Saving, Storing and of course Planting Seeds Part # 3
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Part # 3
Saving seeds from different types of plants requires a variety of
approaches. Some are
Self-fertile, both male and female organs residing in the one flower.
Accidental cross
Pollination is infrequent with these sorts of plants. Some plants
require the presence of several
Plants cross pollinating each other to set viable seed. If these plants
are in the open, you must
Be sure that the cross pollinating insects are not visiting other
undesirable plants in the
Vicinity. Commercial seeds men often ensure distances of kilometers to
prevent unwanted crosses,
But the home gardener can eliminate the odd undesirable plant from the
breeding program. Another
Alternative is caging the plants with insect-proof gauze and breeding a
few insects, such as
House flies, in the cage.
Fortunately, many garden plants are very easy to save seed from.
Lettuces, tomatoes, peas, beans,
Capsicums and egg plants are all very reluctant to cross. These are all
good plants for the
Beginner to save seed from. The pumpkin family can be pollinated by
hand.
It is important to know the genetic relationship of different
vegetables to avoid unwanted
Crosses.
The grass family, Gramineae, is represented by sweet corn in the
garden. It will cross with
Popcorn and filed corn.
The lily family, Liliaceae, is represented by asparagus, onions,
garlic, chives and leeks. Leeks
Will cross with pearl onions, but not the ordinary sort. Chives and
asparagus will not cross with
The rest of the family. Garlic is propagated by bulb division and most
varieties do not set true
Seed.
The goosefoot family, Chenopodiaceae, includes beetroot, silver beet
(chard) and spinach.
The cabbage family, Crucifera, includes many common garden vegetables
and unfortunately many
Weeds. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and kohl
rabi will all cross if
any are flowering at the same time. Chinese cabbage will not cross with
the latter, but will
cross with turnips, radishes, swedes and mustard.
The pea family, Leguminosae, includes peas, French beans, broad beans,
scarlet runner beans, lima
beans, soybeans and cow peas. None of these groups will cross with
members of the others. Note
that climbing French beans are often called runner beans. Scarlet
runners are a short lived
perennial, and despite their name, there is a white flowered variety,
though it is rare in
Australia. Climbing French beans are mostly white flowered, though
there is a variety called
Molly's, that has pinkish flowers.
The parsley family, Umbellifera, includes carrots, parsnips, parsley,
celery, celeriac, and
several culinary herbs. Apart from celery and celeriac crossing, the
only problem in this group
is carrots crossing with Queen Anne's Lace, a weed that some gardeners
grow for the pretty
flowers.
The nightshade family, Solanaceae, includes potato, tomato, eggplant,
capsicum, chillies, tobacco
and several weeds. None of these will cross and crossing those that
will cross takes some effort.
Even a distance of two metres reduces the chances of cross pollination
to negligible proportions.
The cucumber family, Cucurbitaceae, includes cucumbers, winter squash,
summer squash, pumpkins,
zucchini, watermelons and melons. Despite some gardeners' claims,
cucumbers will not cross with
melons or pumpkins. There is limited crossing between some members of
winter squash/pumpkin
groups.
The daisy family, Compositae, includes lettuce, Jerusalem artichoke and
salsify. Lettuces will
reluctantly cross with each other, but not the others.