It is mid-winter: the perfect time to review garden-seed catalogues. For many of us, it is important to grow the best quality plants in our gardens. Otherwise, why go through the trouble of growing your own?
We grow our own food for better flavour (think of the vine-ripened tomato) and because it is fun. Kids enjoy the experience, too.
Where vegetable gardening is concerned, many of us grow tomatoes, peppers and the like because we have control over the process. If we didn’t care about that, we could just buy produce in season from a farmers’ market or the local food store. As my wife says, “Why grow potatoes when I can buy them for five cents a pound?” She makes a good point.
Here’s a look at types of plants that result when have and don’t have control over what we grow:
Hybrids. A hybrid is the result of crossing two closely related species in a controlled environment. This is the sort of thing that professionals, like those at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre near Beamsville, Ont., do. It can be done in your backyard, too, with a little time and education.
Many hybrids that make it to market are more disease-resistant than their parents, bloom longer, produce tougher fruit (great for shipping long distances, not so great for flavour) and generally provide a quality or two that can make the plant or its fruit appealing to buyers. I really like some hybrids for my garden and steer clear of others. I especially avoid the hybrids that have not been created with the home gardener in mind.
Many of my favourite plants are hybrids, such as the Sweet One Million cherry tomato — the most prolific producer and by far the sweetest in its category. My favourite rose, Bonica, is another hybrid.
Sometimes you will see “F1” after the name of a hybrid, meaning it has been created by crossing two pure parents. It takes growers many years to achieve a pure line before they can continue with their goal of producing an F1 hybrid. In theory, these varieties have outstanding characteristics. In reality, they are expensive to produce and cost more money.
Open-pollinated reselections: Some strange things happen out in the garden. A cucumber can cross with its close cousin, the pumpkin, and create a cuckin. The melon family is famous for in-breeding, and the reason is they are open-pollinated. A bee or a hummingbird visits a flower on one plant, gathers its pollen or nectar and moves onto another, much like we graze through the fridge on snacks. No thought is given to the different food groups we are visiting.
This sort of mixing of species, within a family, is harmless enough.
Natural mutations: Plants will produce unpredictable changes as they evolve from one generation to another. It has been reported that Purina had been growing a field of sweet potatoes for use in its dog food when one of the plants produced brilliant, lime-green leaves. Not much use to Purina, but a plant breeder isolated the plant, produced seeds from it that are true to its parent and created a whole new ornamental plant category: the sweet potato vine that graces many flower containers each spring and summer.
This helps explain why, in a packet of red-flowering zinnia seeds, you can find the odd bi-coloured or off-white plant. Consider it a bonus, courtesy of Mother Nature.
Heritage varieties: These have been around for a century or more, and purists go out of their way for them. I like some of them for their flavour. However, I find many of them more susceptible to disease. If you grow heritage varieties, be sure to keep a keen eye out for powdery mildew and the like. Give your heritage plants lots of space in the sunniest positions in your garden, to increase air flow and help to burn off disease spores in hot, dry weather.
Genetically engineered: Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a broad term that refers to any living thing that has had its DNA modified. Plant researchers take two plants and splice their genes together. The genes of corn and bacteria have been married in a laboratory to produce a disease-resistant strain of corn (BT corn). A similar process has been used to produce the hardier, less-expensive Roundup Ready soy beans.
In many jurisdictions around the world, there are policies requiring the labelling of genetically modified organisms. Whether you are a legislator or a consumer of garden seeds, it is important to know that, in this case, the language we use matters.
Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, Order of Canada recipient, author and broadcaster. Get his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com. Look for his new bestseller, The New Canadian Garden, published by Dundurn Press. Follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and Facebook.
Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, Order of Canada recipient, author and broadcaster. Get his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com. Look for his new bestseller, The New Canadian Garden, published by Dundurn Press. Follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and Facebook.
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