Off-topic in a GQ thread about cultivating onions I mentioned my interest in saving seeds from hybrid tomatoes and trying to reproduce the lines that were used to develop them.
As I mentioned in that thread, I’ve been growing seeds that were originally from a ‘Big Boy’ hybrid and have specifically been replanting a pink beefsteak variety that was part of that line for 4 generations. About 15-20% of the seeds still turn out to be oddballs, sometimes very interesting ones, but eventually I think I’ll have a line that produces mostly true.
I also used to save seeds from my tallest and largest sunflower each year, I had quite a good strain going but last year’s weather was so odd that none of them grew and it killed my line.
Anyone else with interesting side hobbies related to gardening or botany?
I have no idea how I killed it. I bought it in those little starting pots, removed the soil and plants from the pots, and stuck them in the ground. Watered them when they seemed to need it. And they DIED.
Possibly this is my superpower, and I need to go rent myself out to control kudzu or something.
Although we live in Pennsylvania, I’ve been growing banana plants for a while. It is a dwarf variety and has never fruited but it is cool looking. I remove suckers occasionally and use them to start new plants.
I also have a kaffir lime tree that I use as a source of leaves for Thai cooking. After two years I’ve finally rooted cuttings. I had to completely girdle a branch, wrap with moss,then saran wrap, and it still took 6 months for roots to form. And it looks like I’ve got some little limes this year!
