Goal: Create a Tomato Variety with Short Stature, Heirloom Flavor Red Cherry Tomatoes. 1.12.22

 This is an ambitious goal.  There are all sorts of red cherry tomatoes out there.  Most are hybrids, and most are sweet/tart but not the more complex, tomatoey flavor of heirlooms.  Most grow tall and rangy.  What I want is a dwarf, short interstem plant (brachytic dwarf) with true red tomatoes, cherry size, prolific production like clusters of grapes.  I would like if they have jointed stems that break easily for easy harvest.

Last year I grew Dwarf Johnson Cherry Tomato.  Not too far off except:  The tomatoes are pink with pink flesh, too mild flavor, not jointed so they don't pick easily.  It is a brachytic dwarf, so there's that,  and I will grow them next year.

There are thousands of varieties out there. I certainly don't know them all or even most.  In the end, I also want one that grows true from seeds, so hybrids also don't count.  

I decided to try to be scientific about this.  I will choose parents with suites of traits that, together, might help result in my goal.

(1)  Livingston's Dwarf Stone - a red heirloom tomato, brachytic dwarf, introduced by the Livingston Seed Company in 1902.  Not a huge size tomato.  This line is ancestral to other brachytic dwarf tomatoes.

(2)  Reisentraub.  A German-developed, red heirloom cherry tomato, around since the mid-1800s.  They bear huge clusters, like clusters of grapes (complex inflorescence), that are claimed to have heirloom beefsteak tomato flavors, bite size tomatoes.

I have not found a highly detailed yet clearly labeled (for the amateur) map of tomato chromosomes with associated traits, but I did see this example, which helps significantly.  Based on that information, my main interests involve three chromosomes.  Mainly two. Some link useful traits together, which will help.  

Chromosome #1:  locules, few=L and many=l (Capital letter is dominant).  Compound inflorescence=s, simple inflorescence=S.  I think Dwarf Stone is lS and Reisentraube is Ls.

Chromosome #3:  Brachytic trait =b, normal internode length = B.

Chromosome #5:  Jointed stems (for easy picking ) jointed is dominant (J).  there is also a nipple tip trait, Reisentraub has it (nf) and jointed stem,  Dwarf Stone does not (Nf) but I don't know about join   ted stems.   These traits will help later.

So as far as I can tell, Dwarf Stone is Chr #1:  1S  Chr #3:  B and Chr #5:  jNf.

Reisentraub is Chr #1:  LS  Chr #3:  b and Chr #5: Jnf.

I know there are lots of other genes involved, on these and the other of  the tomato's  12 chromosomes, but this is what I have.  Other traits & chromosomes might help in later generations to select for uniformity or flavor or tomato size, for example,

Now, Dwarf Stone has to be the female parent.  All of Dwarf Stone 's seedlings should be normally be dwarf, a recessive trait.  If the cross takes, the seedlings (F1 generation) will all carry a dwarf gene but they will grow normal height.  That's how we know the cross took.  A successful cross will have F1 generation with few locules (more likely cherry), simple inflorescence, red, jointed stem, yellow skin (so red fruit), no nipple trait.

Taking seeds from F1 generation and growing them out, 25% of seedlings will be brachytic dwarf (b).  So plant lots of seeds, but discard any plants that grow normal height.  Easy to identify at a couple of inches tall.  When they bloom, if they have multiple inflorescence, from Reisentraub, they should also be two locule.  Compound inflorescence is a recessive trait, so that should be 25% of F2 generation.  Also, those will be purebred for both the inflorescence type, and as a marker for the dominant few-locule trait.  Save only seeds with those traits.

Similarly, save only seeds for plants that have jointed stems and nipple trait.  Nipple trait is recessive, and linked to jointed stem (which us dominant) so selecting for nipple trait, 25% of seedlings, will mean both that and the jointed stems are pure.

That isn't all but those are the traits I wanted.  After growing out F3, choose the ones with cherry trait and best flavor, select those for saving seeds and further purifying until they are true to type, takes about 10 generations.  There is no promise I will be gardening that long, but I think by watching how traits are linked on chromosomes and which are dominant vs. recessive, I can have a strain I feel good about in four generations.  Another way to increase my chances would be back cross the F2 dwarfs with Reisentraube, and only grow out the dwarfs in F3.  Then the offspring will be 75% Reisentraube, still brachytic dwarf, and maybe I would get there faster.

So those are my thoughts.  There is probably a lot wrong with them, but we have to start somewhere.  I think I'm at least good with the parent selection, what F2 might look like, and selecting brachytic trait and cherry tomato trait (few locules, although some salad tomatoes are bigger and also have few locules) (plus compound inflorescence) and nipple (plus jointed stem) trait.  Those are a long way away and who knows what any of the uncertainties of life will bring.  Then again, I might have fun and a nice variety in the end.  Plus hopefully even the dead ends and mistakes will be tasty.

Starting More Seeds. Peppers, A Few Flowers, and More. 1.11.22

It's not necessary to start them this early, but at least the onions benefit from the head start. I think the Rudbeckias will too, and most of these can be planted outside before last frost date (onions, kale, maybe rudbeckias). I like to start peppers early because they grow so slowly in my garden, and to get an earlier and larger crop. They can be grown inside under LEDs for quite a while, until ready.   Plus some if these seeds are several years old. They might not grow. Starting now gives me a chance to try again if needed.

It's been quite a few years since I grew Tabascos or Thai peppers. They will be fun to try in their new raised bed. Serranos and Jalapeños always do well for me. Serranno plants are larger, so need more space. They are also more productive in my growth conditions.  The only new pepper seeds for this year are those from the Chili Pepper Institute in New Mexico, and Serranos from Victory seeds, which are all open pollinated so I can save seeds from now on. Depending on the plant and how things go, I would like to overwinter a couple next fall, which would mean an earlier start and more peppers per bush. The chili pepper raised bed has room for about a dozen plants, so I intend to start a few more in a month.  The seed starting mats will have spaces again by then.

Maybe a card file, well used, would be a better way to keep track of stored seeds and how the varieties do. I think I depend too much on tech. I'll work on it. These are 5 x 8 cards. Printing them out, they are more legible and compact than if I hand write on them.

Reviving Another Geranium. 1.9.2021

Here is the other geranium I decided to revive. Looking through my notes, I was growing it in 2006, so I've had it a while. Mostly I overwinter it with dry dirt on the roots in the garage.

I shook off loose dirt, removed dead leaves, pruned of dead branches and pruned back the longest branches.

Then repotted in fresh potting soil and watered it in.

I think it should grow. No more water unless it looks dry, and no fertilizer. Keep out of direct sun.

Geranium Revival & Cuttings. 1.8.22

I have a couple of geranium plants that I want to grow next year.  One was a 2 year old plant that was stuck in a back row last year and didn't have much chance to shine, but did survive.  The other was a ten year old, variegated leaf variety that I dug up and left bare root.  

Here's the first.   I left it bare root on top of the dahlia tubers in peat moss. I planted it in a flower pot, in some potting soil.

Then I trimmed off everything that looked obviously dead. Here's what remains.

That's all it needs or can handle for now. I watered and placed it out of too-bright sunshine. We'll see if it recovers. It's sad looking, might or might not recover. Here are cuttings I took from the dried out variegated geranium plant.

I cut off everything that looked dead. The cuttings are in water. We'll see how they do. This is a heirloom variety, "Mrs. Pollock", grown in the 1850s. Not a typo - before the civil war. The leaves are pale green because it was in the dark, in the garage, dried out.

I think they'll probably grow. Earlier this year I stuck prunings into the ground and did nothing, and they grew. I might clean up some more and grow a row of them next year. Geraniums are highly heat and dry tolerant, and deer don't touch them. Neither do rabbits. To think about cost savings, if each grows to a $3 size, and we start ten from cuttings (free), then that's $30 saved. I wouldn't spend that much on geraniums in the first place, so it's really having an opportunity to have a row of nice plants and create them myself.

Seed Starting 2022. Onions, Shallots, Rudbeckia. 1.8.22

 I've been setting up my seed starting stand.  One of the warming mats is cleaned up, I wShed plastic pots, soaked some seed starting medium, and today planted seeds.

Onion Sweet Spanish.  Heirloom Variety.   Baker Creek Seeds 2021.  

Red Wethersfield Onion.  Heirloom variety.  Fedco Seeds 2022.

New York Early Onion.  Heirloom Variety.  Fedco Seeds.  2022.

Grocery Store Shallot.  I planted them last winter.  Some bloomed.  I saved seeds Fall 2021.

Camelot Red Shallot hybrid.  Fedco Seeds.  2022.

Heishiko Japanese Bunching Onion.  Heirloom Variety.  Victory Seeds.  2022.

Rudbeckia hirta "Marmalade".  Outside Pride Seeds.  Undated, maybe last year.

Rudbeckia hirta "Prairie Sun".  Park Seeds.  2021 or 2022 growing year.  These are labeled "Origin Germany".

Most sources state that onion, shallot, chive seeds only keep a year.  We'll see if the year-old Spanish Onion seeds grow.  If no germination in 2 weeks, I'll plant more of the others.

The grocery shallots might be F1 hybrids.  That would make my seeds F2 and they might (1) not grow at all or (2) might be all sorts of sizes and shapes or (3) might turn out similar to their parent.  It is an experiment.  Plus, I didn't cover the flowers so they might have cross pollinated with onion flowers.  That's fine with me.  I also don't know if that is possible.  

In my garden, NY Early and Sweet Spanish grow very well, the onions are excellent, store a long time, but might be a little too large.  This year I want to compare those and Red Wethersfield.  All three are open pollinated.  Whichever ones I like, can set aside bulbs to make seeds in their second year.

The Rudbeckias are for the flower beds.   I'm not clear on whether they will bloom in their first year.  If my memory is correct, I started Rudbeckias early, many years ago, and got nice flowers during their first year.   I can interplant them with French marigolds so the area will bloom either way.