Sowing Success: The Science of Seed Production

Have you ever wondered what happens to your seeds before you buy the packets in the shops? This month, the Garden.Help team have been out and about looking at how seeds are developed and tested to give you the best possible results.

Mr Fothergill's, based in Cambridgeshire, have a trials area next to their headquarters where they grow a sample of all the seeds they sell as well as new varieties that may make it to retail in the future. They say that by testing everything, they know in advance if customers might experience an issue with certain seeds for, say, the weather that year. They can also go out into the field and look at their own trial if a customer reports a problem.

The seed trials are in the open and experience the same weather as everyone else, so this year it was a very wet spring and an exceptionally hot, dry summer. Many varieties did not survived the heat and drought, which is understandable, but others were thriving. It was interesting to see many old garden favourites like Zinnia, Clarkia and marigolds doing very well in spite of the weather.

On a different scale, we visited a trial of old and new tomato varieties, both in the greenhouse and outdoors. Some established types are being improved upon, to increase their tolerance to tomato blight. Other types are being bred to raise their beta carotene level, with a view to them being grown in parts of Africa where low levels of vitamin A can cause eye problems. One trial in Africa was so successful, the growers not only helped improve eye health, but raised enough money selling the fruit to re-roof the local school.

Tomatoes are no longer seen as “red, round and eight to the pound” and people are getting tired of the tasteless varieties so often sold in the shops. We saw yellow, orange, pink, green-striped and black types available, all with different flavours. We were particularly impressed by Rosella, a cherry type with a fruity flavour that would be ideal in a salad, and Brad’s Oregon Grape, a fruit with every colour from lavender to red on a black base. It has a delicious fruity, almost smoky, flavour that would be ideal with a cheese board or salad.

It’s thanks to the skill of the breeders and growers that we have the chance to try new seeds every year if we wish and we salute them!