I was always an unusual kid. At seven my dream wasn’t to grow up to be a fireman, astronaut or ninja, but a plant breeder. Having been read a children’s encyclopedia entry about the prolific 19th-century American plant breeder, Luther Burbank, the idea that I could play Willy Wonka with plants somehow fired up my imagination. A definite case of early-onset geekiness.
Yet, sadly, the reality of plant breeding is far more painstakingly methodical and boringly stats-driven than my seven-year-old self realised, not to mention expensive. Commercial breeders can take years to come up with breakthrough creations, growing tens of thousands of plants at a time, most of which never make it anywhere near becoming an interesting commercial variety.
However, there is one fun experiment that gardeners can do at this time of year that could give you loads of new plants for free. It also offers a real chance of coming up with something exciting if the genetic lottery is in your favour: seed saving. For fruiting crops, simply keep aside some of the seeds, rinse them with cold water to remove any fibres of gel and then lay them to dry between sheets of paper towels. Once totally dry, these can be kept in sealed packets in a cool, dark place (even a fridge if you fancy) and planted out next spring.
My best results have been for annuals such as chillies, tomatoes and physalis, or soft fruit such as strawberries, blackberries and raspberries, as their plants are very quick to mature. It means you won’t be waiting years (or even decades), as with most tree crops.
A second method to up your chances of getting interesting results is to pick seed from F1 or otherwise highly hybridised varieties. The mixed-up genetic heritage of these cultivars means their offspring are less likely to resemble their parents (what horticulturists call “coming true”), but instead throw up more novel results.
Want to go one better? Collect seeds from plants that are growing next to different varieties of the same species. Bees will probably have been busy swapping pollen in between all of these, which raises the probability of something weird and wonderful coming up.
Now, if you were a professional plant breeder, you’d be growing thousands of the offspring in the hope of picking just one or two with the desired traits. However, as this is just a fun backyard project, all you need to do is sow the maximum number you can get away with. I might sow 50 or so individuals, even if I only need five or six plants, and give the rest away to mates (of course with the instruction that if something cool comes up, I want a cutting).
My homespun “accidental breeding” project run by simply collecting and sowing my own seeds each year has given me a lovely green-and-orange-striped cherry tomato with excellent flavour, and a dark purple raspberry – things that no one else has! Who knows what you might end up with?
Email James at james.wong@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @Botanygeek
