Aislinn Caron

And for my next newbie question....... i live in a cold zone - i can't overwinter biennial veg in the ground. So, thoughts on selecting for or actively  breeding for annual ones instead?? So i can save seeds from the darn things without a major hassel! Carrots, beets etc. Just to be clear, I'm talking about a carrot plant (for example) that would grow, produce an edible root and set seed (if not harvested) all in one season. Is it possible?  A bad idea? Thoughts??

Frankingardening!! Haha - I like that! This is so fascinating - thanks Mark and Lauren for your thoughts. Perhaps I've been getting crosses then and just eating them - I've never noticed any - and I plant my beans higgeldy piggeldy together. But I eat them mostly for snap beans then save some for seed.

So I've been thinking..... If tomatoes have been bred to self pollinate and can be rebred to outcross (ala Joseph's Beautifully Promiscuous and Tasty Tomatoes Project), is it the same for other generally inbreeding crops? In other words, have they also been selected over time for inbreeding and could they be bred anew to outbreed once more?? I'm specifically thinking of common beans but perhaps there's other crops that I'm not thinking of at the moment. Of course, the point being to most easily and quickly allow a landrace to adapt to local conditions and grower preferences.

Ellendra Nauriel wrote:I'm looking at landracing breadseed poppies. Has anyone ever tried that? And if so, any tips?

Ellendra, I want to do that too! Was wondering about landracing the white seeded ones specifically - not sure if there's enough diversity out there with those though to start out with. I think I can get my hands on at least 3 varieties of white seeded. Hmmmmm...... Would love to hear how you make out.

Mathew, that is a fantastic idea! I think I will try that.  I have such a small home garden at the moment that it's hard to imagine being ok with all the plant losses that will result from landracing. Well, and even having the space for many multiple varieties! But I shall do what I can. Joseph, I'm so encouraged to hear that you direct seed all but tomatoes! I was wondering exactly that. Lauren, yep, the plan is definitely to start with a bunch of Joseph's seed.

I just love the idea of landrace crops!! I'm voraciously reading everything I can find on the subject! Mostly your stuff, Joseph,  which is fantastic and so inspiring. This coming year I plan to try my hand at some beginner landrace plantings. My question is specifically starting seeds indoors - I have to do this for a lot of things because I have such a short season (4a Canada, so that's 3a equivalent for the Americans). It makes sense to me to start the adapting to less than stellar conditions right from the seed being planted indoors. Because if I plant them in fabulous seed starting soil and baby the heck out of them (which I've always done in the past ) and then plant them outside to a semi STUN life, I will already not have the best adapted plants. But I never hear anyone talking or writing about this for indoor seed starting, you were the first one, Lauren!

Something has just occurred to me!  I'm selecting for plants that I need to start indoors!  Is it possible in my zone to direct seed everything and still get a good harvest??

Lauren Ritz wrote:I've been seed saving for years--pretty much the only seeds that come into the yard at this point are gifted to me. Everything else I grew.

It's interesting to see the variations over time.

Bell peppers: It took four years to get a single pepper to set fruit. Most did not survive my deliberately evil germination practices. Last year I had three survive and fruit. This year I have six, two of them currently blooming. Two others are still tiny. Next year I will again start seeds in bad soil, with little water, ignoring temperature and light variations. And if I get five survivors, I'll be moving in the right direction. It doesn't help that two years ago I accidentally mixed "my" seeds with the commercial seeds. So I'm probably getting a mix of adapted and non-adapted.

I plant tomatoes the same way. The survivors are stronger, relatively immune to light frost and heat, and don't need as much water as their "varietal" cousins.

Spaghetti squash is a relatively new import. I planted it the first time three years ago and got nothing. One survivor, no fruit. Last year I got one fruit and kept the seeds. This year I have five--all that I planted survived--one of which has thrown off squash bugs and earwigs while the others are being eaten alive. First to bloom, first to fruit, I'll be keeping seeds from that one this year.

In everything I plant I am aiming for drought tolerance and the ability to spit "not good enough" back in my face and thrive in spite of me.

I'm so fascinated by the idea of adapting seeds/plants by starting them in poor conditions! Any more thoughts or info? I've searched online but I don't even know what to call it!