Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: robbodaveuk on July 02, 2008, 13:26
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My first year at serious growing and the flavour of the end product is so remarkably better than shop bought produce all my favourite foods will be homegrown next year.
I started last year with a few tomato plants that were given to me and fifteen strawberry plants that I bought. Not knowing a thing about anything I just left everything to do it's own thing and just watered when needed. The tomato plants cropped and I had a good supply of tomatoes. I took runners off the strawberry plants and have fifty five growing this year which have produced an abundance of soft sweet strawberries, most of which I have given away. Every person (and I am talking a lot of people) who have tried them, have started their comment on them with 'wow'.
I have learnt so much from this forum and all its genuine members. Next year I am going to grow different varieties of each veg. I have chosen four types of tomato I want to grow in my greenhouse and will get the seeds for planting next year. If the fruits are as nice as I expect them to be, I want to save the seeds for the year after. If all the plants are in the same greenhouse will they cross pollinate and the seeds not produce the same fruit as the mother plant?
Dave.
PS. I really must stop rambling on and get to the point.
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If all the plants are in the same greenhouse will they cross pollinate and the seeds not produce the same fruit as the mother plant?
Dave.
PS. I really must stop rambling on and get to the point.
There - I think that's the point!
There is a chance, ableit a small one they could cross pollinate.
If it's a F1 hybrid - won't matter anyway as the seed won't produce true to the parent.
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That's a common misconception about F1 seed, it does not produce to type , maybe, it is a lottery, but it can. 8) About 50/50 so a biologist told.
You are better of with old fashioned free pollinated varieties though, for plenty of reasons and cross pollination in a gh environment is as little chance as can be, hence folks commonly save tom seeds. 8)
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Useful document on seedsaving (incl. tomatoes) from Real Seeds here (http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedsavinginfo.html).
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I always grow my tomatoes in the polytunnel and greenhouse and always save my own seed, except when I swap with someone for different varieties, but they all come true, apart from the F1 hybrid Floridity, which looks the same as the original only bigger, but that doesn't worry me in the least! As I get more tomato!!!!!
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Thank you all for the replies and the seed saving leaflet which was really informative is now in my folder in my gardening file.
I am going to be a little ambitious and try for seven varieties that I like the sound of, some of which are heirloom.
Snowberry
White Queen
Paul robeson
Golden Gem F1
German Red Strawberry
Current red
Cherokee purple.
Dave.
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Munty says Paul Robeson are brill, and I've got some of them and some German reds to try for the first time this year, courtesy of the lovely Trillium!!!!
But I don't know any of the other varieties.