Turnip (also for seed);
• some surviving Chiles;
• and lots and lots of Chickweed.

The season is very warm. A handful of Tat Soi are flowering already! Lots of volunteer Tomatoes are still looking healthy, and they should be dead. Some Tomatoes are even still fruiting (though the fruits are not ripening.)  Golden Sweet Snow Peas: One batch got mowed by Rats or Guinea Fowl but survived and are just flowering; another batch are doing quite well. A small handful of Texas Grano Onions are doing quite well. Birds are gathering OB-fur for nestbuilding, and the Anna Apple tree has started flowering, so, taking a big chance on the very limited quantities of seed I have from last year's order of Chile-seed from Solana Seed in Canada, I've planted a 10x20 speedling tray -- 1 variety to a row -- of Chiles and putting them on the stoep, which should be warmer and sunnier than the seed-racks in the veggie garden. On cooler days I'll move them into Dale's room, which has proved to be quite a good hot-house for the few late-sown Chiles from last year (which are thriving!)

No compost. (See drought notes prior...) so it's going to be an interesting Spring/Summer. I believe that this new climate-regime is permanent. This is our New Normal weather. Welcome to it; Adapt Or Die.

Notes to self...

Dry again, this month. 11mm to date. May is really too late to be planting things, but then earlier would just have been a waste of time and effort, this year.

Gave-up on the Brassicas that were sitting in trays -- they'd been there too long. Instead I direct-sowed some CopenhagenMarketCabbage inGardenBed1 and it is just starting to come-up. Carrots still have made no showing. RedMustard sowed last week in GardenBed8 for seed, along withEarlyPurpleKohlrabi. Must still sow more Brassicas.

Have been struggling to buy (any) grain in small quantities for covering a bed or two (and to gain experience with grains.) Might just have to go with the Buckwheat I've got.

Transplanted the (few) Winter-experiment Chillies that have come-up into tubes; I must move them somewhere warmer for Winter. From memory:JalapeñoPurple, AjiDulce, AjiAmarillo, Tabasco, Tschanad and a single (green) Jalapeño.

WinterSeason09

Winter Legumes

Just dug over Garden Bed 10 in preparation for Winter Legumes. Soil seems in pretty good condition -- still quite a bit of old compost, which is something of a surprise. I don't expect it to contribute much in the way of nutrition, but at least the soil condition is reasonable.

Plan to plant a few short rows each of MungBean, SoyBean and BrownLentil -- all very old seed, so not holding my breath much. Then I want some more Snow, Snap and Shelling peas, and maybe some BroadBeans if there seems to be enough room.

I know its late to be planting them, and there's still no rain forecast for the coming week or so, but it's a risk we'll have to take!