Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Carrots suffer from what is known as 'inbreeding depression', which means you
should save seed from as many different plants as possible.
Celery, celeriac, fennel and parsley
These should be treated in the same way as carrot (see left), but are less prone to
'inbreeding depression'.
Dill
Save seed only from the last plants to bolt. As dill can be tall, there is a risk of the
seeds being scattered from a great height before you've managed to collect them.
Enclosing the ripening flower head with a paper or muslin bag is a good way to
avoid getting volunteer plants the following year.
III: Moderate
Beetroot and chard will cross with each other, being closely related, but if you
keep them somewhat isolated - perhaps growing one variety in the tunnel and
the other in an outside bed - you should be able to save seeds with no problem at all.
Both plants grow a central stem on which many seed clusters form. They are biennials
and you should avoid saving seed from any plants that bolt in their first year.
Beans, broad
Treat as for French beans (see page 152) except that, because isolation is difficult,
you should grow only one variety each year. Although saving the seed is a simple
matter of leaving some plants to set seed without harvesting any, pollination is
mainly carried out by bees - so if anyone else is growing beans within 800m,
yours could easily cross with them.
Beetroot
Beetroot may not overwinter well in the ground, and fares better if lifted and
stored. Twist off the leaves, leave the taproot, and store in damp sand in a cool,
dark place. The roots will quickly sprout and bolt if replanted in early spring.
Brassicas
1)
Cabbage family
(Brassica oleracea)
Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi (for radish, see overleaf)
2)
Turnip family
(Brassica campestris)
Turnip, pak choi
All these are biennials, so choose only plants that flower the following year. They
are insect-pollinated, mostly by bees, and so they will need isolating from any
others in the same group that are flowering at the same time. If you don't do this,
there's bound to be some cross-pollination as the insects move around from
plant to plant.
