Carry on Corny Corn

Some said I was completely mental and most just muttered I was mildly deranged, but this year I decided to grow corn! In pots, on the balcony. Two pots to be precise, 4 stalks to a pot. Crowded ... well yes. This meant lots of watering and constant fertilising, particularly as they grew bigger. I followed their progress eagerly. They grew and grew.

and as a consequence provided some nice shade and privacy to my otherwise overly visible study.

Then the pollon bits on top formed.

and the jusky bits of goodness put out their tendrilly silks for pollination.

Even with the windy days and even with their intentionally close proximity, I thought I'd help out and hand pollinate too. Group pollination ... Ok I wont go there. :) But here is a pic for interests sake.

Now we are nearing the end stages, will I have a cob of tasty corn in the next few days? How long does it take from pollination to eatability? The silks are already starting to brown.

How fat do I need to let them get (they seem a little skinny at present?) How brown do the silks have to get? Anyone still think I am mad now? (I still think I am a bit potty, but in the harmless way.)

How to make organic compost that tomatoes will love, in 12 weeks-composting-part 3

Hey there tomato gardeners, hope your tomatoes are juicy as ever? This is the third and final part of the series on making organic compost that tomatoes love. In this post, I will sum up how to make our organic compost, and talk about the actual composting process.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the other two parts to this series

How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes Will Love, in Twelve Weeks- Collecting Organic Material- Part 1

How to Make Organic Compost that Tomatoes Will Love, in Twelve Weeks- Shredding and Getting Soil- Part 2

Okay guys, time to make our organic compost.

Firstly, we need to add all of our chopped up materials to the soil. Simply get a large composting bin, and fill it up with the soil that you are going to use. Thorn you add all of the material, and mix it up properly with the soil.

You should leave your compost bin a warm area away from your house. Under a tree in your backyard should be fine. The reasons for this, is that the compost heap will start to smell once it begins to decompose, and the odor and be really strong. By keeping the bin in a warm area, it will speed up the decomposing process.

After you have set up your compost bin, you need to periodically mix up the soil and organic material. With the modern compost bins available, you can simply shake the drum and the soil mixes. If you have the older type however, then you have to put some hard work in. use a large gardening fork, and dig the soil, then twist the fork, while it is in the soil, to mix up the soil.

By aerating your tomato compost, you will allow decay microbes to function at their optimum, thus speeding up the composting process (remember, our aim is to have it ready in 12 about weeks). Aerating the soil also prevents the buildup of gases in the soil, and this is important when you are mixing it in with your gardening soil.

Every few days, add a sprinkling of water to your compost heap. Just enough to dampen the soil, but not too much, or the soil will become waterlogged. The added moisture also helps to speed up the decomposition of the organic matter.

And there you have it folks, your very own, homemade organic tomato compost, that tomatoes will love! Even though it is a long and tiresome process, your tomatoes will benefit, and you in turn, will get some great tomatoes! I hope you enjoyed this series, and that you are now more aware of how to make your own tomato fertilizers.

Harvest Monday

The harvests have been coming in thick and fast. They consist of quite a few things, zucchini, snowpeas, tomatoes, eggplants and more. Garlic is all out of the ground and drying on the window sill.

For fruits there are the last of the red currants and some strawberries, both wild strawberries and Kurawase strawberries.

and best of all the first tomatoes!

Zucchinis are a constant harvest and in two different colours. Eggplants are small but tasty and just as constant. Four different days, four different combos.

Snowpeas are at their end, as you can see these two got left on the bush a little too long.

For more harvests pop on over to Daphne's Dandelions for harvest Monday

Tomato Breeding 101

The cultivated tomato is a self-pollinated plant.   With few exceptions, the stigma (female) remains within the anther cone (male) until after pollination, greatly limiting potential cross-pollination.  It is estimated that >95% of the seed in tomatoes is normally the result of self-pollination.

Multiple generations of selfing inevitably result in a single allele being fixed at each genetic locus - each gene/locus is homozygous for a particular allele.  Inbred lines are stable from generation to generation (i.e true breeding).  Thus the progeny from saved seed from an inbred line or OP (open pollinated) tomato variety will look just like the female parent.  A progeny plant not identical to the female parent is likely the result of chance cross pollination, facilitated by one of various pollinating bees frequenting most gardens.

There is no genetic variability within a stable inbred line.  All plants generated from such a line are genetically identical to one and other.  No genetic variation, no potential for breeding/improvement … its that simple.  A breeding population with genetic variability must be derived from a cross/crosses between inbred lines.  Here are a few examples:

1)   OP (selfed) seed is harvested from a commercial F1 tomato hybrid (e.g. SunGold F1).  The F2 progeny will segregate for all traits that were different between the two parents.  Usually the identity of the parents is proprietary to the breeder/seed company.  Several generations of selfing/selection may create an OP population that looks something like the F1 hybrid – but no guarantee.

2)   A plant tracing to a chance outcross is identified in OP progeny from an heirloom/OP variety (e.g. Brandywine).  Again the F2 will segregate.  In this example you know the female, but not the male parent.  There is a high degree of luck required to pull something useful out of a chance outcross.  However there are some sterling examples of success: Lucky Cross, Berkeley Tie Dye, Earl’s Faux ….

Fruit from a couple of 2010 hand crosses

3)   A breeder plans a cross between two parents that compliment each other in some way - for example an early, small fruited, high yielding and disease resistant line crossed with a late, large fruited, lower yielding, and very tasty variety (e.g. SunSugar x Lucky Cross).  From the segregating F2 – F6 generation progeny the breeder selects the plants that best combine the desirable traits from each parent.

A F1 cross between two inbred parents is very uniform, and no selection is possible.  The maximum genetic variation is expressed in the F2 generation, and it is important to have as many F2 progeny as possible to maximize the opportunity to capture the desired characteristics from each of the two parents.  With each succeeding generation there is less genetic variation, and population size can be smaller.  By the F6 generation selected lines should be pretty stable and true breeding. A F1 cross between non-inbred parents, for example the double cross (AxB) X (CxD) or three way cross (AxB) x C, will segregate in the F1 generation, so selection within multiple F1 progeny is often desired - subsequent filial generations can be handled as described above.

Fruit from 3 segregating F2 progeny (SunSugar x Pink Boar)

Segregating for epidermis color in the F2

Segregating F1 from a three-way cross

Some important traits are controlled by many genes (e.g. yield and taste).  These are called quantitative traits and heritability is complex.  Many important traits in tomato are controlled by single genes.  A good summary of common tomato genes and their alleles can be found here.  A recessive allele is only expressed in the homozygous condition (e.g. gs/gs = homozygous for green stripe).  A plant showing a recessive phenotype will be true breeding for that trait in subsequent generations.   A homozygous dominant can only be indentified by progeny testing (i.e. evaluating the phenotype of numerous progeny).  When all the progeny have the dominant phenotype, the parent can be assumed to be homozygous for the dominant allele.

A successful tomato breeding program will generally require careful selection of parents for new crosses, evaluation of enough F2 plants to find the desired combination of traits from the parents, and active observation/notes and selection in each of the segregating generations.   Our experience is that few crosses will yield an end product that is truly unique and special; plant breeding is both an art and a science; and there’s an element of luck and unpredictability that make it fun.

One final note – this is something everyone can do in their own garden, no matter how small.  Create something new, involve your kids, teach them a little about genetics and plant science.  If you are looking for starting materials, or want to learn about the experience of others, check out one or both of two great tomato on-line forums: Tomatoville and The Tomato Depot.

2014 update:  the above breeding outline describes a typical breeding program for O.P. (open pollinated) varieties.  A breeding program for F1 hybrids would include all of the above elements plus evaluating O.P./inbred lines for suitability as a potential parent in one or more new F1 hybrids.  This final step will normally require many dozen test crosses, evaluation of lines for parent traits (i.e. suitability for being a female or male parent), and careful consideration of combining parents with complimentary attributes.  As discussed in a recent post on this site (link), F1 hybrids increase complexity in both breeding and seed production, but have intrinsic advantages vs. O.P varieties in many situations.

Genetic Variation in Tomato



Wild and in the Andes

The center of origin/center of diversity for tomato is the Andean region of South America (Equador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Columbia).  Domestication of the tomato is thought to have started in Mexico, and then more intensely in Europe after being imported from the New World in the 16^th century.  We know that the path to domestication, far from the center of origin, led to a narrowing of the tomato germplasm base.  Charles Rick, the father of modern tomato breeding (and Mark's Genetics 101 professor at UCD in 1970), estimates that the cultivated tomato contains <5% of the genetic variation found in its various wild relatives.  An excellent review article on domestication of tomato can be found here.



Wild on the Galapagos (photo S. Darwin)


The wild relatives of tomato are almost all small fruited and many are cross pollinated.  The substantial genetic variation within these related species has been a rich source of genes for resistance to various tomato pathogens, and as a source of genetic variation for other traits for which such variation is lacking in cultivated tomato.  The Tomato Genetic Resource Center at UC Davis maintains a vast germplasm collection of wild relatives and other diverse genetic stocks for use by tomato scientists and breeders.  Virtually all modern hybrid tomato cutlivars contain multiple disease resistant genes derived from wild relatives.

The tomato varieties grown in the U.S. trace primarily to the large fruited types developed in Europe over the last 300 years, and brought to America by early settlers.  Family favorites benefitting from additional selection in America for taste and adaptation, and countless generations of seed saving, are today’s heirlooms.


Mutations are the ultimate source of genetic variation in plants, animals and microbes.  The rich genetic diversity within Solanum is the result of many thousands of generations of mutations and genetic recombination, combined with natural selection and speciation.  Although mutations are the foundation for genetic variability on an evolutionary time scale, for a tomato breeder working with thousands of individuals and perhaps a few dozen sexual generations, useful spontaneous mutations at a particular locus (gene) are rare.  The rate of spontaneous mutation can vary by species and by gene, however in maize it is estimated that the average mutation rate in a single gene that causes a visible phenotype is 1/10,000 to 1/100,000 per gamete, per generation.  Mutation rate can be increased significantly by induction with radiation or chemical mutagens.  Induced mutations have been a another valuable source of genetic variation for tomato breeders.  The TGRC germplasm collection contains many such mutant lines that have been selected for specific useful traits.  

Tanksley, 2004

Genetic variation is the “gasoline” that fuels plant breeding.  Although the small amount of genetic variation in tomato has limited breeding progress for some traits, there are a few key genes that together control fruit size, shape and color (Tanksley, 2004) and (Paran and van der Knapp, 2007).  To our delight, these have been used by breeders to develop the substantial phenotypic variation in tomato fruit type available today.  Relatively recent efforts to use the gs gene (green stripe) to create striped patterns on tomato fruit and the Aft gene (anthocyanin fruit) for dark black/purple coloration on tomato fruit add to the kaleidoscope of possibilities ….more on these later.

The World of Tomato Breeding

Freckled Strawberry

Tomato breeding is big business.  A few of the big multi- national seed companies have large tomato breeding programs, as do a number of more specialized tomato/vegetable seed companies (U.S., Europe, Asia and Israel) and a few public universities.  Their focus has been on tomatoes specifically designed for three markets: processing tomatoes for sauce, paste, catsup, etc.; "green and gassed" tomatoes that are picked green for shipping, then gassed with ethylene near their end destination to "ripen" (these are the typical grocery store and food service tomatoes that look OK, but taste like wet newspaper); and the vine ripened cluster, grape and cherry market grown in mild climates or greenhouses and shipped to grocery stores (e.g. produced in Mexico and shipped to the U.S. year round).  The market that is largely ignored by this industrial breeding effort is the fresh market tomato, picked when ripe, and either eaten by the producer (you and me) or sold at local markets, restaurants, etc.  That's the niche we, and a handful of other talented small scale breeder/producers, are targeting.  If there's a common theme to these small breeding programs it's tomatoes that taste great and look interesting (check out the Wild Boar Farms site).

Herbalicious - Rosemary

Whenever I think of rosemary I think of my friend Miss M-ski. No she wasn't set to be called Rosemary then her mother found out her father had a rather dishy ex called Rosemary and no she doesn't even have any friends called Rosemary or friends with babies called Rosemary. She's not even obsessed with Roman Polamski's film 'Rosemary's Baby'. But Miss M-ski, my lovely Miss M-ski had finally become Dr M-ski. Not a useful doctor who could save your life by doing a double heart lung transplant, but an even more useful doctor of psychology. It took her a while but she got there and I am so proud. But it is not her nearly Dr status that makes me think of her when I see rosemary, it is her love of potato and rosemary pizza! She introduced me to it, at a fine little place on Errol street and I've never looked back. While it is a carb avoider's nightmare, it tastes divine. And I think it is the Rosemary that does the trick.

Long has humanity known the wonders of putting rosemary and the potato together. They just work, simple as that. Pumpkin or sweet potato is an adequate replacement in the pairing but nothing beats the original. After Dr M-ski introduced me to this devilishly good combination I added it to my cooking repertoire (though usually substituting puff pastry for pizza base if short on time.) Problem was I liked it so much my single rosemary bush was getting overly depleted. There was the option of cutting down on my consumption of this herbalicious wonder, or, another solution, which was to procure a new one! Luckily I had a birthday around this time and my kindly relatives solved the rosemary conundrum.

So now I have two rosemary bushes. See one,

and two.

They live in different parts of the balcony garden, one gets less sun, the other full sun.

They both seem happy, though the second one is a little hidden behind the corn and tomatoes nowadays.

I use rosemary in risotto too, and sometimes put it on meat when I slow roast it. It is truly versatile and so delicious. You can even use large sticks of it as an aromatic skewer! Do you grow rosemary? If so what kind? Any tips or tricks for growing? My tip is grow as much as you can, and if you're lucky it could end up looking like this one growing in my Mum's backyard!